In memory of Fr. Steven Basarab
Reverend Father Steven Basarab has reposed in the Lord on July 5, 2024. Fr. Steven was ordained a priest at St. Nicholas parish on June 3, 1990 by Bishop Jerome Chimy, OSBM.
Parastas – Thursday, July 25 at 6:00 PM at St. Joseph’s Catholic parish (9731 Elm St, Chemainus BC).
Funeral Divine Liturgy – Friday, July 26 at 10:00 AM at St. Joseph’s Catholic parish). Reception at the parish hall to follow.
Burial – following the reception the burial will take place at St. Michael and All Angels Cemetery (9489 Chemainus Rd).
May our Lord place Fr. Steven’s soul in the place where all the saints abide, and may his memory be everlasting ~ Вічная Пам’ять!
In memory of Fr. Steven Basarab
I would like to thank the local pastor, Fr. Joseph Thomas and the entire St. Joseph’s Catholic Parish community for having us here today. Thank you for preparing such a reception for all of us. Thank you for welcoming Fr. Steven into your parish one last time.
Fr. Steven suffered from many illnesses and this was how I met Fr. Steven shortly after I was ordained a priest and arrived in Vancouver some 15 years ago. I think I met him on one, maybe two, occasions, but I could tell that he was suffering.
I didn’t see much of Fr. Steven as he was getting medical treatments. He spent some time in Saskatoon when he was under the care of the Sisters of St. Joseph who were looking after him until he was well enough to return home.
After Fr. Steven returned home, he settled in Duncan where I visited him along with our Bishop at the time, M. Rev. Ken Nowakowski. But I wouldn’t necessarily say that we kept in touch much as much as we would have liked, as I lived in New Westminster at the time. And besides being brothers in priesthood, our friendship was more professional as pertaining to our ministry.
Everything changed when I was transferred to St. Nicholas parish in Victoria (Fr. Steven was ordained at St. Nicholas on June 3, 1990) and after that I was appointed to St. Michael parish in Nanaimo.
So, about 6 years ago I started taking weekly trips from Victoria to Nanaimo. And guess what’s halfway between Victoria and Nanaimo? Duncan. And guess who lived in Duncan? Fr. Steven.
Duncan became home to Fr. Steven. He settled in Duncan Manor. He found a community at St. Edward the Confessor parish and started to attend meetings of the Knights of Columbus and serve as their Chaplain. I want to say thank you to all of you for welcoming him and for making him feel at home.
There was only one thing that Fr. Steven was missing and that was his Ukrainian heritage. Something that was “in his blood”, as he would often say. And what he was missing is an opportunity to celebrate Divine Liturgies and other services in a Ukrainian Catholic setting. And that opportunity became a reality 6 years ago when I was appointed at St. Michael’s parish in Nanaimo.
Shortly after that I reached out to Fr. Steven and we made arrangements for a Saturday pickup. Communication was a bit of a challenge as Fr. Steven didn’t have a cell phone until a year ago. It took another month or so for him to figure out how to send text messages from his phone. He was a late bloomer 🙂
Having Fr. Steven with me was like having an assistant priest. Sometimes he was an assistant priest and sometimes I was. And when I was under stress, Fr. Steven was always there for me. Even when I was not asking. But he knew. After all, Fr. Steven had so much more pastoral experience than I did.
Before going on medical leave, he served in a number of parishes across BC including Kamloops, Vernon, Grindrod. He substituted in many others. And over the years, when I would meet his former parishioners, they all had only good things to say about Fr. Steven.
St. Michael’s parish in Nanaimo became like home to Fr. Steven and the parishioners became this family. Thank you for caring for Fr. Steven all these years, for driving him on Saturdays to the parish, especially more recently after I was transferred from Nanaimo.
Fr. Steven was a completely different person from the person I met 15 years ago. And to me this was the real Fr. Steven, and not the one from the past. I remember one Saturday Fr. Steven became a part of my homily when I was talking about people we meet and changes they make in our lives, and I said something like “Fr. Steven was hitchhiking to Nanaimo … and I picked him up because he looked so harmless …” When I carefully turned around, I saw him laughing, genuinely laughing. Later it became our go-to joke.
But besides missing being a part of the parish life there was one other thing that he was missing and that was time together with his brother priests. So, he was always looking forward to spending time with us at conferences and retreats, to be in our company and he was always excited. Dear Bishop Michael, dear fathers, all I can tell you is that Fr. Steven had a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for you all.
Fr. Steven was a kind, gentle, loving and caring priest. Those who knew him, especially those who would receive an email from him can confirm that Fr. Steven would always finish his emails, or Facebook posts and text messages with the phrase “God is love”. That’s the message that he was preaching with his life.
So, I think that it’s only appropriate to conclude this chapter of Fr. Steven’s life with the words “God is love”, because now he’s beginning the next chapter of his life where the God of love will be his companion for eternity.
“Grant, O Christ, that Your servant Steven who has gone from this life to You, may be received in Your unspeakable glory where happiness reigns and the sound of pure joy is always heard.”
– by Fr. Yuriy Vyshnevskyy
