Records indicate that the Kusch family were the first Catholics to settle in Saskatoon. They and their seven children came to Saskatoon with a Temperance Colony from Ontario. Mrs. Kusch gave birth to five more children after they settled in Saskatoon. The Kusch family had been devout Catholic Churchgoers in Ontario, but because there was no Church in Saskatoon, they had to wait until a traveling priest stopped in order to celebrate Mass. Whenever a priest came through from Duck Lake or Prince Albert, the Kusch family would invite all of the other Catholics to their home and Mass would be said in their kitchen.
As time went on, the Catholic population grew, and it became impossible for all of them to congregate in one small house. One day, an Oblate priest, Father Emard, and two Oblate brothers happened to stop in at the Kusch home. The Oblate priest was an avid gopher hunter, so after Mass, he asked Mr. Kusch if he could shoot a few gophers on the Kusch land. He had a wonderful time in the warm September sun, and as he looked around at the incredible beauty of the Saskatoon riverbank, he thought, “This would be a great place to build a church!” He immediately went back into the house, offered Mr. Kusch a cheque, and began planning Saskatoon’s first Catholic Church.
All the able-bodied Catholics, young and old, volunteered to help build the little Church, and as the building proceeded, the priest lived with the Kusch family, and the two brothers stayed in a tent in the backyard. St. Paul’s Church was opened in 1903. The number of the first congregation is a little uncertain-some records say it began with three families-some say with 59 people-given the fact that they were all good Catholics, both could be true! By 1909, the little Church was bursting at the seams, and in July of 1910, Sir Wilfred Laurier (shown in the photo at right) laid the cornerstone of the present-day St. Paul’s Cathedral. Interestingly, Emmett Hall was an altar boy at the first mass celebrated in that building.
In 1906, a typhoid epidemic hit Saskatoon, and 160 people were reported to have typhoid fever. There was only one small makeshift hospital that had been set up during the Northwest Rebellion, but very few medical personnel were on hand to help the sick. The only Catholic registered nurse in the area had died of typhoid fever a year earlier. Father Vachon, who was the pastor at St. Paul’s Church was beside himself, because so many people seeking care had come to him. He filled up his tiny rectory with eight makeshift beds, and he did his best to help his dying parishioners. Every day, he prayed to God to send a miracle to help save the people. One Sunday, it happened that two Grey Nuns who had been sent on a begging mission by their Superior stopped off in Saskatoon to go to Mass before returning home to St. Boniface. After Mass, they walked over to the Rectory to introduce themselves to the priest. They knocked on the door, and Father Vachon opened it. One of them said, “Hello Father, I am Sister Phaneuf and this is Sister Guay. We are Grey Nun nurses from-“ At that point, Father Vachon interrupted them. His eyes filled with tears as he fell to his knees, raised his arms and said, “Thank you, Dear Lord; you have sent me my miracle.” The two sisters stayed on after receiving permission from their Superior, and were instrumental in setting up the first St. Paul’s Hospital (photo above) in Saskatoon, an institution that would be owned by the Grey Nuns for the next 92 years.
In the beginning, the Saskatchewan school system was largely based on the system that was in place in Ontario. All schools were founded on Christianity, and they were either Protestant or Catholic. Whoever had the greater numbers formed the Public school board; the words “Catholic” and “Separate” were not interchangeable. So, in places like Gravelbourg, where the majority was Catholic, the Catholics formed the Public School Board, and the Protestants formed the Separate School Board. In Saskatoon, where the minority was Catholic, a Catholic Separate School Board was formed. These separate school boards, whether Protestant or Catholic, were protected by law; in other words, because Separate schools were operating legally when Saskatchewan entered Confederation in 1905, then, “by law”, they were entitled to their share of the school taxes. By 1910, there were 86 Catholic school-aged children in Saskatoon
and many of their parents had come from Ontario and Quebec where Catholic schools were firmly established. This is the story of one such man, an outspoken lawyer who had come from Ontario prior to 1910, and his fight to establish a Separate School System in Saskatoon. Details are sketchy, so the following is a story of how events might have occurred.
There is a story told about a Catholic lawyer by the name of Macdonald, and it may or may not be true, but it makes for an interesting legend about the beginning of St. Paul’s School in Saskatoon. Mr. Macdonald moved to Saskatoon from Ontario in 1910, and almost immediately, began campaigning for a Catholic school. By 1911, three classrooms were set up in the basement of the Church; by 1912, they’d moved across the street, and by 1913, a new school was necessary. Macdonald, by this time, was a trustee on the school board, and he began making arrangements to borrow a substantial amount of money. But he had two problems! The first was in the person of Father Joe O’Leary, who did not want St. Paul’s to carry a heavy debt load, so he tried to get Macdonald kicked off the board. O’Leary called for a police investigation because he believed that non-Catholics and women had been allowed to vote for Macdonald, and that was illegal! Macdonald’s second opponent was an outspoken Orangeman who resented the loss of the school tax that was now being given to the Separate board. He pushed for amalgamation until 1917, when City Council came up with a plan that satisfied both parties. Financial worries continued to plague the Catholic School Board, and if it weren’t for the fact that the teaching sisters worked for almost no wages, the board would have gone under. In 1932, creditors did threaten foreclosure, and Emmett Hall did some fancy negotiating in Toronto to keep the system afloat. As a result of Hall’s plan, the parish sold the school to the board and St. Paul’s School Division stood on its own from that time onward.
Immigrants from the Ukraine began coming to Saskatchewan in the late 1800’s, but it was not until after the First World War that there was a need for a Byzantine Church. In 1917, the former St. Paul’s Church building was purchased for $500.00, and in 1918, the land that St. George’s Cathedral now stands on was purchased from the Separate School Board for $2500.00. In the 1930’s, a large wave of immigration occurred, and a bigger church became necessary. Father Firman, the parish pastor, took it upon himself to collect the funds to build a new church. He went from door to door asking his parishioners for contributions, and he gave all of his own money to the project as well. His people were very poor and many of them could not speak English; if they could get a job during the Depression, it didn’t pay well. But yet, they were willing to give all they could spare, even if they had to eat nothing but potatoes for an entire winter. It meant a great deal to them to be able to practice their faith in the ways of their homeland, with their music, their language and their traditions, and so they were willing to make huge sacrifices. One day, when Father Firman was campaigning for donations, he came upon a family who had absolutely nothing to give, and his companion was shocked when he went into their home anyway. At the end of his visit with them, he did not ask them for anything; rather, he reached into his own pocket and gave them the little money he had. It took Father Firman until 1939 to collect enough to build a new church; it was completed in 1943. The Ukrainian Eparchy began in 1951, when the first Ukrainian Bishop, Bishop Roberecki was appointed; at that time, St. George’s Parish became St. George’s Cathedral.