Oblate presence: 1921-1923 Location: Northeastern Ontario, Canada

Moonbeam is located east of Kapuskasing, (Ontario Province), on the transcontinental line of the Canadian National Railway. The Oblates worked with the settlers who came to settle in this clayey and fertile region, which was populated mostly by French Canadians.

On July 4, 1917, Father Ovila Paquette went to Hearst to stay and five days later he wrote to Father Charlebois, Provincial: “Here I am in my temporary palace.” The Oblates therefore arrived in Northern Ontario to stay, even though their headquarters will be moved several times. Mass is said on the first and third Sunday at Hearst, and at Moonbeam on the second and fourth.

With the erection of the Apostolic Prefecture of Northern Ontario on April 18, 1919 and the arrival in Hearst of Bishop Joseph Hallé, Apostolic Prefect, the main Oblate community moved to Moonbeam in the fall of 1919, and also served Kapuskasing from there.

Then, on February 21, 1921, the Provincial Council appointed the “chief” Father of the Oblates living at Moonbeam, an appointment confirmed by the General Council. Father L. Carrière had previously fulfilled this task and had worked hard for the good of this mission. “As for Father Paquette,” adds the Provincial in his letter of appointment, “you have seen him, in the past, at work in this country. I dare to hope that he will return with the same zeal and, like all of you, eager to continue the beautiful traditions of courage of the Oblates.”

The last letter from the Provincial to an Oblate in Moonbeam (Eugene Duret), which can be found in the archives, seems to be dated February 27, 1923.

Eugène Lapointe OMI