The town of Radway is located 77 km. northeast of Edmonton. The first Ukrainian settlers arrived at the turn of 1900. The beginnings of the Parish go back to 1910 when T. Wenger donated 4 acres of his land for the church and the cemetery. The title of the property was originally issued for: Bishop Nykyta Budka, T. Wenger, H. Sulyma, and I. Faryna. In 1918 Bishop Nykyta Budka during his visitation in Radway asked the faithful to reconsider and transfer the possession to the Ukrainian Catholic charter in Alberta.
The church and the cemetery are located 3 km. south of Radway. The contractor of the church building was P. Harapniuk having the support of T. Wenger, I. Faryna, I. Sulyma, H. Sumka, I. Kozowy, A. Kowal, and other volunteers. The church (45’ x 24’) was completed in 1914, and Fr. Philip Ruh, OMI did the inside finishing work. Paintings were done by Peter Lypynsky in 1931. Bishop Basil Ladyka consecrated the church on May 29, 1932.
A new church hall was built in the 1950s when Fr. Volodymyr Zholkewych was the parish priest. The Basilian Fathers built a rectory in 1940 and 2 priests were assigned to live there and serve the surrounding parishes and missions. After the Basilian Fathers, the residence and the land were purchased by the Parish in 1954.
In 1981 the parishioners, together with their parish priest Fr. Michael Kowalchyk, celebrated their 70th Jubilee and invited Bishop Demetrius Greschuk of Edmonton and Bishop Jerome Chimy of New Westminster (a native of Radway) to concelebrate on this occasion. A dinner with speeches and greetings concluded the celebration.
The Parish was always proud of the positive work of the UCWL in their midst. BUCC and UCYC were also active in earlier days. In 1973 the Parish donated 2 acres of land to the Roman Catholic Sisters for a future hospital. The Sisters sold the land without building a hospital. It was a very disappointing situation for all the parishioners.
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GPS Co-ordinates: 54.036125, -112.952485
Affiliation: Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Edmonton
