Ivano-Frankivs’k city council returns a building that belonged to the Church before the war

On June 16, a working group, consisting of: Fr. Mikhail Klapkiv, eparchial economist and the vicar for external affairs, Fr. Oleksandr Levytskyj, vice-rector of IFSS, s. Yosyfa Kyjak, OSBM, Director of the Catholic school of Saint Basil the Great, and representatives of the regional state administration, examined a building (11 Shevchenko St. in Ivano-Frankivs’k) that will soon be vacated by the military. It had been the local Greek Catholic seminary until 1937. Now that the building is being returned, it will become the new location of the Catholic School of St. Basil the Great, I-III levels, explained Fr. Yuriy Trukhan, secretary of the Bishop of Ivano-Frankivs’k UGCC.  Representatives of the Ivano-Frankivs’k eparchy of the UGCC clergy as well as builders inspected the state of the building for its future use as classrooms and offices. They outlined the professional work that needs to be done to renovate and repair the facilities so that it can be fully functional by the start of the new school year. According to sister Yosyfa Kyjak, OSBM, director of the school, the Church has yet to obtain full residency of the building from the regional military commissariat as they are in the process of transferring their offices to 21 Dovzhenko St., which is still not fully constructed. She also noted that: “At this time, 340 children are expected to attend the school. Our plan is to turn the building into a space where these pupils can study with all the proper facilities for senior level classes. However, we have only been given access to a part of the building, which will allow us to offer classes for grades 6 - 8 for the upcoming school year. We still require a lot more space from this building, but we are thankful to God for this gift and have a deep faith and hope that the military will soon fully vacate the building and hand it over to the Ivano-Frankivs’k eparchy UGCC as per the decision of the city council.” Along these same lines, Fr. Mikhail Klapkiv, in the name of Bishop Volodymyr (Viytyshyn), Eparch of Ivano-Frankivs’k, sincerely thanked the military for cooperating in the process of transferring ownership of the building.

Information Department of the UGCC