Morden's Ukrainian Catholic Church celebrated 10 years of service on Sunday with a blessing bestowed by the Metropolitan Lawrence Huculak, Archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Winnipeg. Morden's parish is the youngest one in Manitoba.
Community President of the Morden parish in charge of organizing events and fundraisers Iryna Dzendzelyuk said the rich history of the church goes back many years.
"The Ukrainian Catholic Church is our historical church, so ancestors, grandfathers and fathers went and many of them even sacrificed their lives because the church was persecuted by the communist regime which was in Ukraine from 1939 to 1989. But in Canada we -- everyone feels good and we [have] good safety and our church and the Canadian people give it for us; we feel it, we have good future."
She said it was a happy day starting with a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy and followed by a dinner and program filled with reminiscences of the growth of the church over the last 10 years.
Reverend Mykhaylo Khomitskyy leads the congregation in Morden. He said he immigrated to Canada in 2010 then, in 2014 some of the first newly immigrated Ukrainians who came to Winkler, at that time, reached out to him to see if there was a possibility of starting a church in the Pembina Valley.
"The first service was held in the living room of one of the parishioners. After that, they communicated with the Roman Catholic priest and parish council, which they allowed them to use the church at Saint John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church, which we are using. Up to now, at the beginning, with not many families, between 20 to 30 people, maybe 10-15 families who joined regularly."
In the last two years, since the full-scale war has brought many Ukrainians to Canada looking for refuge, the congregation has grown from 15 to 40 families.
"I expressed [Sunday], I wished to keep the same number, 20 or 30 people in Morden, rather than to have a full church because I know what price was paid for that. They came because they were forced to leave their homeland because of war. But on the other side, God has a different plan, so it's not our plan that we are planning, and I try to embrace everyone with love and service, and to serve them because I know they need lots of help."
He said for those finding a safe place in Manitoba, the language barrier is huge for people to try to learn and find work. Having a church to go to in their language and to find friendship and support is very important to settling into communities like Morden. The congregation is grateful for a safe place to pray and worship together.
"With the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we are moving forward and always I'm looking on the church not as a physical building, but I'm looking on the church as the community of the faithful. More than 80%, we have what we need really now. But the building, the walls, it will come in our ministry to create this community and to unite all Ukrainians around God. So that is basically our main goal, to move, but to remember that God is the center of our life. You know when he is in the centre, then everything else will fall into its own places."