About Us...
We are the Roman Catholic Parish of Christ the King. Our church is located in Oliver BC, and we also serve mission parishes in the nearby communities of Okanagan Falls and the Osoyoos Indian Reserve.
Father Thomas Kakkaniyil
I am a missionary priest, ordained as a member of the “Society of St. Thomas the Apostle” (MST). This is a missionary society of its own kind, but similar to the Parish Missionary Society and White Fathers Missionary Society. We prefer to work in less christian areas, establish a mission and move on once the mission when it has enough priests of its own. I joined in the seminary for studies at the age of sixteen after my graduation from school and had formation with secular degrees for Bachelor in Philosophy and Bachelor in Arts and Theological studies as Bachelor of Theology within ten years of formation. I became a priest on December 26, 1979 as among the 21 priests who belonged to the first batch of MST . I started my ministry as the parish priest in the Diocese of Ujjain to start and establish a mission centre, which I did in six years. In thirty years of missionary life, I established five schools and one hospital. The schools have between 500 and 4500 students over ten or twelve grades. The hospital has eight doctors plus patient care staff. After 30 years, I expressed my desire to work in pastoral fields rather than missionary work. My preference was Brazil as they had thousands of Catholics to care for in every parish. In preparation, I started to learn Portuguese over three months. Meanwhile, the Bishop of Nelson was in urgent need of a priest for pastoral work. Hence, my society requested me to change my venue, and instead of Brazil, I came to the Diocese of Nelson and have been here since 2009. I have served in Sparwood, Creston and Princeton, before moving to Oliver in early 2019. Normally, we consider our retirement age as 75 or till we have good health. I might be in the Diocese of Nelson till my retirement. So, I am a Missionary Priest of MST from “Syro-Malabar” Oriental Church. Just like Syro-Malabar Oriental Church, there are 24 Sui-Juris Churches under the rule of Bishop of Rome, Pope Francis. The Diocese of Missisaga is the only Syro-Malabar Diocese which cares for the Syro-Malabar Christians. Here, in Oliver, I am a Missionary Priest who is doing Pastoral work. Gods blessings. |
Our Parish
Christ the King Parish is a family joined together in a journey for spiritual growth and strives to be a welcoming and accepting faith community. And just as in any home, everyone in the family has a role to play in keeping the family healthy, happy and holy. Some of these roles are liturgical in nature: active participation in the Eucharist (Eucharistic ministers, Lectors, Commentators, Welcoming committee, Ushers, Altar servers, Music ministry, etc.) and others are more on temporal assistance. With your gifts and talents, I’m looking forward for your presence and participation to make our parish family healthy, happy and holy. For more information feel free to contact the parish office. We can be contacted at:
Oliver, BC V0H 1T0 Click the links below for further information about us:
|
Find Us