Father Gudziak was born in 1960 in Syracuse, New York, to Ukrainian immigrant parents. He was a seminarian in Rome, then earned a doctorate in history from Harvard University. With the fall of the Soviet Union, he moved to Ukraine where he helped revive the Lviv Theological Academy, now Ukrainian Catholic University. He has been rector there since 2000.

George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, is a Catholic theologian and one of America's leading public intellectuals.

Weigel has been awarded thirteen honorary doctorates, the papal cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice, and the Gloria Artis Gold Medal by the Republic of Poland. He serves on the boards of directors of several organizations dedicated to human rights and the cause of religious freedom and is a member of the editorial board of First Things.