Monastery slated for demolition

A Yorkton landmark will be gone possibly as early as next spring.

At a meeting May 15, St. Mary's Parish made the final decision to demolish its 100-year-old monastery, now rectory.

"It's a very sad event in the parish, but it comes to a point cost-wise, it's just prohibitive," said Father Peter Pidskalny, parish priest.

The old building, the first Ukrainian Catholic monastery in western Canada to be built of brick, predates even the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help (St. Mary's), which was constructed a year later in 1914.

Over the last century, it has been residence of the Redemptorist Fathers and Brothers, host to the first National Assembly of Ukrainian Catholic Clergy and a


historical Congress of Catholics in Canada, a minor then major seminary, press building for the Redeemer's Voice newspaper and the first home of St. Mary's Elementary School.

There was even a murder in 1935 when a disgruntled former parishioner, Stefan Ilasz, a Goodeve blacksmith, went after Father John Bala, who Ilasz blamed for his son's death five years earlier. Ilasz shot Bala three times with a .38-calibre pistol, but the priest eventually made a full recovery. Father A.N. Delforge, who had come to his fellow priest's defence was not so lucky. He died instantly from a bullet to his head (please see this week's Crime Diary on Page AX for the whole story).

Terri Lefebvre-Prince, City of Yorkton historian, said it's a shame the monastery has to come down because the collection of buildings-which included the church, the monastery, St. Joseph's College (torn down in 2004) and Sacred Heart Academy (now Gladstone Seniors Residence) all in the same area-represented a unique history that will be missed.

"It's always sad to see any of the historic buildings come down," she said. "The history of the Ukrainian Catholic Church compound is a very important one."

The Church really has little choice, however, said Father Peter. The 30-room residence now houses only three priests and a few administrative offices. It has become far too costly to maintain for such limited use and even just bringing it up to code would be cost-prohibitive.

"It's easy to say you want to preserve something, but unless you have a million dollars to put up, there's not much you can do these days," said Gene Deneschuk, chair of the Municipal Heritage Advisory Sub-committee.

Part of the agenda for the meeting two weeks ago was to consider other, possibly adaptive, uses for the building such as what was done with Sacred Heart Academy.

But even that is problematic, Deneschuk explained. He pointed out that under new building code regulations, all the buildings on the property would be subject to upgrades if the decision were taken to try to preserve the monastery.

In any event, he explained, the committee's job is not preservation, but to advise City Council on the legalities of demolishing historic buildings. In this case, he said, the monastery is private property and does not have a heritage property designation. It is entirely within St. Mary's rights to do with it as the parish sees fit.

Father Peter said they are working toward a target date of about one year from now. The parish has already purchased a new home for the priests, a semi-detached six-bedroom residence very nearby. They are currently looking at options for new administrative space and working out all the other details such as salvaging the hardwood, bricks and miles of copper plumbing.

They are also looking for a home for the historic Redeemer's Voice printing press.