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We have over 500 taped episodes of taped programs. Several are listed in our video menue.

By Chris Putnam Staff Writer / Yorkton This Week

JANUARY 12, 2011 03:00 Words from the Bishop airs Tuesdays at 4:00 pm and Sundays at 10:30 am on Access7.Photo by PHOTOS COURTESY OF ACCESS COMMUNICATIONS

Words from the Bishop, the Access7 television show hosted by Bishop Yaroslaw (Russ) Sereda, is a rising success story among local community programming.

But the bishop isn’t one to take credit.

“This program,” he says, “is not my idea.”

Sereda grew up in Yorkton, but left as a young man in 1962. After several decades outside of the province, most of them spent in Toronto, Sereda and his wife Oksana returned to Yorkton to retire.

But it wasn’t as simple as settling down and preaching in his church community, the Orthodox Community of the Holy Spirit Canada.

“A lot of people started asking, ‘Why don’t you get involved in something?'”

The bishop has led an eventful life. He has traveled the world. His family has raised two blind children and coped with diabetes. He has worked in corporate management, as a fire chief, and as a special police constable. He spent time living with native communities in Canada’s north and even with Toronto’s homeless through a street ministry. He has a lot to say.

Through television, the bishop realized, he could reach a local audience of seniors who can no longer read the newspaper, much less keep up with new forms of media.

About a year and a half ago, Sereda approached Access Communications with his idea and was offered a spot on community programming channel Access7. Words from the Bishop has been growing ever since: from one broadcast a week to two, from Yorkton to Melville to soon the entire Parkland area.

The show follows an extremely relaxed format.

We do what feels natural,” says the bishop. “Someone’s phone might go off, or the microphone will fall off, and we’ll just pick it up. We don’t start a program all over again just because something went wrong. People appreciate it, because it’s real.” article continues below

The bishop doesn’t mind being the butt of the odd joke, either. After all, he notes, “They say that if you want to be known in Yorkton, you’ve got to do something silly.”

An episode typically begins with a discussion of current events, both local and around the world. Oksana, who at first was reluctant to get involved, now joins her husband on the show nearly every week.

When a willing guest can be found, most of the program is spent as an informal chat about just about anything: art, philosophy, ideas, events, or personal experiences. A few times a year, Sereda and the Access crew even film a half-hour documentary about local points of interest: an abandoned cemetery, the oldest church in the region, or the ghost town of Hamton.

There are a few topics the bishop avoids on the show. Politics is one of them. And while the program wouldn’t be Words from the Bishop without some chat on religion, Sereda says he is careful to stay away from what he calls “the denominational thing.”

Still, the show provides plenty to get people talking. The Hamton episode, for example, dredged up memories of livelier times at the abandoned town northeast of Yorkton.

“People are saying it’s revived a lot of friendships.”

Word of the show spreads almost entirely by mouth, and Sereda gets regular comments from a large and loyal audience. Recordings are shared across Canada and beyond.

Finding guests is the program’s main challenge.

“We don’t have too many takers. Not many people want to go in front of the camera.”

For the bishop, it’s a matter of convincing people they have something worth sharing. He’s had politicians and event organizers join him on the show, but some of the most interesting episodes have come from guests who simply have a story to tell. Anyone with ideas or experiences to share is welcome.

“We don’t care if they’re 10 years old or 150 years old.”

When it comes to making people comfortable, Sereda falls back on a philosophy he picked up in the Northwest Territories and on the streets of Toronto: “If you live with people, people will live with you.”For the bishop, the program is a public service: a way to keep people informed, and a sounding board for the issues of the day.

“I was told by an old man when I first was in Toronto that if you don’t do anything, you don’t accomplish anything,” he says. “And anything you do, make sure it’ll be a benefit to the community, not just yourself.”NEXTEnter the Wood Dragon Books publishing competition

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