Homenuke, James, ca. 1903-1989 : Born in 1903 in Saskatchewan, Rev. James Homenuke was a Ukrainian Baptist minister, educator, radio broadcaster, author, publisher, and editor. He left Canada in 1938 to study theology at the North Baptist Theological Seminary in Chicago, USA, before later continuing his education at North West Loyola University. Upon receiving Bachelor degrees of Divinity and of Science, including a Master of Arts and Doctorate of Theology, Rev. Hominuke returned to Canada in 1946 with his wife Ruth and settled in Saskatoon, where he embarked on his lifelong pastoral career.
He was very active within the Ukrainian Canadian community in Saskatoon. One of his first accomplishments was the establishment of the Ukrainian Bible Institute (1946), the first Protestant theological school for Ukrainians in the area, which became a major training centre for missionaries, pastors, Sunday school teachers and Christian workers. He was also a founding member of the Ukrainian Missionary and Bible Society (1946).
Two of his major contributions to the Ukrainian Canadian community, however, remain his involvement with the Ukrainian Gospel Hour (1948), a weekly religious radio outreach programme, and the Gospel Press (1948), which published religious literature in Ukrainian, such as Bibles, hymn books, brochures and the Ukrainian-English Dictionary by Dr. K. Andrusyshen. He served as a producer and director for 41 years in the former, while he was the founder and manager in the latter.
Rev. Homenuke was widely devoted to his missionary work and headed the distribution of Ukrainian language literature and Bibles free of charge to Ukrainian communities across the world, including the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Poland, Great Britain, and Australia, among others. He was highly respected for the impact that he had on the growth and development within the Ukrainian Baptist missionary field.
Rev. James Homenuke died in 1989.
