Paul Wipf is a Hutterite on a mission.
He’s hoping that by talking publicly about Hutterites and their lives, he can build better relations with surrounding communities and erase the unease sometimes felt toward the communal sect.
“I think it’s time we removed the walls,” said Wipf, a farm manager at the Viking Colony north of Viking, Alta.
Most rural communities would welcome a business with a $20 to $30 million budget, but even after more than 100 years in North America, Hutterites sometimes meet resistance when they move to a community to build a new colony. Wipf believes part of the opposition comes from fear of the unknown.
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“My goal is to remove these fears,” said Wipf, who spoke to a packed audience at the FarmTech conference held Jan. 28-30 in Edmonton.
Farmers, chemical representatives and researchers leaned against the meeting room wall, peered around the door and sat cross- legged on the floor to hear Wipf demystify Hutterite life.
His audience wasn’t just the “English,” the Hutterite word for anyone not Hutterite. The back of the room was also packed with Hutterite men wanting to hear what Wipf had to stay.
“I was on trial,” he said. “(The Hutteritesin the room) wanted to know how I would present them, or if I was just going to irritate people.”
Wipf said if people took the time, they would recognize more similarities than differences between Hutterites and other farm families.
“We’re people like everyone else. We have our challenges. Accept us for what we are and don’t fear us.
“If we start looking for differences, we will never live in peace. If we look for similarities, we’ll work together.”
When asked why Hutterite colonies don’t join forces to form marketing groups or improve their purchasing power, Wipf’s answer was simple.
“The first thing – we are farmers,” he said to a hearty laugh from his farmer audience.
“We are humans. We have opinions and ideas. You know, I’ve been married to my wife for 30 years. I love her, but I don’t always agree with her. We live in this country. We shouldn’t become so powerful we become a threat to the rest of farmers. I think as farmers we should work more together. We could all do more together.”
About 49,000 Hutterites live in 469 colonies in North America. Approximately 340 colonies are in Canada.
The Viking colony farms 7,000 acres with 110 members. It grows wheat, barley, canola and corn silage and raises livestock and specializes in poultry.
The colony is trying to earn additional money from its poultry by deboning and processing its chickens and shipping them directly to Chinese restaurants and stores in Edmonton.
Wipf said Hutterite life is a juggling act – living in the modern world of computers, cell phones and modern farm equipment while trying to preserve their faith, language, culture and history.
He said Hutterites fall back on their belief that faith and community are more important than any individual.
“Without knowing our culture, we don’t understand our purpose. Without a purpose, there is no future.”
The Hutterite religion began in Europe in 1517 during the Protestant reformation. Hutterites are set apart from other faiths by their dedication to a community of goods, in which all material possessions are held in common.
“(But) no, Hutterites don’t share their toothbrushes and the like,” Wipf added.
Hutterites are part of the Anabaptist movement, which believes in adult or believer’s baptism. Anabaptists were persecuted during the 16th century for refusing to baptize their babies and because they believed in a separation of church and state.
Jakob Hutter, the father of the Hutterite movement, was burned at the stake in Austria for refusing to denounce his faith. It was while standing on the site of that execution during a tour of Europe to retrace his roots that Wipf realized his calling: to share the Hutterite story and help bridge the gap between Hutterites and non-Hutterites.
“I was overcome with emotion. Not that so much blood was shed here, but because he had the conviction to die for what he believed in.”
More than 30,000 Hutterites in 103 colonies in what is now the Czech Republic and Slovakia were persecuted, executed or driven from their homes in the 1600s and 1700s because of their faith, until only a handful remained.
Catherine the Great of Russia invited Hutterites and other German-speaking people to her country in the late 1700s, and the community grew again. After her death, many of them emigrated to North Americato start a new life.
Between 1874 and 1877, 1,200 Hutterites left Europe for North America. When they arrived in New York, 800 chose to live on individual farms rather than in colonies and are known as Prairieleut, settling in homesteads in the Dakotas and Saskatchewan. The other 400 started new colonies.
“The challenges for us today as Hutterites is, do you have the strength of your forefathers and their conviction and strength of endurance in trying times,” he said.
“I think this question and challenge is for all of us.”
