MOOSE JAW — My friend and I had passed the sign saying “Ukrainian Orthodox Church” several times over the years.
This time we turned onto the gravel road south of Hodgeville to investigate.
Just a few miles down the road sat a large onion-domed Ukrainian Orthodox Catholic church.
Beside the church was a cemetery with dozens of large headstones observing the passing of parish members.
St. Peter and Paul Church out on the bald prairie was built in 1916, two years after seven families from Ukraine settled in the district. Later another nine families came to round out the settlement.
According to an orthodox church website, the original church was a small rectangular structure costing $l,000 to build. It was dismantled and the current church was built in 1964 at a cost of $24,000.
The church contains an elevated sanctuary, a glass mounted oil print of patrons behind the main altar and glass prints of the Holy Mother and Stations of the Cross
The church seats 100.
Plaques in the chain link fenced yard commemorate the millennium of the orthodox church in 1988 and the 1881 arrival in Alberta of the first immigrants from Ukraine.
The church closed in 1991 after 75 years as the place for locals to worship.
Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
