Bogdana Katarzhuk

Bogdana Katarzhuk grew up in Western Ukraine, surrounded by people professing Christianity, mostly pertaining to the Greek Catholic Church. In 2014, Bogdana moved to Odessa, a multicultural city in southern Ukraine, where a lot of Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Buddhists live. In Odessa it was challenging for her to understand how to talk about her vision of God, without harming the worldview of others and including that of her new family members. In the recent years, Bogdana has been teaching for Plast, a national Christian scout organization that adheres to the principles of love and loyalty towards the country and God. As the organization is growing and spreading throughout the country, including its south, where several nationalities live, the emergent question for Bogdana is how she can help Muslim children from the annexed Crimea to become full-fledged participants of this organization.

Bogdana’s first academic exposure to the field of interreligious studies was when she participated in the Tertio Millennio Seminar on the Free Society in 2015. As part of the seminar, she covered classic themes of the Church’s social doctrine from the perspectives of religious freedom, ecumenism, and interreligious dialogue. Later, she was part of several interreligious conferences and events, including those organized by the Ukrainian Catholic University. Bogdana is interested Interreligious Dialogue not only as a layperson who encounters various people and life situations but also as a professional lawyer who works with bills and legal documents concerning interreligious issues in her country.

Educational background includes: BA in Economics, Ivan Franko Lviv National University, Lviv, Ukraine (2014); Master’s in Law and Management, Ivan Franko Lviv National University, Lviv, Ukraine (2014); Diploma in Interreligious Studies, Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Rome, Italy (2022).

Languages: Ukrainian, English, and Russian.