Obnova Society of Ukrainian Catholic Students

Obnova Society of Ukrainian Catholic Students (Товариство українських студентів-католиків «Обнова»; Tovarystvo ukrainskykh studentiv-katolykiv Obnova). A religious student organization established in Lviv in 1930. It formed part of the larger Catholic Action movement and derived its name (obnova, meaning renewal) from the movement’s motto, To Renew All Things in Christ. In the 1930s its membership was close to 100. Its first president was Petro Isaiv. With the Soviet occupation of Galicia Obnova was dissolved; it was revived only in 1946 in Munich as the Obnova Federation of Societies of Ukrainian Catholic Students. The new president was Ye. Pereima. By 1949 the federation’s membership had reached 427. Also in 1946 the Obnova Ukrainian Catholic Academic Alliance was established, by a group of senior Obnova members. The first president of the alliance was Vasyl Hlibovytsky; he was followed in 1951 by Roman Danylevych. Both organizations had branches in many cities in Europe, the United States, Canada, and Australia. Obnova is a member of the Pax Romana international Catholic student movement. Its activities have included public lectures and readings, workshops, and conferences. It has also published information bulletins, brochures, the journal Obnova, a special page in the Chicago newspaper Nova zoria, and several volumes of the collection Obnov'ianyn.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]