“Our Ukrainian Catholic identity has always been prevalent,” said Dr. Jonathan Peri, president of Manor College, Jenkintown, reflecting on the global strife unfolding in Eastern Europe. His outlook has driven the campus from the top down in countless ways, including its recent support for Ukraine, as reported by Gina Christian for Catholic Philly.

Manor College was established by the Ukrainian Sisters of the Order of St. Basil, a religious community whose Phila. presence dates to 1911.

That link — augmented by the general Catholic call for justice and service — was a prime motivator for Peri.

“You ask God to guide you and to give you instruction and direction that you might be his instrument,” he said. “And you receive answers through prayer.”

The answers he’s gotten led to both spiritual and visible action.

Manor College has vigorously denounced the war, calling for international aid and prayer. It also conferred an honorary doctorate on Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the first academic institution in the nation to do so.

Beyond these intangibles, its physical support has included numerous humanitarian efforts. Under his administrative direction, the school’s website links to relief organizations vetted as being “…credible and worthy of people’s gifts and funding,” Peri described.

This international work, he infers, is compelled by the faith, which unites present-day to the eternal.

“We’re asked by Christ to build the kingdom of heaven on earth,” he said.

More on Dr. Jonathan Peri, Manor College president, is at Catholic Philly.