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Each year the bishops of Central and Eastern Europe select up to 20 students to attend the Institute. After two semesters of studies, LCI students emerge with fluency in English, grounded in their Catholic faith, and dedicated to the new evangelization. They are vitally active in the work of rebuilding the Church in their home countries, assisting in parishes and missions, providing catechesis, and serving the poor, orphaned, disabled and elderly. Since 1992, LCI has graduated 362 young Church leaders from 23 different countries: Albania, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Czech, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia-Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine. |
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Some bishops select students based on their need for English. Msgr. Piotr Goliszek came to LCI as a young priest of the diocese of Lublin, Poland. He had no knowledge of English when he arrived. After his studies at LCI, he was able to pursue his doctoral degree in the USA. He is currently working at the diocesan curia in Lublin, and was responsible for the preparation of a new catechism for adults to be used throughout Poland. |
Msgr. Piotr Goliszek
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Fr. Pavo Šekerija serves his bishop as the pastor of the Catholic church in Maglai, Bosnia- Herzegovina. He is one of over 30 other LCI graduates now working as priests in their home countries. |
Fr. Pavo Šekerija |
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Many candidates are chosen for studies in Gaming for the purpose of providing their only opportunity for Catholic education. Igor Radzyuk came to LCI from the far east of Russia, where he had never had a chance to study theology or live in a Christian community. Now back in Russia, he works for the recently re-established Catholic parishes in Romanovka and Vladivostok. |
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LCI has served students from Eastern Catholic dioceses in Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine. The Byzantine Catholic students who come to LCI are part of a growing community on campus. Divine Liturgy is celebrated daily in the Byzantine Rite, and the particular spiritual needs of the Eastern Catholics are ministered to by a chaplain appointed by Cardinal Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna.
The presence of the Byzantine community on campus is a testimony to the rich diversity present in the universal Church. Many Catholics from the West meet the Eastern tradition of the Church for the first time in Gaming, and find it an inspiring and even life-changing blessing.
Priests and religious:
Many LCI graduates work directly for the Church as priests and religious.
They are in convents and diocesan offices in Siberia, Belarus, Belgrade, and Romania among many other places.
Diocesan workers:
Irena Oriol -works as the administrative assistant for Bishop Cosa of Chisinau, Moldova. Other LCI graduates are working in diocesan offices in Belarus, Romania, Ukraine, and Russia
Youth ministry:
Petr Gabrhel works as a director of youth ministry for his diocese in Česke Budejovice, Czech Republic. He works with local, national, and international groups.
Catechist:
Ana Živkovič works as a catechist in her former high school in Zagreb, Croatia. Other LCI graduates are working as catechists in Latvia, Hungary, and Russia.
Education:
LCI graduates are working at all levels of education, from kindergarten to university. Maria Veresh is a professor at the Ukrainian State University in Uzhgorod, Ukraine.
Politics:
Olha Bosak works as a senior consultant for the President of Ukraine. She was appointed to the position after her role in supporting the recent Orange Revolution
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Fr. Juraj & Fr. Joseph
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Irena Oriol & Bishop
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Petr Gabrhel with group
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Ana Živkovič |
Professor Maria Veresh |
Olha Bosak |
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My name is Josipa Gasparič. It has been nine years since the day I arrived in Gaming to spend two semesters as a student at the LCI. I brought with me from Croatia only the Bible anda heart full of fear, questions and anger. I was almost 16 when the war started in my country. Air-raids, bombs and people dying were something I lived with daily for two years. Afterward, there were many refugees and poverty. Everything I was taught about God and the world seemed a lie. All my confidence and joy was gone. How could a supremely good and omnipotent God allow so much hatred and destruction? I looked for an answer everywhere. I heard many good things, but the words could not satisfy nor heal me. |
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Only after a year in Gaming with the LCI did I understood why all those answers sounded empty to me. I understood that the words were not enough. I needed to see that life can be different, that Christian life must be different and that besides words it requires also concrete deeds. That year in Gaming, I not only learned English; I also learned to live again. In my group there were young people from the former Soviet Union and other eastern European countries. We all brought with us our doubt and fears. Thanks to the great example, dedication and love of our teachers, many of us for the first time really understood the depth and beauty of the Catholic faith and its teaching. We understood that we can only change the world by changing ourselves and learning how to love and give unconditionally.
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| My fellow students as well as teachers became not only my friends but a family, too. And, although we are scattered all around the world, we are forever grateful to our teachers and benefactors who made that year in Gaming possible for us. |
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Inspired by the great examples of my teachers, I have also decided to become a teacher. After that year with the LCI, I continued studying theology in Gaming. After graduating with a master’s degree in Sacred Theology, I worked for my bishop as the secretary of the diocesan synod. Afterwards I accepted a job at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, the Netherlands, where I worked as a language assistant in the Office of the Prosecutor for two years. Realizing eventually that I had found answers and peace regarding all that happened during the war in Croatia, I continued studying theology at the University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome. I shall soon graduate with a licentiate in Dogmatic Theology and return to my home country to teach. I hope to be an inspiration to my students as my teachers in Gaming were to me. |
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My name is Fr. Yurko Kolasa. I am a Byzantine rite priest of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, Lviv Archeparchy. I am married and have three children. During the academic year 1996-1997, I was a student of the LCI.
Catholic religious and priestly education in my country during the time of Communism was strictly forbidden. Due to this fact, when our Church emerged from the underground and was legalized by the state, the Church had a serious lack of educated priests for its development. |
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From the time when LCI started its program in Austria, many young people from different dioceses were sent there by their bishops. I was one among them. Coming to Gaming and studying at the LCI opened a new world for me. Here I found a wonderful community life and wonderful people from different countries, who became my dearest friends. Here I was immersed in a deep spiritual and social formation. Due to the very professional method of teaching in the LCI, I received a proficient knowledge of the English language that has equipped me with powerful tools for my future academic and pastoral work.
The work of the LCI has had an enormous positive effect on the life of the Church and society in Eastern and Central Europe. Its mission is crucial in the present secular, consumerist and relativist mentality of modern society. The formation of strong young Christians is the great hope for our future. None would better witness the truth to young people than the young leaders being formed in such institutes as the LCI.
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