Local Ukrainian church offers to bless cars, spread awareness on road safety

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This article was published 07/08/2022 (1221 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s not “magic” and it won’t protect you from getting a speeding ticket, but having a blessed car can add that extra level of confidence on the road, says Father Ihor Shved.

On a cloudy Sunday afternoon, Shved sprinkled holy water on about 50 vehicles in the parking lot at Sts. Vladimir and Olga Cathedral in William Whyte as more than 100 attendees watched on. It’s a ritual he oversees about once a year, a chance to remind people to drive with caution, treat other drivers with respect and follow the rules of the road.

For some, those rules — at least anything Winnipeg-specific, think: red light cameras — are brand new. Several of the vehicles belonged to Ukrainian families fleeing war in their home country.

Taras and Khrystyna Pivniak arrived in Winnipeg just last month. Their newly-blessed vehicle, a white Chrysler minivan, was purchased three days ago. It was badly needed; they have five kids.

“It’s very exciting,” said Khrystyna. And the timing of the blessing couldn’t be better. “Right in time,” she said.

The Pivniak family lived in Kyiv before escaping the war. They were in Austria for four months but were eager to get to Winnipeg, where they already have friends.

While glad to be in Canada and now settling well into their temporary apartment, friends and family still in Ukraine are constantly on their minds.

“It’s good that we are able to start a life here but our hearts and souls are in Ukraine,” says Khrystyna. “It’s very hard to relax because of the war.”

Their kids are glad to be making new friends in Winnipeg, happy to have other Ukrainian speakers to play with. They’ve made such good friends that one non-relative youngster slipped into a family picture taken by a Free Press photographer and fit right in.

Their family didn’t want to exclude him, they laughed.

Another newcomer family also brought their recently-purchased vehicle to the blessing.

Anatolii Babenko proudly stood next to his family’s five-day old vehicle, holding his nine-month-old son, Sviatoslav, up high as Shved blessed the van. His wife, Mariana, said Anatolii will be the main driver as they get used to driving in Winnipeg. The family comes from Ternopil, a city of about 200,000 people in western Ukraine.

Babenko, who is learning English, said he was “very happy” to have the vehicle blessed.

Shved said the church is supporting more than 100 newcomers. They have received much-needed donations from the public but they are always looking for more kitchen utensils and bedding, he said.

He also invited Winnipeggers to join newcomers at the church for coffee and tea after service on Sundays, giving people a chance to make new connections.

As for the Pivniak family, they say they are very grateful to the church for helping them get the items they need — and those the kids want. Their children, ages 1 to 12, were only able to bring one or two toys each from Ukraine.

“No Lego,” for instance, said Khrystyna. “We left everything in our apartment.”

The kids clung to the toys during travel, Khrystyna said. But now, they have so many toys, they’re overtaking the apartment.

“No more toys,” she joked.

katrinaclarke@freepress.mb.ca