2006 4(22) - UCWLC

Some thoughts… ìiðêóâàííÿ…times, especially when I don’t understand,but I’ve learned to work at myUkrainian until I do understand. I havedecided to continue learning Ukrainianat university, which sometimes surprisesme because I still remember how I’dthink that once I was done high schoolI’d be done with Ukrainian as well.But I know that I would not have decidedthis if it wasn’t for the everlastingsupport from my parents. Because ofthem with the Ukrainian at home and atschool, I have become a “Ukrainianjunky”, as some of my friends might say,as true as it may be. Above all, even ifthe aforementioned things didn’t matterto me, I would still love being Ukrainianbecause our ‘zabavas’ are the best andmost fun that I’ve been to.As much as I enjoy the heritage andcultural aspects of the Ukrainian culture,religion is a very big part of my life as aUkrainian Catholic. With so many feastdays and celebrations, and preparationsbetween and for feast days and celebrations,religion is a hard thing to ignore,even if I wanted to. The truth is that nomatter how much I doubt or fear my religion,I will always come back to it becauseCatholicism is what I know. Thisis how my parents raised me and what Istill take part in my everyday life. As amember of the St. Nicholas UCY, I wantto do so many things to help the youth inand around Edmonton get excited aboutthe options available to make religion abigger part of their lives. I love going toretreats because I know that I’ll alwayshave a fun and rewarding time, and thatwithin the youth present I will know atleast one person, and have somethingin common with everyone there. Again, Iwould not have started down this road ifmy parents hadn’t placed me there firstand guided me along whether it wastaking me to church or driving me tovarious functions so that I could be apart of the Ukrainian Catholic community.I love being Ukrainian; that’s all thereis to it. All I know is that if I wasn’tUkrainian right now, I have no idea whatmy life would have been like since I lovemy life, culture and religion as it is rightnow.— Joyanne Rudiak, Grade 1116 Íàøà Äîðîãà îñiíü/2006Ollie Guly, is fourth from the right in the second row. Grade 10: 1941-42.school’s 75th anniversary committeeand editor of a book documentingthis history, I had theopportunity of revisiting the pastof an institution that provided mygrandmother, parents, aunts anduncles, cousins and me with aneducation.It wasn’t just an exercise ofdigging through archives. I hadthe privilege of serving on thatcommittee with my dad, my uncleWalter and my cousin (and father’snephew) the late MartinKorban, who shared their experiencesand memories of a schoolso important to them in their formativeyears.Given these strong familialconnections, the 75th anniversarybook’s title, A Living Monument,was a fitting choice.Rarely do generations sharesuch a rich past through schooland church.It’s not often a grandsonmeets his grandmother’s teacher,but I remember encountering SisterNicholas (whose birth namewas also Agatha) Petrushkewichwhen I was a boy. I also got toknow her successors, as principal,Sisters Emmanuel Dzubinskyand Helena Kwasnisky, whotaught my parents and, in thecase of Sister Emmanuel, werestill around teaching (my Sahancousins, Mark, Sandra andSusan, for instance) when I attendedIHMS.Those religious sisters are nowgone—and soon so will theschool’s historic location as ImmaculateHeart of Mary embarkson a new journey to a new site.But as my parents’ 50th anniversarycelebration illustrated, thespirit of the school still surroundsus.In addition to three generationsof our family present, therewere such friends present asIHMS director, Sister Anne Pidskalny;Deacon Victor Humniskiand Dr. Bronislaw Gorski, whohave current and past connectionsto the IHMS board of directorsrespectively; and Winnipeg DeputyMayor Mike Pagtakhan (andthe city councillor for the PointDouglas ward in which my parentslive), a member of theschool’s new building committee.As it has been for the past century,the St. Nick’s-IHMS connectionto our family remainsstrong and alive.Ottawa journalist Christopher Gulywrites for several publications, includingReader’s Digest and the Los AngelesTimes, and is a member of the CanadianParliamentary Press Gallery.