INUVIK - Father Stan Blaszkowski's favourite part of the holiday season is the Christmas vigil, and this year he'll be celebrating it in Tuktoyaktuk.

Father Stan Blaszkowski, the priest in residence at Inuvik's Our Lady of Victory Church since September, is preparing for his Christmas service in Tuktoyaktuk. - Katie May/NNSL photo

The priest at Inuvik's Our Lady of Victory Roman Catholic parish is getting ready to fly to Tuk on Dec. 23 to perform the Christmas mass and then to Paulatuk on Dec. 30 for New Year's reconciliation services. Previous trips to both communities have led him to look forward to feasts of fish.

Blaszkowski, who grew up in north central Poland, moved to Canada 31 years ago and joined the archdiocese of Edmonton. When he turned 75 this year, he was forced to resign according to diocese rules, "but God blessed me with good health and I'm still full of energy," he said, so in September he came to Inuvik, also serving parishioners in Tsiigehtchic, Paulatuk and Tuktoyaktuk.

He usually gets a ride to Tsiigehtchic every Sunday, but tickets to Tuk and Paulatuk only come once every two months.

Blaszkowski said the last time he visited those communities, in October, he was pleased to discover widespread appreciation for one of the things he loves most - outside of the Church.

"I'm not only a fisher of men, but a fisherman too - I like angling," he smiled, explaining the people he met shared his passion.

"They offered me good fish. For the first time in my life I ate Arctic char in Paulatuk," he said.

"In Tuk they had very nice, very tasty herrings. They're much bigger than those in the Baltic Sea."

He said fishing fits well with his priestly duties.

"I've found it is a very good hobby because it's not only giving you a chance to relax and pray and meditate - because you are sitting, watching - but you have a big excitement watching what is going on under the ice," Blaszkowski said.

"It is beneficial, too, because usually half of my deep freeze was filled with fish. But here people are very generous ... I got some fish from Tuk, I got some fish from Paulatuk and I got some fish from Tsiigehtchic, so till now I'm fine for fish."

Back in Poland, Blaszkowski would relish the carp served as the main dish at traditional Christmas feasts, though he doesn't expect to find any here.

"What they prepare, I will eat. And I hope they prepare fish because they know I like fish," he said.

Regardless of the spread, Blaszkowski is looking forward to marking the birth of Christ with the coastal communities of the Delta.

"Christmas time is the most beautiful," he said. "It's nice if the people are longing to have this celebration and I would like to fulfil their dreams," he said.