Catherina

About the Book

This book leads one through a great odessy of faith and the immigration of a persecuted people, who without a land, followed the teaching of Father Menno Simon, founder of the Dutch Anabaptist movement.  Their history is filled with persecution, hardships, and blessings upon their work. The historic episodes prior to the immigration to Canada are largely fictional.  Many of those stories are presented to allow the reader to understand the serious trials that Mennonites endured.  Catheriina's children, my uncles and aunts told me of things like the stories in the first part of the book.  They probably did not happen to one family, but they truly did happen to many of the early Anabaptists.  For the sake of focus, they are grouped togather around the Fast family.  Catherina, the title charactter of the book, her husband and all of her children are carefully drawn figures built on oral histories, memoirs, family records, and research in archives, cemetaries, and visiting places that were a part of the author's childhood. It hs been a inspiration to live through the lives of these generations.  

About the Author

Monte Fast with Billie, his wife of 50 years, has served as a Pastor, Christian Educator, Bible College instructor, director of a large charity, and is now semi-retired.  He has long been intrigued by the history of his family. His travels took him to Northern Saskatchwan which he had visited as a child. While visiting several historic Mennonite towns and archives, he discovered his direct roots in the Dutch Anabaptist movements.  He was privileged to interview Pastor Ben H. Fast, his oldest living cousin who gave him one of the few remaining copies of his book "From Windmills to Prairies."  He also made connections with the Mennonite Archives in Saskatoon which is directed by a cousin by marriage, Helen Fast.  These priceless resources triggered Monte Fast's research, which results in this second book authored by him.