Bicentennial celebration scheduled
Toronto, Ont. |
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The year 2004 will mark the bicentennial of Mennonite settlement in the Molochna. A celebration of the event will bring together Mennonites and others from around the globe to share in religious services, academic conferences, memorial unveilings, restorations, museum exhibitions, special tours and cruises and other possible happenings.
Planning for the event has been in process since September, when a group involved in the Mennonite story, gathered at a consultation in Zaporozhe, Ukraine and began the brainstorming.
In order to focus the planning, an internet forum and newsletter will be established, and locally initiated consultations in Ontario and California are being planned. Hopes are that similar consultations will take place in Manitoba, British Columbia and in other areas.
The hope is that a celebration of the role Mennonites played in the Molochna will have a lasting and positive effect in modern Ukraine, in telling the Mennonite story and in helping to relieve present-day problems. On the planning committee are, among others, Harvey Dyck from the University of Toronto; Al Hiebert, director of the Mennonite Centre in Ukraine; Paul Toews from the Center for Mennonite Brethren Studies, Fresno; and Peter Klassen, representing the International Mennonite Memorial Committee for the Former Soviet Union.
—Harvey Dyck
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