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Practicing Resilience
“We are incredibly grateful for the Nanovic Institute and the cup partnership. The summer school can be another way to keep our partnership connected and alive.” — Rev. Željko Tanjić, Rector of the Catholic University of Croatia
Students from Ukraine and other CUP universities fostered relationships as they walked the ancient city walls of Dubrovnik on the Adriatic coast, led by Fr. Željko Tanjić (above).
COLLABORATE Practicing Resilience
Preparing for Recovery in Dubrovnik
Over a two-week period in June and July 2022, the Nanovic Institute partnered with the Catholic University of Croatia to host a summer school titled “Practicing Resilience, Preparing for Recovery” in Dubrovnik, Croatia. The school brought together Ukrainian students from the Ukrainian Catholic University with students from the other CUP institutions in Croatia, Georgia, Poland, and Slovakia, building new relationships and networks of support, and creating opportunities to discuss the war in Ukraine and Europe more broadly.
The students spent two weeks in Dubrovnik – attending lectures, workshops, and social excursions in the city.
The Nanovic Institute extends its deepest gratitude to our partners in Croatia and Ukraine and to the Congregation of the Sisters of the Servants of Mercy, who graciously hosted the summer school participants at their monastery. The summer school was also cosponsored by Notre Dame International, the Diocese of Dubrovnik, and the Eparchy of Križevci, and made possible through a generous grant that the Nanovic Institute received from an external foundation. ◆
“The summer school is a very important collaborative project. A project created by the CUP based on an idea that originated during a conversation on how the network could help the Ukrainian Catholic University. How could we express solidarity and friendship to our friends at UCU?
The goal of this project was to give the students from UCU an opportunity to deal with trauma and difficulties they are experiencing and to bring them together with other students and exchange ideas and experiences. To go through these difficulties together with people who care about them, their communities, UCU, and Ukraine. Dubrovnik was a good place to host the summer school because of its beauty and cultural heritage, but also because Dubrovnik lived through a similar experience of aggression, trauma, reconciliation, and resilience 30 years ago. The process is still ongoing, there are still open wounds between different ethnic groups. This process will finish and hopefully Ukraine can learn from our experience.
Our hope is that this will help the students when they go back to their respective countries, not only those from UCU, but other students from Slovakia, Poland, Georgia, and Croatia. We want them to go back to their universities and feel empowered and show their communities how to live resiliently. This is an important part of the Catholic mission. I hope we are going to continue with the summer school in the future, among different projects organized by the Nanovic Institute. We are incredibly grateful for the institute and the CUP partnership. The summer school can be another way to keep our partnership connected and alive.”
Rev. Željko Tanjić
Rector, Catholic University of Croatia “Whoever walked around Dubrovnik could not remain indifferent to its beauty and rich history. Some rightly call it ‘heaven on earth.’ Can you imagine that only thirty years ago this city was ‘hell on earth’? We were isolated from all sides, without electricity and water, and our only night light was grenades and faith and hope in the intercession of Our Lady of Porat and St. Vlah. Life has its laws and always finds a way: fertile ground, an open heart, and new ideas. And here we are, we survived. We wake up in an even more beautiful city, richer for another experience.”
Sr. Marijana Puljić
Director, Sisters of Mercy Monastery, Dubrovnik
Natalie Yakymets
Deputy Director for Research and Senior Lecturer of Philosophy, Ukrainian Catholic University
