This month, along with your relatives and friends, we will make special mention of Mother Basilea the founder of the Sisterhood of Mary. A two page biography of Mother Basilea including the history of the first foundation of the Sisterhood of Mary will be distributed at the Memorial Service. The people of the Vang district will take this opportunity to pay tribute to our own Sisters of Mary who continue to contribute to the life of the church and to the people of the district.

In defiance of Hitler, Doctor Clara Schlink (Mother Basilea) organized Bible studies focusing on the Old Testament with groups of women. Twice called before the Gestapo she was released and never gave up her struggle for the Jewish people. During the war she was National President of the Women’s Division of the German Student Christian Movement.

After the war she longed to make amends for the sins of her country. Out of this inspiration came the foundation of three Religious Orders, many groups of Lay Associates, a Central Mother House and Chapel in Darmstadt Germany, a guest house in Jerusalem for Holocaust survivors, several published works translated into 80 languages etc.

The people of Vang are very proud to have a branch of the Sisterhood of Mary in their district. The beautiful Prayer Garden on the shores of Crooked Lake and the ministry of Sisters Eliana and Gordia throughout Central Alberta and beyond is a tribute to the depth of their spiritual training under Mother Basilea and other members of their religious order.
Pastor Louis Morin

As we continue with our usual monthly biographies I would like to remember my father Augustin Morin born on the feast day of Saint Augustine, August 28th 1902 in Montreal. Our branch of the Morins come from a long line of skilled wood workers.

The first ancestor Noel Morin arrived in Quebec city in 1636 and was registered as a cart maker. My brother Michel tells me that Julius Cesar in his history of the Gaelic wars mentions that the Morini tribe to the west of present day Paris had taught the Romans how to build or improve their chariots. A son of Noel became the first Canadian born Catholic Priest and his daughter Marie joined a French religious order of women and was director of the hospital in Hochelaga (Montreal). Through her diary she is considered the first Canadian historian. This published work is available in University libraries. I was able to visit the house, built in about 1750, where my grandfather Laurent was born in 1866.

In 1918 The Morin family consisting of 12 living children moved to LaFleche in southern Saskatchewan. My grandmother Pamela Joncas had lost her father and her uncle at sea when she was a young girl growing up on the gulf of the Saint Lawrence. Both of these men were sea captains and we were told that they perished at sea while rounding the perilous Cape Horn. This was before the building of the Panama Canal.

In 1930 at the height of the depression the family moved to Edmonton where prospects for builders were more advantageous. With many boys working with the father they soon built up a strong business called Morin Bros. Construction Co. which eventually garnered them contracts in Alberta, Saskatchewan and the North West Territories.

My mother Edesse Gauthier had come from Ontario to Saskatchewan where she met my father. After the usual single year of Normal School she became a teacher in a one room school. Later in Edmonton she became an accomplished pianist and taught music theory and piano at the old Jesuit College which later became the Charles Camsell Hospital. My father had a "Basso profondo" voice and he supplemented his income during the depression by singing on Edmonton’s only radio station C.J.C.A. My mother accompanied him on the piano and they earned the handsome sum of five dollars per song.

Someone once told me that my father could have become very wealthy at his construction business. However I remember him as interested in improving the fortunes of others while also earning an honest living at a business that he enjoyed. As a child I remember the visits of Doctor Archer to our home where the discussion centered around providing medical care to those who could not afford it. Out of those discussions came the construction of the first phase of the Archer Memorial Hospital in Lamont Alberta. Last year an old friend of mine, Brother Jerome Blackburn of the Oblate Order told me that one summer my father recognized the needs of his family. His men proceeded to remove the roof and extend the three room house where the family of eight lived. At the end of the summer the tiny house had become the nicest house on 85th Avenue in Edmonton.

I know that Augustin Morin had his faults as we all do. However one important trait that I carry with me relates to the great freedom that we were afforded as children. It seemed that we were all partners within the household.

As a visual person and art teacher I end with two scenes among very many that have remained with me. I remember as a child after the lights had been turned off at night and everyone was in bed, spying my father kneeling in prayer on a leg that had never properly healed after a childhood fall. The last time that I saw my parents together alive was very moving. I dropped in when my father had returned home briefly from the hospital following a stroke. I had gone into the kitchen in our same old house on 111th street. When I returned to the living room they were sitting close together holding hands tears streaming down their faces as they listened to one of the Beethoven symphonies that we used to share as a family on 33 rpm records.

I realize that many other families will be sharing affectionate memories when we meet on the 19th for the Memorial Service.
We look forward to greeting you on that day
Pastor Louis Morin

Nils and Kari-Birgit had stopped in at the Wetaskiwin City Museum to inquire about Vang Church. The museum then phoned Blaine who happens to be a director there. Blaine went over to meet them and then brought them out here. Nils and Kari-Birgit said they live right beside the old Jevne farm at Vang, Norway.

Nils Rogn had a Great Uncle Ole Rogn who was a founding member of our Church. Records show that he was a Deacon in 1899 when the Council first met. Ole Rogn had previously taken out a Homestead on the Quarter Section presently farmed by Brett Jevne. In 1905 Ole sold his farm to the Kvello family with the provision that he would continue living there until he died.

He passed away in 1925. His name is now listed among the unmarked graves at the Cemetery Church Bell. In 1933 Ole's Homestead was purchased by Thomas Jevne, the father of Morris Jevne and Great-Grandfather of the present owner Brett Jevne.

We expect that The Central America Mayan Foundation will be approved by Revenue Canada shortly. Scholarships provided by Vang Outreach have permitted 3 graduates of the Cunen College reach the Master’s level in Social Work, Education and Law. Recently 55 students have graduated with a Teaching Certificate and are able to begin working in the many villages that have not yet had the privilege of Elementary schooling.

Ron Fengstad, our Outreach Director and I have had the privilege of living with Guatemalan families and studying their customs and the Spanish Language.

For more details and photos of Vang and the work in Guatemala please consult our Web Site at www.wetaskiwinonline.com/vangchurch.

We owe a debt of gratitude to Blaine Kjorlien for designing and maintaining this site. Incidentally, people who have consulted our site from Norway, the U.S. and elsewhere in Canada have been able to reconnect with their origins and attend our monthly Memorial Services.

Vang Church extends to all its friends and relatives a Blessed and Happy Easter
Pastor Louis Morin