Basilians celebrated

Museum honours order's 100 years in Alberta vineyard of the Lord

By RAMON GONZALEZ
WCR Staff Writer
Mundare

"It's excellent, better than I expected," the wheelchair-bound deacon said of the museum exhibit. "I'm very much moved. I'm very pleased, very happy."

The exhibit, Service in the Vineyard of the Lord, was opened June 8 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the Basilian Fathers in Canada. It tells the stories of people like Ostap as well as other monks, priests, bishops, nuns and lay people who devoted their lives to serving the Ukrainian people in Canada. Through their stories, the exhibit outlines the history of the Basilian order and traces the development of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Canada from 1902 to the present.

Ostap, 83, joined Ukrainian Bishop Lawrence Huculak, Sister Jerome Chimy, former general superior of the Sisters Servant of Mary Immaculate, and Gwen Polomark, a lay woman, in the ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the new exhibit. The three are among only a few living people with exhibit stories in the Basilian museum. Some 300 people attended the opening.

Curator praised

He also praised Ostap for his dedicated service and noted that the deacon has never been transferred from Mundare since he joined the Basilian monastery at age 17 in 1937. Ostap was a Basilian brother until 1973, when he was ordained a deacon. In 2002 he celebrated 65 years of continued service in the Mundare area.

Brother Stephen Krysak accompanied the popular Ostap around the exhibit, pushing his wheelchair and analyzing the different displays together. The pair spent considerable time observing Ostap's display, which includes a photo of his ordination as deacon and another of him picking berries.

Religious cutouts

The exhibit includes displays on every major religious figure since 1902, including one on Father Platonid Filias, who founded the first Basilian mission at Beaver Lake, Alta., in 1903.

Bishops Nykyta Budka and Vasilii Ladyka, Canada's first and second Ukrainian Catholic bishops in Canada respectively, are also featured. So are all the bishops of the Edmonton Ukrainian Eparchy, including Bishops Neil Savaryn, Demetrius Greschuk, Myron Daciuk and Lawrence Huculak, the current bishop.

There are also sizable displays on Polomark, a former Mundare teacher and volunteer who last year was awarded the Queen Elizabeth Jubilee Medal for outstanding community service, and Alexandra Chmilar, a renowned cook and Church volunteer who served her community faithfully and well.

The exhibit also portrays the life of Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytskyi, who headed the Ukrainian Catholic Church from 1900 to his death in 1944. It was Sheptytskyi who sent the first Basilians to Canada.

"It's absolutely beautiful; it has so much history," said teacher JoAnn Dubyk as she admired the display on Huculak.

"It's beautiful, very well organized and very educational," said Sister Aloysius Safranovich, a retired schoolteacher who has been living at St. Joseph's Convent in Mundare for the past two years.

The 90-year-old nun couldn't believe her eyes when she found a photo of her parents on a display on the Chipman church. "This is so rich in history," she said.

"I'm thrilled to have found a photo of my parents here. It's incredible."

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