NELSON IS REALLY IN KELOWNA?

CONFUSED IN CANADA, BUT NOW I UNDERSTAND......

No wonder I was confused when I was planning this priest convocation. The Diocese of Nelson has its chancery and bishop's house in Kelowna and its cathedral in Nelson - miles apart,  Nelson is more historic, but Kelowna is more convenient. 

Bishop John Corriveau, OFM Cap. picked me up personally at the airport in Kelowna, took me to his home for the night, cooked us a nice dinner, invited me to morning Mass, took me out to breakfast and drove me to the retreat center in Cache Creek, a three hour drive from Kelowna.

Bishop John in his kitchen fixing us seafood pasta and salad. 
Delicious!



Bishop John on the left, Father Ron Deckant, OMI, in the center and myself on the left concelebrating morning mass at St. John Gardnier Church next door to the chancery and in front of the bishop's house. 



Catholic Chancery of the Diocese of Nelson in Kelowna.

Below are photos of the well preserved early mission buildings in the area next door to the chancery building.








It is interesting to note that Father Pandosy started his missionary work in British Columbia about the time the Cathedral of the Assumption was finished in my Diocese of Louisville, in Kentucky, in 1852. 



A very determined looking Father Pandosy is memorialize in bronze in the middle of his mission headquarters. 



The main house for the missionaries. 




The little chapel on the mission headquarter grounds.


Below are shots from the car of the area between Kelowna and Cache Creek where we are holding the priest retreat.





In some places there are miles and miles of landscape in this part of Canada with no human footprints to speak of - just rolling hills, winding rivers an big blue skies. Without the roads and an occasional power line, you can see it its pristine beauty as the First Nations saw it hundreds of years ago.