St . NICHOLAS Parish – Парафія св. о. Миколая

The land for the church was purchased in 1927 and six acres were donated to the parish by Frank Askin in 1930. The church was built in 1930-1931, and the parishioners all volunteered to work on the construction in order to defray the cost of building. The nearest available lumber was in British Columbia and had to be freighted in by train, and then unloaded and hauled to the building site by the parishioners. The interior furnishings were donated or built by the parishioners, including the hand-carved altar by Roman Veres. There are 2 acres of land for the cemetery, which was incorporated in 1933. St. Nicholas Parish in Carvel is using the Julian calendar. A priest came from Edmonton four times a year and stayed overnight in the homes of the parishioners. In the absence of the priest, the cantor was leading the faithful in prayer. When Bishop Basil Ladyka came to bless the church in May 1936, he was escorted the mile and a half to the church in procession by seven riders with banners on decorated horses. In spite of the hardships of the depression, a National Home dedicated to Fr. Markian Shashkevych (Narodnyi dim im. o. Markiana Shashkevycha) was built in 1935. In 1950 the parish bought one acre of land with a residence for the clergy. Fr. Basil Martynyk was the first resident priest in Carvel.

There were 3 vocations to the priesthood: Fr. Josaphat Tyrkalo, OSBM; Fr. Joseph Ostapowich and Fr. Austin Borynec.

The Basilian Fathers served the parish until 1948, providing clergy from Edmonton.

The following eparchial clergy served the Parish thereafter: Fr. Basil Martynyk (1950-1951) Fr. Constantine Stangret (1951-1957), Fr. Yaroslaw Fedunyk (1957-1959), Fr. Bohdan Snihurovych (1965-1986), sporadically Fr. Michael Gural (1969-1974), Fr. Myron Martynkiw (1986-1990), Fr. Mihajlo Planchak (1991-1992), Fr. Peter Lytwyn (1993-1996), several deacons, Fr. Peter Brezden (1999-2008) and Fr. Don Bodnar (2008- 2013), Fr. Slavko Dumeč (2013-).