St. George's Ukrainian Parish. (Derek Craddock/paNOW Staff)

By Derek Craddock

ST. GEORGE'S

P.A. Ukrainian church welcomes new Bishop as repairs to the roof continue

Apr 27, 2024 | 8:00 AM

Some much-needed repairs are taking place to a Prince Albert church that has stood in the city for more than 60 years.

St. George’s Ukrainian Catholic Parish, which was constructed between 1957 and 1960, needed some work done on its roof, something that hasn’t happened for around 30 years.

Staff at the Parish first noticed many of the shingles were wearing thin or coming off and they knew something had to happen before more damage took place.

“We figured we’d better get our act together and get them done because we don’t want a leak with all the masonry and the paintings inside that would just ruin everything and you can’t fix that,” said Joe Olesko with the church.

(Derek Craddock/paNOW Staff)

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“It’s a historic building and has a lot of historic paintings inside…we can’t remove them because they’re painted right onto the masonry work,” said Fr. Andrei Kachur of St. George’s. “So if the roof leaked, we would lose all that.”

The church is also installing a new ramp to the entrance and masonry work around the exterior.

Olesko has been with the parish since its current building went up. He was only 12 years old at the time when work was being done on the top dome. He recalls a conversation with a contractor who asked him if he wanted to come up and take a look.

“And I did,” he said. “The satellite station looked like it was next door. Beautiful, beautiful view.”

Olesko said the church wanted to go with a metal roof at first, but realized it was too costly and decided to reshingle instead.

The costs for that were between $40-$55,000, which the church eventually raised.

“We got it all together and people were generous, and we’ll get it done,” said Olesko.

Crews started on the shingle work last Wednesday and it’s expected they’ll finish by this coming Tuesday or Wednesday.

(Derek Craddock/paNOW Staff)

That isn’t the only significant event happening at St. George’s as the congregation is set to welcome the new Bishop for the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saskatoon.

On Nov. 30, 2023, Michael Smolinski was appointed Bishop of the Eparchy by Pope Francis and officially consecrated in Saskatoon on Jan. 20.

He is scheduled to visit the Prince Albert Parish on April 28 to celebrate Praznyk, the church holiday that commemorates the patron saint for which the church is named.

Fr. Kachur of St. George’s Parish said the church has been looking forward to this for a while.

“There’s a lot of excitement,” he said. “I think he’s pretty excited about coming here too.”

The Ukrainian Parish in Prince Albert has been around for more than 100 years. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to celebrate their 100th anniversary due to COVID-19, which makes the Bishop’s visit even more special.

Kachur added it would be great for Bishop Smolinski to see the local parish in person, given how much the membership has helped Ukrainian newcomers who have fled to P.A.

“St. Georges has really been helpful for the Ukrainians and collecting furniture and looking for jobs for them and housing and things like that,” he said. “There really has been a lot of volunteer work from St. George’s.”

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derek.craddock@pattisonmedia.com