I was in North Bay this morning to preside a special Mass with the Sisters of Saint Joseph, as they celebrate their jubilarians. It is amazing to consider that these few ladies (6 in total) had together given more than 400 years of service to others. They deserve all our appreciation.
I had the afternoon to myself for the drive home, so I decided to take a detour through the French River area. I turned off at the Cache Bay exit, and continued on the road to Caderette, where I saw this lovely croix de chemin (roadside cross):
I don't know who owns it, or even whose land it is on, but I'd be interested to find out. If anyone knows, please let me know!
From there I turned south towards Noëlville. I passed by a road sign for Camp Noronto, which is associated with a group called the Community of Christ, which is apparently of Mormon origin but which believes in the Trinity as traditionally understood. It is interesting to see who your spiritual neighbours might be!
Continuing on my way, I arrived at North Monetville.
To be honest, from my car I didn't see much in the way of a village, but they do have both a public school and a local community centre, so I can see that the place has some importance to the area.
I am curious about the school, as this area was (as I understand it) typically French, so the school would normally be French-language and Catholic. And yet, this is an English public school. I'll have to look into the history a bit more.
As I continued south I came to the turnoff for Dokis Reserve Road. I decided to take it, as I had never been to
Dokis First Nation before. The road is pretty rough... 20 km at least of dirt road with some gravel. But with the fall colours the drive was absolutely gorgeous.
Finally I arrived, and since I wasn't there with any plans I just headed to the church to see where it was and what it looked like. Then I turned around and headed back to the highway south.
My next encounter was with Monetville proper:
Again, there wasn't a whole lot in terms of "village", but I did notice a sign for a historical marker so naturally I had to stop.
Here is a closeup of the plaque (in English and French):
Interestingly, the plaque shows how the Catholic faith of the people was so intertwined in their lives: Cyrille Monette had gone to minor seminary (where he met Louis Riel), the first Mass was said in a private home in the area, and Cyrille left in 1910 after a dispute about to location of the first church! Ah, les guerres de clocher... I wonder what that was really all about.
Finally, 112 km later from Cache Bay, I made it to Noëlville.
You can see the shadows were starting to get long as the afternoon wore on. This road sign presented me with a choice: turn left and so further south to Alban, or go right and head north and back to highway 17?
I decided to go north. Again, it was a lovely drive. I passed the West Arm of Lake Nipissing, which isn't really a settlement but which does have concentration of cottages as well as the
West Arm Lodge and Restaurant (where I have eaten before, and it was amazing). Continuing north I got to Saint-Charles proper:
I drove passed our church there and kept going north, making it to Hagar:
You can see how the shadows were growing, as the sun is setting earlier and earlier! But I decided to press on to one more location. I crossed the highway and continued until...
And that is where the highway stopped! So I turned around and "set my face" for Sudbury. And given the time of day, the sun was in my face the whole way :-)
I have been trying to do a sociological map of the diocese ever since I got here. Google Maps is pretty good, but sometimes it assigns names to places that don't really mean much, so you really have to go and see yourself. Given the size of the territory it has taken a while, and I had not yet had a chance to really explore the whole French River / St-Charles area. I'm glad I took the time. I was a gorgeous day, and the fall colour were in their full glory.
Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving everyone!
