<em>Supporting a country at war.</em>
The fundraising dinner for the Ukrainian Catholic University at Church House, Westminster, on the feast of St Michael, patron of Kyiv, was – inevitably – both cheerful and sombre. Cheerful because it was a celebration of the remarkable achievements of a small Catholic university that has attracted the country’s top graduates five years in a row; sombre because the backdrop to this evening of good fellowship was a bloody war. In one clip, we saw a young doctoral student in fatigues; in another, a succession of young Ukrainians in exile in various parts of the world. A celebrated folk singer, Yuri Josyfovych, sang of the country and the steppes and his final song was something of a hymn.
In a panel discussion, the former UK ambassador to Ukraine, Dame Melinda Simmons, recalled her work in helping to encourage female leadership in Ukraine and raising the issue of domestic violence. She also addressed the even more sensitive issue of the Holocaust, and how it has taken time for Ukrainians to deal fully with the annihilation of Ukrainian Jews. Women in the Ukrainian armed forces had fought alongside men but in men’s uniform; one of her achievements has been to highlight the need for body armour and uniform to be made for women’s bodies. On a brighter note, she declared that once the war was over, the British would be leading a flood of tourism to Ukraine.
A number of guests sponsored scholarships for students at the university for a term or an academic year; others contributed to the auction. In his closing prayer, the Ukrainian Eparch in London, Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski, asked God to protect “our brothers and sisters in Ukraine and the repose of the souls of the members of the faculty who have perished defending Ukraine”. Supporting the university was to support a country at war.
