Society
Encarnación, which boasts a Ukrainian Community Centre, an Orthodox and a Catholic church, is the centre of Ukrainian community life in Paraguay. During the late 1930s the Ukrainian Prosvita society organized Ukrainian reading rooms, libraries and community centres. The Ukrainian youth organization operated until 1955. In the 1970s, during a ceremony attended by Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner, a statue to Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko was unveiled in the city. Generally, Ukrainian community and cultural life - with the exception of the churches - has declined in Paraguay due to the emigration of much of the intelligentsia to Argentina and North America.
In terms of religion, over half of Paraguayan Ukrainians belong to the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. Approximately 30% belong to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the rest belong to Baptist, Stundite or Mennonite Churches. There are currently 6 Orthodox parishes in Paraguay.
Read more about this topic: Ukrainians In Paraguay
Famous quotes containing the word society:
“In a period of a people’s life that bears the designation “transitional,” the task of a thinking individual, of a sincere citizen of his country, is to go forward, despite the dirt and difficulty of the path, to go forward without losing from view even for a moment those fundamental ideals on which the entire existence of the society to which he belongs is built.”
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—R.D. (Ronald David)