Church History
The present Church of the Ascension, which now serves a total of over 900 families and individual households, came about through the amalgamation of two established churches, one in Qualicum Beach and the other in Parksville. Funds were raised within the two churches to acquire several acres of land, from the Mulholland family of Duncan, on which the present church was built in 1969.

St. Theresa - Church of the Little Flower established at Qualicum Beach on May 19th, 1935 and St. John Vianney established at Parksville on Dec. 19th, 1948, were the two churches that preceded the Church of the Ascension.

Church of the Little Flower

One priest looked after both of these churches and provided services that extended into the community well beyond the parishes. An example of this was Father Bullock who taught classes at the Qualicum College and among other things initiated a local ambulance service which travelled to hospitals in Comox and Nanaimo.

The first parish priest of the Church of the Ascension was Father Jan Planeta who came here in February 1968 to see the present church built and established. Unfortunately his time as the parish priest was cut short by a tragic motor vehicle accident near Nanoose in the fall of 1969 when he and two other persons lost their lives.

Father Planeta was followed by Father Kevin Wiseman who came here in June 1970. Father Wiseman was the parish priest for fourteen years and he left in 1984. During his time here, Knox United Church shared Ascension's premises for Sunday worship until their new building was completed on Pym Road in Parksville. In 1981 there was an addition made to the church hall to meet the needs of the ever growing parish.

It is noteworthy that both Father Planeta and Father Wiseman had been prisoners of war during World War II. Father Planeta, a priest at the time, was imprisoned in the infamous Dachau from 1939 until 1945 when U.S. Forces freed the prison camp. Father Wiseman, a student priest at the time, was imprisoned in France from 1940 until 1944 when France was liberated by the Allied Forces.

Father Wiseman was followed by Father Paul Blanchard in 1984, who in turn was followed by Father Ray Cunningham, a native of Nanaimo, in August 1987. He served as a priest in Port Alberni prior to becoming the Pastor at the Church of the Ascension. Once again to meet the needs of this growing parish, a further addition was made to the church hall in 1992, with offices, activity rooms and storage rooms being added.

Father Cunningham because of poor health retired in May of 1997 and the parish was without a pastor for the next 14 months. In the ensuing interval the staff and council did an excellent job administrating the parish until a replacement pastor was named. There were priests who came for most of the weekend liturgies though lay services were held on some weekends.

Father Michael Favero, was appointed to the parish in August 1998. Father Michael was ordained in 1992, after which he served as an assistant in Campbell River and looked after the communities of Gold River and Tahasis. In 1994 he was appointed to the far north of the Island to serve the communities of Alert Bay, Port Alice, Port Hardy, Port McNeill and Zeballos. Father Michael in serving these remote communities put 98,000 kilometres on his truck in two and a half years. He welcomed the challenge of his appointment to this large parish with less mileage, The Church of the Ascension.

Father Jozef Kobos SDS was born in Poland October 16th, 1949. He joined the religious order of the Salvatorian Fathers and was ordained to the Priesthood on April 13th, 1977. He served as a pastor in Poland until 1990 when he moved to the United States where he served in Chicago, New Jersey and New York. In 1995 Fr. Jozef was transfered to Cranbrook, B.C. and on January 6th, 1996 he was assigned as pastor to Sparwood & Elkford. In 1998 Fr. jozef was reassigned to Kasslo and then in 1999 he was relocated to Vancouver Island to become pastor to Chemainus & Ladysmith. Father Jozef was appointed to the Church of the Ascension on January 15th, 2004.