St. Mary the Protectress celebrates centenary

North End

Winnipeg

For over a century, St. Mary the Protectress Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral has been a hub in the heart of the North End.

The cathedral, located at 820 Burrows Ave., is connected to a 72-unit, non-profit seniors housing complex at 800 Burrows Ave., which is owned by the parish and operated by a separate board of directors. Eugene Hyworon is a lifelong parishioner of the church, a past-president of the church’s board of directors, and current board chair of the non-profit seniors’ housing centre, which was opened in 1990. His parents immigrated to Canada from Ukraine nearly 100 years ago, and raised their family in Winnipeg’s North End.

“We’ve been very fortunate, from humble beginnings,” Hyworon said. “A lot of Ukrainians came to Canada, starting about 135 years ago. In Winnipeg, quite a few settled. Communities were being formed. Our parish, the orthodox Ukrainians were meeting each other (here). Their religion bound them.”

At first, Hyworon explained, the parish rented space from an Anglican church on Selkirk Avenue.

“There were enough families interested, and they decided to buy six lots of land way out on Burrows Avenue here, where there was nothing, at that time. In 1925, they incorporated the church, under the Church Lands Act, and they started construction, manually digging the basement by hand.”

The basement was completed by the fall. After putting a roof on it, St. Mary the Protectress Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral officially began welcoming parishioners.

“It was a thriving parish, with over 300 families, because it was the only Ukrainian Orthodox church in Winnipeg at the time. It was kind of the centre of culture and activity,” Hyrowon said. “They were confident enough to build the upper level, raising money from across Canada people would send in $5 or $10 donations. Lo and behold, they built the upstairs after raising a bunch of money and getting a mortgage for the rest of it.”

The parish continued to flourish. Since then, the parish has been home to many notable Ukrainian Canadians, including artist William Kurelek, choir leader Alexander Koshetz, professional hockey players, judges, and at least two clergy members who went on to lead the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada as metropolitans.

In 1990, the parish built the St. Mary the Protectress Villa next door to the church to house aging parishioners and other senior community members.

“Originally, our concept was to build a big banquet hall or community centre. But then as our parishioners aged, we decided to put in senior housing,” Hyrowon said. “Last year, we held a symbolic mortgage-burning ceremony.”

This year, the congregation celebrated its official centenary with a number of events, and will cap things off with a sold-out gala event on Nov. 1 at the Hotel Fort Garry.

“We’ve been fundraising, with a goal of at least $100,000,” Hyworon said. “We’re confident we’ll achieve that. We’ve had strong support from across the country, former parishioners, and local businesses. We’ve had a committee to collect pictures and digitize the history of the parish since Day 1 through today.”

The St. Mary the Protectress parish continues to pay that support forward, acting as a support network and hub for Ukrainian refugees who have come to Winnipeg since Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago.

“All the Ukrainian organizations, a lot of us are involved in helping the people navigate the bureaucracy and get settled,” Hyrowon said. “It’s been kind of hard that way, for many of them.”

For many of the older parishioners, the effort has been a bit of a full-circle experience.

“My wife, she came over in 1950, at five years old,” Hyrowon said. “That was when the Soviet Union went westward, and the people living in western Ukraine were under the Austro-Hungarian empire, where they had it a lot better than Ukrainians under the Soviet empire. So a lot of them left before the Russians got there. And now it’s repeating itself again.”