St. Paraskevia Parish – Smoky Lake (Farms)

St. Paraskevia Parish in Smoky Lake (Farms) is a small Ukrainian Catholic parish built by farming families north of Smoky Lake. The church, located at SW 4-61-17-4 about 13 km north and 1.6 km west of Smoky Lake, was built in 1913 as a wooden church with one dome, and a bell tower was also added. The parish land was purchased in 1912, with two acres used for the church and two acres for the cemetery.

The parish was served early on by Fr. Philip Ruh, OMI, a French missionary who became part of the Ukrainian Catholic Church and was also known as a skilled church architect. The first parish council included N. Kashuba, M. Holowaychuk, J. Netsyk, L. Vitiuk, N. Bereziuk, I. Yakymchuk, F. Lottoskyi, S. Boyarchuk, and P. Boyarchuk. Bishop Nykyta Budka visited in 1914, Bishop Basil Ladyka in 1937, and Bishop Neil Savaryn in 1952, while later services were held about every two months.