OUR FOUNDING MISSION & HISTORY

The Institute was founded in 1992, in the wake of the Soviet Union’s collapse. Undermining the family and destroying the Faith, the governments of the East built an atheist culture based on despair and mutual distrust. They shuttered churches and closed seminaries; imprisoned, tortured, and executed priests and religious; and made it all but impossible for the lay faithful to express and live their faith in the world. They also made it all but impossible for the Church to help, closing borders and blocking communication between Catholics in the West and Catholics in the East.

That began to change after the Berlin wall came tumbling down in 1989. Despite the Communist’s best efforts, pockets of the faithful remained. They were eager to begin the process of rebuilding. They just needed help.

Three years later, the Language and Catechetical Institute (LCI) was founded to provide that help, supplying Catholics from the East, who were eager to serve the Church in their native lands, with a foundational knowledge of both Church teaching and the English language, as well as spiritual formation.

In the years since, LCI has expanded its reach, welcoming students from countries currently living under atheist rule and from countries where the Faith has never been widely preached. These countries include China, Myanmar, Mongolia, and Cameroon.

  • 1989  The Berlin Wall collapses
  • 1991  Franciscan University of Steubenville launches its study abroad program in Gaming, Austria.
  • 1992  The Language and Catechetical Institute is founded in Gaming, Austria by Franciscan University and welcomes its first students from Czechoslovakia.
  • 1993  LCI expands its program, accepting 40 students from Albania, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and 12 other countries
  • 2003  LCI is established as an independent institute, separate from Franciscan University, under the Twelve Rivers Foundation.
  • 2006  LCI welcomes its first students from China.
  • 2007  The Byzantine Chapel for the celebration of the Divine Liturgy in the Kartause is completed and consecrated.
  • 2012  LCI celebrates its 20th anniversary. More than 100 alumni and supporters of the program are in attendance.
  • 2023  After closing due to the Covid pandemic, LCI relaunches with a renewed desire to support the Church throughout Europe and beyond.

TWELVE RIVERS FOUNDATION

Twelve Rivers Foundation began in 2001 as a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting evangelization initiatives in the United States and Europe.  In 2003, the Language & Catechetical Insitute was brought under the Twelve Rivers Foundation as an ongoing initiative of Twelve Rivers Foundation.  Twelve Rivers Foundation supports the work of LCI through administrative, operational, and development support. The Twelve Rivers Foundation is located in the State of New Hampshire, with an office in Steubenville, OH, and is recognized by the IRS as a 501 (c) 3 charitable organization.

OUR LOCATION

LCI students both live and study in the Kartause Maria Thron, a beautifully restored 14th-century Carthusian monastery in Gaming, Austria. Surrounded by the foothills of the Austrian Alps, the students are exposed to a culture as richly Catholic as it is naturally beautiful.

Also housed within the Kartause is Franciscan University of Steubenville’s study abroad program. At the Kartause, LCI students live alongside over 200 American students, which means they are immersed in an environment that is native-English-speaking. That immersion experience enables LCI students to speak and understand English fluently in a relatively short period of time.

LCI students are likewise affected by the experience of meeting devout Catholics from the USA. They are touched by their openness and readiness to share their faith. Through this experience of meeting young Americans who joyfully participate in daily Mass, Adoration, and other devotions, LCI students gain a profound experience of the unity found within the universal family of God.

THE LCI TEAM

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Jennifer Healy

LCI Board Co-Chair | Washington, D.C.

Bobette Huzovic

LCI Board Co-Chair | Steubenville, OH

Joshua McCaig, JD, MS

LCI Executive Director | Kansas City, MO

Mrs. Chari Hust

Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher | Houston, TX

Paulette Kardos

Papal Foundation | Lauderdale-Sea, FL

Rev. Juraj Terek

Chaplain, International Theological Institute | Trumau, Austria

Muffy Day

Consultant | Washington, DC

Support

Martin

Martin is the LCI representative in Gaming, Austria who coordinates and is a support for the LCI students while at the Kartause.  Martin has volunteered for LCI in several capacities for well over ten years.

Michelle Asci

Michelle Asci has volunteered for LCI in several capacities for well over ten years. She now manages LCI’s USA office in Steubenville, Ohio, where she lives with her husband and six children.

Rev. Dr. Yosyp Veresh

Rev. Dr. Yosyp Veresh is a Byzantine Catholic priest of the Greek-Catholic Eparchy of Mukachevo (Ukraine). He studied philosophy and theology in Ukraine, Austria, Oxford (England) and Krakow (Poland) where he completed his doctorate in 2010. From 2005-2015 he taught theology at the International Theological Institute (ITI) in Gaming/Trumau, (Austria) where, from 2010-2015, he was Dozent for Patrology and Eastern Christian Studies and Director of the Centre of Eastern Christian Studies. His research and teaching interests are patristic theology and anthropology, Christian marriage and family, and ascetical and mystical theology in the Christian East. Since 2015 Fr. Veresh has served at the Kartause.