Molokai Postal Service

Associated Press HONOLULU -- The U.S. Postal Service is considering shuttering a tiny Molokai post office in the remote Kalaupapa peninsula known as a former leprosy settlement, accessible only by plane or mule.

The one-woman Kalaupapa office that serves less than 100 residents is on a list of about 3,700 locations nationwide the postal service announced Tuesday are being considered for closure.
"The post office is the lifeline for the residents out here at Kalaupapa," Stephen Prokop, Kalaupapa National Historical Park superintendent, said Wednesday. "There is no Internet access, no cellphone access. Mail is the only way we can communicate."
Hansen's disease patients were forced into isolation there in 1866, where they were cared for by Father Damien, who became Hawaii's first saint in 2009. About a dozen patients still live there since the quarantine was lifted in 1969, Prokop said. The rest of the residents are mostly National Park Service employees who tend to more than 200 historic structures.
"The youngest patient is 70. For them to not have access to regular mail is extreme," Prokop said.
Mail is processed in Honolulu and then flown once a day to the Kalaupapa office, which "serves the most isolated population of postal customers in the state," said USPS spokesman Duke Gonzales. "We understand especially in a community like Kalaupapa the necessity of mail and what mail means to them."
That's why the postal service is looking for alternative ways Kalaupapa residents can receive mail if the office closes, including using a privately operated office or a mail receiving agency that distributes mail for a larger organization such as a college. Gonzales said the post office won't close without finding a way to give customers access to mail service.
The Kalaupapa post office is an example of other historical relationships the postal service has with remote areas, such a settlement of Native Americans in the Grand Canyon that get mail delivered by a mule.
"There are others that are more remote," Gonzales said. Kalaupapa is "only a short plane ride from Oahu."
The unique way mail arrives to Kalaupapa, where residents pick up letters and packages from the post office, was first highlighted by The Maui News on Wednesday.
Two post offices on Oahu and one on Kauai are also on the list of potential closures. Most of the 3,653 post offices nationwide being studied for closure have so little foot traffic that workers average less than two hours of per day and average sales are less than $50 a day, Gonzales said.

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Fr. Damien Of Molokai

A full TV film (117 mins) at the following link http://bit.ly/ogqvQD

60 Utube videos on Father Damien at the following link: http://bit.ly/qR3CMf

Blessed Marianne Cope Returns

Blessed Mother Marianne Cope’s relic will be on display on topside Molokai May 6 and Kalaupapa the following day. Photo courtesy of bigislandchronicle.com.
While St. Damien is a household name on Molokai, Blessed Mother Marianne Cope isn’t far behind in the process of being declared a saint. A relic of the venerated nun, who served in Kalaupapa with Damien, will be on display on Molokai on May 6 and 7.  Not only did Mother Marianne leave her home in New York to care for Hansen’s disease patients in Kalaupapa and Honolulu for 35 years, but she also founded the first hospital on Maui, as well as Hilo General Hospital and orphanages for children around the state.

“I am hungry for the work, I am not afraid of the disease, hence it would be my greatest delight even to minister to the abandoned lepers,” said Mother Marianne in response to a request to serve in Hawaii, in 1883, according to blessedmothermarianne.org   Topside Molokai will be the first of eight stops on the relic’s Hawaiian tour. Bone fragments from Cope’s hand will be on display on Friday, May 6 at Kalaniana`ole Hall and St. Damien Center. It will be moved to St. Francis Church in Kalauapapa for presentation at 10:30 a.m. the following day.

“I am pretty excited; we know much of the good work she has done especially on Molokai,” said Father Clyde Guerreiro, Saint Damien Catholic Parish priest. “St. Damien blessed Mother Marianne and we have two people on Molokai who have been found to be heroic examples of following Christ.”  After touring the state, the relic will come to a permanent rest at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu. It was the first place where Mother Marianne worshipped upon her Hawaii arrival on Nov. 8, 1883.

Returning to Molokai
The Diocese of Honolulu has been waiting six years to receive the relic. Bishop Larry Silva has been requesting that a relic of Mother Marianne be returned to Hawaii ever since her bones were exhumed from Kalaupapa in 2005.  The rest of Mother Marianne’s body was taken to Syracuse, New York, where Mother Marianne first joined the Franciscan Sisterhood. Sister Alicia Lau, a fellow Franciscan sister, will accompany the relic to Molokai and Lanai.  “She’s the reason we [Franciscan sisters] came here [to Hawaii],” Lau said. “She assured none of our sisters will contract Hansen’s disease. And nobody has. That in itself is a miracle, I think.”

Mother Marianne spent the last thirty years of her life in Kalaupapa taking care of those exiled there, never having a chance to return to her home in New York before dying of natural causes.  During her time there, she helped start the construction of the Bishop Home in Kalaupapa for homeless women and girls affected with Hansen’s disease. She also opened the Kapiolani Home on Oahu for daughters of Hansen’s disease patients.

In order to be declared a saint by the Catholic Church, two miracles must be attributed to the subject and verified by the Vatican in Rome; Mother Marianne has one miracle to her name. In 1992, a cancer patient, Kate Mahoney, touched a relic of Mother Marianne and was healed shortly after. Doctors were dumbfounded by her recovery and she is still alive today.  There is currently one more alleged miracle attributed to Mother Marianne, but the details of it have not been released.  Marianne’s first phenomenon was verified in the late 1990s.  Another possible miracle is being reviewed by the Vatican in Rome, but the details of it have not been released.  The relic comes just in time for her six-year anniversary of being declared Blessed.  She gained beatification in 2005, which is the third step of four in the canonization process.

Mother Marianne’s efforts on Oahu earned her the Royal Medal of Kapiolani. Upon arrival in 1883, the Sister’s first task was to take care of newly diagnosed Hansen’s disease patients at Branch Hospital. A year later, she founded Malulani Hospital, the first hospital on Maui.  Mother Marianne met St. Damien two years before he was diagnosed with Hansen’s disease, in 1884. He was so satisfied with her and her Sisters’ work, he requested that they take over for him in Kalaupapa after he died.

Blessed Mother Marianne Cope’s relic will be on display at Kalaniana`ole Hall on May 6 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. and at St. Damien Center until midnight for prayers. From there, it will be transported to St. Francis Church at 10:30 a.m. on May 7.

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St. Damien relic to travel the Mainland

The traveling relic of St. Damien, a foot bone fragment, is visible through the reliquary’s glass window.  HCH photo|Darlene Dela Cruz  The spirit of Molokai’s saint will inspire Catholic communities from Tulsa to Brooklyn

Oklahoma and Maryland in April. New York and Illinois in November.  A travel itinerary like that seems more befitting of a rock band than a humble saint from Molokai. Yet those destinations are on the agenda for the spirit of St. Damien this year.
Last November, Bishop Larry Silva announced that the diocese would have a “traveling relic” of St. Damien available for veneration. Word of the relic has reached the far corners of the U.S., and several mainland parishes have since requested an opportunity to host Hawaii’s saint.  “The inquiries were more of a personal connection with the person of Damien — as a hero, saint — and wanting to share this with their diocese or parish through veneration, Mass and catechesis,” said Jonila Kim of the Office of Worship, which handles requests for the relic.
Kim recently gave the Hawaii Catholic Herald a list of the traveling relic’s upcoming destinations. The relic will be accompanied to each of the following locations by Sacred Hearts Father Paul Zaccone, who was officially assigned by Bishop Silva to take it abroad.

Oklahoma
The traveling relic of St. Damien will first head to the Midwest to the Diocese of Tulsa, Okla., which has prepared four days of veneration and other St. Damien-themed events April 5-8.  “Many of us have grown up with the image of St. Damien in our imagination,” said Msgr. Patrick Brankin of the Tulsa diocese’s Office of Divine Worship via e-mail.  “The story of his surrender to the will of God and his voluntary exile on Molokai has certainly been a large part of the inspiration of my vocation. I know that the same would be true of other priests,” he said.  Msgr. Brankin said that Tulsa’s Bishop Edward James Slattery attended Damien’s canonization in Rome in 2009.
To share the story of St. Damien with his diocese, Msgr. Brankin has first lined up an evening of solemn vespers at the Holy Family Cathedral on April 5. Veneration of the relic, confession and Mass are scheduled for the following morning.  On the afternoon of April 6, the relic of St. Damien will head to St. Pius X parish. Middle school students from the diocese will gather there to watch actor Casey Groves perform “Damien,” a one-man play written by Aldyth Morris and previously made famous by Hawaii actor Terence Knapp.
That Wednesday will culminate with the relic being taken to the AIDS hospice run by the Tulsa diocese, and then a return to Holy Family Cathedral for veneration and a special Mass with an anointing of the sick.  Msgr. Brankin said the relic will travel on April 7 to spend the day with the monks at Benedictine Abbey of Our Lady of Clear Creek, “a daughter house of the Abbey of Fontgombault, and a granddaughter house of Solesmes,” two famous abbeys in France.
On April 8, the relic’s last stop in Tulsa will be at Bishop Kelley High School. Msgr. Brankin said in addition to veneration of the relic, awards will be handed out for a St. Damien-inspired essay and poster contest at the diocesan school.

Washington, D.C.
Immediately after its visit to Oklahoma, the relic of St. Damien will travel to the Maryland/Washington, D.C. area April 10-12. There, Father Zaccone will give talks and celebrate healing Masses at three different parishes.  “I believe each parish will use Father Paul Zaccone and St. Damien to help us understand God’s purpose for St. Damien and his work with the [Hansen’s disease] community at Kalaupapa, as well as to use Father Damien to inspire us in God’s spirit of humility and service,” said Julie Benjamin of Jesus the Divine Word Parish in Huntingtown, Md., via e-mail.  “Father Zaccone will bring the intercession of St. Damien directly to the people — to place our needs and wounds … upon God’s altar,” Benjamin said.
Benjamin, Jesus the Divine Word Church’s director of religious education, coordinated the relic’s visit to the east coast. As a former Hawaii resident, she is excited about hosting the relic in their community.  Benjamin lived on Oahu with her husband and children from 1991 to 2002, serving as the director of religious education at the Pearl Harbor chapel for four years before her family transferred to the mainland.  During her time in Hawaii, Benjamin visited Kalaupapa and came to admire Father Damien’s work and sacrifice.  “Because Father Damien had been — and continues to be — such an important part of Hawaii Catholic history and its ohana, I came to love him in my love for the Islands,” Benjamin said.
The pastor of Jesus the Divine Word Parish, Father Dan Leary, also has been inspired by St. Damien. Father Leary said that as a seminarian, he read “The Heart of Father Damien” by Vital Jourdain and was instantly moved by his story.  While in the seminary, Father Leary worked with Blessed Teresa of Calcutta and the Missionaries of Charity. His dedication to serving the poor was further deepened by the impact St. Damien had on Mother Teresa’s mission.  “Certain lives of saints are digestible for a young man going into the priesthood. St. Damien is one of them,” Father Leary told the Hawaii Catholic Herald by phone.
Father Leary and Benjamin have been searching for a relic of St. Damien for about six years. Benjamin said she has traveled to Hawaii several times, and Father Leary asked her on each occasion to inquire about obtaining a relic.  Benjamin said she by chance came in contact with Sacred Hearts Father Christopher Keahi during a trip to the Islands in January. Father Keahi was the visiting priest at Pearl Harbor; after Mass, he told Benjamin about the diocese’s traveling relic of St. Damien.  “It was divine intervention,” Benjamin said. “What a blessing!”  Father Leary is looking forward to the relic’s visit and hopes it will also be good to share St. Damien’s story for religious vocations in their area.  “I’m excited,” he said. “It truly is a huge honor.”

Brooklyn and Springfield
A couple of dates are in the works for the relic to travel in the fall.  The Diocese of Brooklyn, N.Y., has secured a stretch of days in early November for several parishes to host the relic for veneration. According to Father Raymond Roden, the relic also will travel to St. Joseph Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y., on Nov. 9.  “Our intentions (for the relic) would probably be to assist in advancing our response to the universal call to holiness, solid vocations to priesthood and consecrated life,” Father Roden said.
The relic’s visit also will mark the successful transition of various parish and seminary mergers in their diocese. Father Roden said that Father Jim Sweeney, pastor of Our Lady of the Presentation Church in Brooklyn, will present Aldyth Morris’ “Damien” play at each of the veneration sites.
Father Daren Zehnle, the episcopal master of ceremonies and associate director of the Office of Vocations in Springfield, has inquired for the relic to possibly travel to Illinois in November. Father Zehnle has been to Hawaii several times and said he is “enamored with Father Damien.”  “I have a friend from college who is from Waipahu,” he said. “When I visited him for the first time in Hawaii a few years ago, I arrived just before Damien’s feast and concelebrated Mass on his feast day at the Cathedral.”  Dates and events for the relic’s visit to the Diocese of Springfield have not been set, but Father Zehnle said he is discussing the details with the pastor of their local cathedral.

New Jersey update
Earlier this year, the Hawaii Catholic Herald reported that a new St. Damien Parish in Ocean City, N.J. had made a request for the traveling relic of St. Damien.  It turns out the parish will no longer be needing the traveling relic for its upcoming inaugural Mass. According to Deacon Joseph Orlando of the Ocean City Catholic Community, the parish has obtained its own relic of the saint.
“Archbishop Edwin O’Brien — the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore and a good friend of Ocean City — has obtained a relic of St. Damien through his contacts in Rome,” Deacon Orlando said.  “The relic is from Belgium and is being presented to us to use at our Mass on April 10 for the faithful to venerate. We will be able to keep the relic here permanently at the parish and use it on feast days and special occasions,” he said.  Deacon Orlando reports that the spirit of St. Damien is alive and well in Ocean City. The merging of three parishes into the new St. Damien parish will officially be completed on March 23.  Plans are under way for more than 20 priests and deacons to concelebrate the parish’s inaugural Mass on April 10. Deacon Orlando said he expects the Mass to draw more than 1,000 people.  “It is going to be a beautiful Mass,” he said.
By Darlene J.M. Dela Cruz | Hawaii Catholic Herald

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Father Damien of Molokai

A century ago Hawaiian blood froze at the very name "Molokai." Lepers waded through this surf to await death. - FROM THE DAMIEN MUSEUM, HONOLULU

As a boy, I heard leopard colony"

and dreamed of joining him for a glimpse
of the big cats with the terrifying skin.
At night, in bed, I'd whisper
"Da-mi-en of Mol-o-kai ... "
each syllable mysterious and transporting,
like "Jesus of Nazareth" or "Tarzan of the Apes."
Stark photographs revealed
the cats' appalling appetite for flesh,
the wounds that never healed,
the wasted, dying, brown-eyed
natives Damien had come to save.
He helped them by the thousands
through their final hours,
knowing his own would come,
a gorgeous head tearing cassock and collar,
limb from noble, careworn limb.

Sahib! Where the leopard walks,
he brushes out his tracks with his tail

My teacher brushed away a smile
at the symmetry of my mistake:
"Like Daniel in the Lion's Den?" she asked.
I thought of that, years later,

walking on the sand at Waikiki
the week they closed the Father Damien Museum,
which I'd stumbled on by accident,
while shopping for sunscreen, my white legs
slippery with coconut oil,
my mind on sunburn and melanoma
an unheroic, uncontagious man.
By then, I knew that both Bacillus leprae and Panthera pardus had survived the flood,
that Hawaii had no cats worth speaking of,
that god's work was stranger than it seemed.
I'd learned, as well, that most of us forgo
the swift drama of the muscled beast
that there are other ways to be destroyed.
I knew that you could walk
for years along the shores of Molokai
and not see what was eating you alive.

by Timothy McBride

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The Recognition of Fr. Damien

On October 11, 2009, Fr. Damien of Molokai, the Leper Priest, was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in St. Peter’s Basilica. He was a rough and ready man with a will of iron and a heart of gold. At the age Christ died, Damien began an unbroken ministry to the lepers on the Hawaiian island of Molokai, a ministry carried on mostly alone, and one from which he would be released only by his death from the same disease sixteen years later in 1889. By that time, Fr. Damien, a Belgian Sacred Hearts missionary who began life as Jef De Veuster, had made his mark not only on the leper colony but, without even trying, on the late 19th century world, which was inspired by his single-hearted love much as the late 20th century world would be inspired by Mother Teresa of Calcutta. But Fr. Damien’s immediate superiors were often less inspired than the rest of the world. Where much of the world saw single-minded devotion, his superiors often described Damien as short-sighted, attached to his own will, and insufficiently grateful for the work of others.
In the end, the Church decided that the shoe was really on the other foot. But because of some of these testimonies against him, it took a long time, nearly 90 years, for Damien’s virtue to be declared heroic so that he could be named Venerable. After that, Mother Teresa and the poorest of the poor around the world took up the cause, continuing to press Pope John Paul II until she was able to attend Damien’s beatification Mass in 1995. It may come as a surprise, but Mother Teresa felt she needed a saint of Damien’s mettle to inspire her Congregation to still greater service.
You can read about what made Damien great in Jan De Volder’s new biography, The Spirit of Father Damien, translated into English by John Steffen and published by Ignatius Press. The book not only provides all the necessary detail to fill in Damien’s life on Molokai and his relationships with his superiors, but it takes a clear look at Damien’s personality, both his weaknesses and his strengths, and ably charts the development of his spirituality from a youthful enthusiasm for missionary battle to a deep serenity which, by the end of his life, nothing could shake.
When examining the life of a leper, the outward flaws of the flesh force one to remember that, even for saints, the interior life also has flaws. A work in progress, holiness is a process as much as it is a fact. Over the centuries, different cultures have portrayed saints in different ways. In some periods, authors and their audiences have been captivated by the miraculous; in others it is the heroic virtue that inspires; in still others, there is a deep interest in the saint’s human side, his struggles, his failures and his triumphs. In a highly critical (and frequently dubious) age such as our own, there is a desire to see what a saint was like in the absence of grace (if that were possible). How much of his life can be explained by his human nature alone?
De Volder does not fall into the trap of attempting to isolate the supernatural, and he certainly has no desire to exclude it, but neither is he blind to the raw natural material. We see the cocky young Damien reminding his parents of their pious duties as if, should he fail to speak, those who had raised a strong Catholic family might not seek God. We notice that he delights far too much, or at least too openly, when his older brother Pamphile became too sick to go on the mission to Hawaii so that Damien was able to take his place. We see his impatience with superiors who, unlike Damien, had to juggle a far wider range of concerns than were represented by the leper colony on Molokai. We overhear conflicts with those assigned (occasionally!) to assist him, even if these conflicts were, in the main, not of Damien’s making. We observe Damien’s competition with rival missionary groups. We share his occasional complaints.
But it is precisely the single-minded devotion to their mission and to those in their charge which make saints so difficult to appreciate by those of us who are “more balanced”. De Volder paints for us a picture of Damien giving his life, wholeheartedly from the first, but still step by excruciating step, to those exiled to Molokai, torn away by force from their friends and family in order to prevent the spread of the dread disease. We see Damien taking great care to protect visitors from contagion while he himself ate from the same pot and shared his pipe with the living dead. We see him administering the sacraments, catechizing and converting, burying the dead (often more than one per day), taking in orphans, driving out dissipation, building homes and churches, attempting new medical treatments, organizing his people and offering both purpose and hope.
We also see him maintaining a life of rigorous prayer, several hours in each day when he would do his best to avoid being disturbed, precisely so he could grow spiritually, retain his resolve, and succeed in doing good for the rest of the day, always suspicious of his own weakness, always insistent on drawing strength from the Eucharistic Christ. And we see him physically isolated, painfully alone, longing for a confrere as his Order’s rule required, often having no one to confess to, almost never visited by his squeamish superiors, frequently misunderstood, and isolated spiritually too, accused of pride and vainglory because he insisted again and again on his lepers’ need of more and better help.
For my tastes, at least, Jan De Volder strikes just the right balance. Damien emerges as a man I can appreciate, because he was a man, yet one I can imitate, because he was a saint. And to return to his superiors one last time, De Volder also gives us a lucid account of the efforts to raise Damien to the altars, the difficulty of overcoming their negative testimonies, and the way in which it was ultimately proved beyond reasonable doubt that the fault was more on their side than on Damien’s. This opens a window not only into the life of a great saint, but into the vagaries of a saint’s cause. It is a reminder that holiness must endure even when recognition is lacking, but that in the Church’s own time and God’s—and not for the saint’s own sake but for ours—recognition too may come.
By Dr. Jeff Mirus
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Riding Muleback to a Forbidden Village: Kalaupapa’s Leper Colony

It was probably one of the most difficult ventures I’d ever undertaken, riding a mule down a 1700-vertical foot, 26-switchback trail to the formerly forbidden village of Kalaupapa on the Island of Molokai, Hawaii.
Kalaupapa National Historical Park’s mission is to preserve the memories and experiences of the past in order that valuable lessons might be learned from them. Since no roads connect Kalaupapa with the rest of Molokai, the village can be approached only by flying in, hiking, or by mule. Visitors must come with a designated group, so arrangements must be made in advance.
When I was a high school junior, I wrote a report on leprosy, more properly called Hansen’s Disease, and learned about Father Damien. Elevated by the Catholic Church in October, 2009 to Saint Damien of Molokai, he dedicated his life to those who suffered that most terrible disease, leprosy. Since writing my school report, Father Damien and the leper colony has held great fascination for me.
By Mary E. Trimble

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Ground broken for Kaunakakai’s long-awaited church

St. Damien parishioners throw flowers into the ditch holding sacred objects from the old St. Sophia Church.

About 300 people gathered beneath a cloudless blue sky at the grass-covered empty lot at 115 Ala Malama Street in Kaunakakai to watch a long-held dream emerge into reality.  The Molokai parish of St. Damien officially broke ground for its new church, also to be called St. Damien when it is completed near the end of this year.  After more than 15 years of wishing and planning and fundraising and designing and negotiating, the black fabric construction fence screens were up, the heavy equipment parked in the back and the building permit prominently posted.  The contractor was there, and the architect, the pastor, the parish building committee, civic leaders, the bishop, and an assortment of happy parishioners, neighbors and friends.

At 9:29 a.m. the old church bell tolled and Stephen Petro, chairman of the parish building committee, introduced the formalities and Bishop Larry Silva.  “It is a joy and a privilege to be here with you,” said the bishop who had arrived that morning on the 8:15 flight. “Let us pray that God will bring this construction to successful completion and keep the workers safe from injury.”  “We plant a seed today that will grow not just a building, but a living church to be touched by Christ’s love for generations to come,” he said.

Sister Helene Wood, speaking on behalf of her Congregation of the Sacred Hearts, said it was “a historic day, because of the spirit and long standing faith of the people.”  Maui County councilman Danny Mateo, who represents Molokai, made reference to the fire that destroyed the old church, St. Sophia, that the new one is replacing.  “From the ashes came dreams, from the ashes came hope, from the ashes came life, a new determination to build,” he said.

It was then the architect’s turn to speak.  “What a great day!” said Frank Skowronski of Haiku, Maui. “We celebrate the transition from designing, dreaming and hoping to building.”  “Things will move quickly now,” he said.  Glen Kaneshige, executive vice president of Nordic PCL, the Oahu construction company that will build the church, thanked the “island of Molokai … for making us feel welcome.”  “It’s been 40 years since we’ve been back here,” he said. “Every project is special to us.”

Assisted by Sacred Hearts congregational candidate Jeremy Sabugo, Bishop Silva then walked around the 16,000 foot lot, his red cope catching the breeze, sprinkling a blessing of holy water.  Roughly near the center of the plot was a trough about eight-feet long, three-feet wide and three-feet deep, dug out earlier by a backhoe.  The pastor Father Clyde Guerreiro explained that the hole, located where the future altar will stand, would be the burial site for sacred objects from St. Sophia, burned beyond use in the fire 12 months earlier.

The first item to be laid on the dirt was the old church’s charred five-foot high crucifix, followed by the Stations of the Cross, carried to the opening in the ground by a slow procession of parishioners.  Parish representatives and construction personnel then grabbed 10 red-handled, gold-bladed shovels and sent spade-loads of dirt into the ditch.  Finally, everyone was invited to grab handfuls of flowers to throw into the hole and the ceremonies were over. The event wrapped up with bento lunches for everyone.

Rose Brito, St. Damien Parish’s administrative assistant who moved to the island in 1945, said the groundbreaking made her feel “very, very jubilant.”  “We worked so hard and for so long for this day,” she said. “I am very excited. I can’t wait.”

The new church is being built where St. Sophia had stood for 73 years, near the beginning of Kaunakakai town’s main drag, between the C. Pascua Store and the Molokai Community Credit Union, across from the U.S. Post Office and the G&M Variety Store and the Friendly Market Center. On the church site is the Damien Center, the former Stanley’s Coffee Shop, now used as the parish office and daily Mass chapel.

Skowronski, of Territorial Architects, said the new church will be made of concrete, which is available on the island, is low maintenance and will make the building cooler.  The construction style will be “tilt up concrete,” where the walls are poured horizontally on location and pulled up to their vertical positions. According to Nordic Construction project manager John Baranski, the process saves a significant amount of time and money.  Skowronski said the church’s interior will be “semi in the round,” “intimate,” “not a basilica.”  The inside has been designed so that sound will carry naturally, he said. No seat will be more than seven rows from the altar.  It will hold 240 people, about 100 more than the church it is replacing. A series of doors in the back can open up to accommodate an overflow of 100 people under cover.  Large windows and louvers will take advantage of the trade winds, Skowronski said, eliminating the need for air conditioning.

When complete, the church will not have ornamentation or stained glass windows, the architect said. “It will be a shell, functioning, legal, in still skeletal form, a very utilitarian building.”  But it will have built-in the potential for artistic enhancement and adornment as the parish grows, he said.  The design “reflects the new liturgy, not replicating the past,” said Skowronski, a Catholic who helped with the design of St. Theresa Church in Kihei, Maui. The ideas for the Molokai church come from the parish building committee, he said.  “The design is mostly theirs,” he said. “We were here to make it work, to make it stand up, to adhere to the budget, to make it happen.”

The church will cost more than $3 million to build. Nordic is an Oahu-based 70-year-old local company. The on-site project engineer is Danyelle Kahanaoi who is from Molokai. Baranski said the company will use as many Molokai workers as possible, though some specialized expertise will have to come in from Oahu and Maui.

The Kaunakakai Church will be the main church of the St. Damien Parish, which encompasses all of topside Molokai. The parish has three other churches — St. Vincent Ferrer in Maunaloa on the west side, and on the east side, Our Lady of Seven Sorrows in Kaluaaha and St. Joseph in Kamalo. Masses are no longer celebrated in the tiny Kamalo church.
By Patrick Downes | Hawaii Catholic Herald

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Damien School with the Relic of St. Damien

Students of Damien High School, youth and young adults of Molokai and the diocese of Honolulu, Fr. Clyde and others, carrying the relic of St. Damien down the cliffs of Molokai into Kalaupapa, where Damien served his beloved patients.
Damien School with the Relic of St. Damien

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Fr Patrick J Bradley, ss.cc.
1934 - 2011

Father Patrick J Bradley, ss.cc. [aged 76]  was called home to the Lord on Friday, 21st January 2011, at his residence in Ranelagh, Dublin.
He was born on 25th May 1934 to Patrick Bradley & Catherine Waters of  Douglas Road, Cork.  He was educated by the Christian Brothers in Cork City.  He entered the Novitiate of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts in Cootehill, Co Cavan and made his first Profession on 2nd September 1953.  Following his ordination on 29th June 1959, he was assigned to teach Theology  at Sacred Hearts Seminary, Jaffrey, New Hampshire, USA.  He returned to work in Ireland in 1964 serving as Director of Fr Damien Juniorate, Clones, Co Monaghan, before moving on to teach Philosophy at  St Patrick’s College, Maynooth in 1969.   During the 1960’s and ’70s Father Pat was very active in leading retreats throughout Ireland, especially to Religious Sisters.  In 1977 he was elected Provincial of the Ireland-England Province of the Congregation before moving to Rome in 1982, following his election as Superior General.  Having served twelve years with distinction in this office, in 1995 he became Parish Priest of Our Lady of Lourdes, Acton, West London.  His final appointment in 2001 was as Parish Priest to the Sacred Heart Parish, Sruleen, Clondalkin where he worked up until his retirement to Ranelagh in 2009.
Fr Pat throughout the course of his life dedicated his many gifts to the service of the Church and his Religious Congregation.  He was insightful, inspirational and, above all, imbued with a profound sense of his life being guided by Divine Providence.
He will be deeply missed by his own family, his religious family and his many friends.

“Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dilis”

Note: Fr. Pat during his time as Superior General (1982- 1994), devoted much time and energy towards achieving the beatification of Fr. Damien in 1995, eventually leading to the canonisation of Damien in October 2009.

The Funeral arrangements for Father Pat Bradley, ss.cc. are as follows:
Tuesday 25th January 2011:  Arriving Sacred Heart Church, Sruleen, Clondalkin, Dublin 22 @ 7.00 pm. 
Following reception prayers reposing in the Church until 10 pm
Wednesday 26th January 2011: Funeral Mass @ 11.30 am in Sacred Heart Church, Sruleen, Clondalkin, Dublin 22,  followed by burial afterwards in Palmerstown Cemetery, Dublin.

Directions:
To Sacred Heart Church, Sruleen, Clondalkin, Dublin where Fr. Pat's funeral will take place. http://bit.ly/f4GlMr Use the Green Isle Hotel on the Naas Rd. as your landmark. The Church is two blocks North of the hotel.  Use Oak Way or Hazelwood Crescent to get to the Church from the Green Isle Hotel.
To Palmerstown Cemetery http://bit.ly/gbwejr Beside M50 Junction with N4. From M50 head towards City centre on N4. Take a right at 1st traffic lights Up Kenilsforth Rd & 1st rt. on to The Dingle Rd. & left into Palmerstown Heights.

Thanks to all who sent messages of condolence and to those who attended the funeral.  May he rest in Peace.

Fr. Pat's Month's Mind Mass will be held at Sacred Heart Church, Sruleen, Clondalkin, D 22
beginning 7.30 pm on Thursday February 17th 2011.  All are welcome. 

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Knight of Molokai

by Eva K. Betz (1897-1968)
Hurricane! Volcano eruptions and fire! Leprosy! Nothing deterred Father Damien from doing the work to which he had been called. Outstandingly big and strong as a boy, he was notably kind as a young man. He needed all his strength and kindness when he went to live at the leper colony of Molokai.
This children’s biography of Father Damien of Molokai was written by Eva K. Betz, a prolific Catholic writer of history and biography books for children. (Introduction from an original dust jacket and Maria Therese)
•No online text
•LibriVox’s Knight of Molokai Internet Archive page
•Zip file of the entire book 98.7MB
•RSS feed · Subscribe in iTunes
Total running time: 3:25:47
See: http://bit.ly/eUAP1m

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Kalaupapa - A Love Story

(Click Here) An Excellent new video on Damien and the witness of his life (

The Mules ride again

A new earthquake-proof bridge on the Kalaupapa trail reopens land access to St. Damien’s remote settlement
KALAUPAPA, Hawaii, Catholic Herald:  Thirteen mules lurched their way down the Kalaupapa trail on Dec. 1 for the first time in nearly seven months.  A bridge on the second switchback of the zigzagging trail leading to the remote Hansen’s disease settlement where Father Damien labored had been washed out by a landslide in early April. The famous Molokai mule operation was left at a standstill while a new bridge was being built.  Financial hardship caused the nearly 40-year-old Molokai Mule Ride to close. But now that the bridge is complete, the company is back in business under a new name — Kalaupapa Guided Mule Tour.

A spirit of gratitude and celebration filled both visitors and mule tour workers on the business’ first day back. “We want to thank all the people who called us to offer well wishes,” said Roy Horner, co-owner of Kalaupapa Guided Mule Tour. Family members are offering their time to help out the business. “Everyone is working for love right now,” Horner said. Co-owner and mule trainer Buzzy Sproat and his employees, called muleskinners, have been leading the mules up and down the trail for the past two weeks to get them back in shape for the rigorous trek. The mules also had to become accustomed to the new bridge so they wouldn’t spook while crossing it.

On the hour-long trip back up the 26 switchbacks, Sproat and his lead mule paused several times to give a break to the line of animals behind him who were carrying visitors for the first time in a long while.  “After standing idle for seven months, they get a little winded,” he said. Sproat and Horner are re-starting the business slowly, with only 10 visitors maximum per trip, compared to last year’s maximum of 15. They are gradually getting the word out that they are back in operation.

With the new bridge completed at the end of October, the Kalaupapa trail is once again open to the public, though only those with a permit or sponsor may enter the settlement. The bridge had been scheduled to be completed in July, but was redesigned for extra strength to better withstand the perilous terrain, weather conditions and weight it must hold, according to Steve Prokop, superintendent of Kalaupapa National Historical Park. The bridge often carries five mules at one time, which Prokop said is nearly equivalent in weight to vehicle traffic.

Engineers drilled eight 23-foot long bolts vertically and horizontally into the side of the pali, Prokop said. These were encapsulated in the concrete abutments at either end of the bridge. “The extra safety feature should enable it to withstand violent shaking of an earthquake or a major landslide,” the superintendent said. He added that in the past 25 years, at least three bridges have been built in the same location. “We wanted to do something longer lasting,” he said. “We’re looking forward to having visitors back from near and far.” The completed bridge cost nearly $400,000, paid for in part by emergency funding secured from Washington, D.C. Prokop called the project the number one National Park Service emergency repair job in the Pacific Western region.

To help keep the mule business afloat during the downtime, NPS hired mule tour employees to help with the construction of the new bridge, hauling cement and other materials on mule-back. Other local businesses were also affected by the trail closure. Damien Tours, owned by Kalaupapa resident Gloria Marks, was hit particularly hard. The isolated peninsula has become a much sought-after destination for pilgrims and tourists ever since Father Damien’s canonization by Pope Benedict XVI last year in Rome.

Marks gets much of her business from the mule tours. “We help each other out,” Marks said. Her business has been hurting for the past seven months, with visitors only able to come in to Kalaupapa by plane. During that time, barely 100 pilgrims and visitors took the guided bus tour around the peninsula each month. Normally, that number soars between 500 and 600 per month. The busy season, Marks said, is January through May, and she hopes business will pick up again then. Molokai Outdoors and Molokai Fish and Dive also offer travel packages to Kalaupapa. Clare Mawae of Molokai Outdoors said while the trail was closed, potential visitors to Molokai changed their plans when they heard they could not hike or ride a mule to Kalaupapa. But thanks to its re-opening, they are adding Molokai to their itinerary. Kalaupapa Guided Mule Tour also continues to offer air travel packages into Kalaupapa, something they began while the trail was closed.
“We want to give people a good experience of Kalaupapa,” said Horner.
By Catherine Cluett

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St_Damien_Mass

A Mass of Thanksgiving celebrating the recent canonization of St. Damien of Molokai, held at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C., on Sunday, January 31, 2010, World Leprosy Day. Homilist is Father William Petrie, SS.CC., provinicial of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, the order of Father Damien.

Duration : 0:3:32
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Father Damien’s St. Joseph Church Rescued

St. Joseph’s Church is awaiting a new spire. Photo by Judy Bittenbender.
Molokai Dispatch: Dec. 3rd: St. Joseph Church at Kamalo is a State Historic site and one of the most visited on Molokai.  Each year more than 4,000 Hawaii residents, visitors and pilgrims visit the church, built in 1876 by Father Damien and the Kamalo community. Today, due to the grace and generosity of many people, this 134-year-old church is being saved, so it can continue to tell the story of Molokai, and of one of its most famous residents, Father Damien. 

In addition to his work with the Hansen disease patients on the Kalaupapa peninsula, Father Damien also served as pastor and church builder for the Catholic faithful who lived on topside Molokai.  Of the churches built by Father Damien, St. Joseph Church at Kamalo remains in the most original condition.  However, due to time, weather and termites the church was at risk of being lost. A windstorm this past April complicated matters by blowing off the cross and tearing a large, gaping hole in the church’s eight-sided steeple spire. Last August, the church was closed to the public to undertake the desperately needed interior and exterior repairs and restoration.  However, only “temporary” repairs were made to the steeple and it was not repainted.  Initial investigation indicated that the church’s steeple was unstable and that an engineering study was necessary.  Additional fundraising is required before the church’s “praying hands” steeple can be repaired and spire reinstalled. In the mean time, the church has now been reopened to the public.

The St. Damien Catholic Parish is most grateful to the following organizations and persons who have assisted and contributed to this important effort to save this historic church:
Kualapu`u Ranch (roofing team, materials, housing and scaffolding), Huntington Beach Roofing – David and DJ Hoffman and Nicholas Sampson (roofing team), Akamai Tree Trimming –Dolphin Pawn and Travis Phillip (bucket truck), SW Carpenter Training Center – Randy Leavenworth and Nicholas Sampson (fabrication of new cross), Evelyn Bicoy and Napua Silva (meals for roofing team), David Ohst (interior/exterior finish carpentry), David Schneiter (power washing, interior/exterior painting), Makoa Trucking – Chris Mebille (storage container), Bugman-Gerry Garcia (pest services), Art Parr AIA (consultation), Dathan Bicoy (consultation), Judy Bittenbender (project manager), plus over  90 off-island cash donors, and Saint Damien parish cash donors. St. Joseph’s Church is awaiting a new spire. Photo by Judy Bittenbender.
There are still substantial costs ahead to evaluate the structural integrity of the steeple, and to reinstall a new top spire. Father Guerreiro and the parish are hopeful that donors will come forward and join the parish in its effort to “Save the Steeple” at Father Damien’s historic St. Joseph Church.
By Maria Sullivan, St. Damien Parishioner

Help Save the Steeple
Make your check payable to: “St. Joseph Church Fund”
Attn: Fr. Clyde Guerreiro
Saint Damien Parish-St. Joseph Church Fund
P.O. Box 1948
Kaunakakai, HI  96748
For more information about the church and project, contact Maria Sullivan, St. Damien Parishioner (808) 553-5181; mjs@aloha.

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New Biography Captures the Spirit of Beloved 'Leper Priest' Saint Damien

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 22, 2010 /Christian Newswire/ -- Ignatius Press has just released a new biography about Father Damien, the priest who is famous for his missionary work with exiled lepers on the Hawaiian island of Molokai, who is now finally Saint Damien. His sanctity took 120 years to become officially recognized, but between his death in 1889 and his canonization in 2009--amid creeping secularization and suspicion of the missionary spirit he so much embodied--Father Damien De Veuster never faded from the world's memory.

What kept him there? What keeps him there now?
To find an answer, Belgian historian and journalist Jan De Volder sifted through Father Damien's personal correspondence as well as the Vatican archives. With careful and even-handed expertise, De Volder follows Father Damien's transformation from the stout, somewhat haughty missionary of his youth, bounding from Europe to Hawaii and straight into seemingly tireless priestly work, to the humble and loving shepherd of souls who eventually succumbed to the same disease that ravaged his flock. "The Spirit of Father Damien" is illustrated with many photos of Damien throughout his life that paint a vivid picture of his work and missionary spirit.
De Volder finds that--as spiritual father, caretaker, teacher, and advocate--Father Damien accomplished many heroic feats for these poor outcasts. Yet the greatest gift he gave them was their transformation from a disordered, lawless throng exiled in desperate anarchy into a living community built on Jesus Christ, a community in which they learned to care for one another.
De Volder says, "I have known Damien since my childhood, as has every Belgian. It struck me that, even in so secularized a country as Belgium, he's still widely admired for what is seen as his humanitarian deeds for the leper-outcasts of his time. Yet, you cannot grasp the meaning of Damien's self-gift without an understanding of his deep faith and obedience: he shows that love for the Gospel, love for the Church, and love for the poor belong together. And Damien's witness has been so powerful that even today his story inspires many to live lives devoted to Jesus and the sick, the poor, and the weak."
To request a review copy or an interview with author Jan De Volder, please contact: Rose Trabbic, Publicist, Ignatius Press,  rose@ignatius.com

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‘Traveling relic’ of St. Damien available for veneration

The reliquary made of monkeypod tree wood from a tree planted by St. Damien on Molokai. The box was made by Maui residents Edwin Ferreira and Allan Marciel.
Nov. 12th: Hawaiian Catholic Herald: The Diocese of Honolulu has a “traveling relic” of St. Damien, available for veneration wherever it is welcome.  "We are putting the word out to bishops,” Bishop Larry Silva said.   The relic is made up of bone fragments shed from another relic, a talus (ankle) bone now on permanent display in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace. Bishop Silva said he was planning to send an e-mail message this month to every bishop in the country to tell them that the traveling relic is available for veneration in their dioceses.
Typically, the relic of a saint would be put on display in a church or chapel for the faithful to approach it, view it, perhaps touch the box it is in, and pray in its presence. The bishop has assigned Sacred Hearts Father Paul Zaccone as the person who “will normally be the one to take the relic to its various locations.” “He will be prepared to give talks and to lead prayers, if desired,” the bishop explained in an e-mail message. Father Zaccone will also arrange for any accompanying literature, art and religious objects that would supplement the display of the relic, the bishop said.
The relic is owned by the Diocese of Honolulu. Bishop Silva said that he would consider future requests directly from individual parishes, convents, monasteries or other church entities. The diocesan Office of Worship would handle requests. The bone fragments are held in a 6-inch by 9-inch by 4-inch reliquary of polished monkeypod wood, and are visible behind a thick oval glass window on the lid. The box is secured by a brass Louis Vuitton padlock made in Paris. It is carried in a donated 16-inch long black leather bag by Prada. The reliquary was made by two Makawao, Maui, craftsmen, Edwin Ferreira and Allan Marciel. The wood comes from a 100-year-old tree Father Damien planted on topside Molokai near the church he built in Kaluaaha, Our Lady of Seven Sorrows.
The traveling relic has already been on the road. When the bishop and Father Peter Dumag visited Hawaii’s seven seminarians at Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon for two days in October, they brought the relic along. It was incorporated into the student and faculty evening prayers. The relic is now in Wisconsin, at Sacred Heart Seminary in Hales Corners, where two other Hawaii seminarians are studying. It was carried there by Father Thomas Knoebel, the seminary vice rector who was returning to Hales Corners after spending several months in Honolulu. Seminarian Nick Brown will bring the relic back to Hawaii.
According to the bishop, the transportation costs of the traveling relic will be the responsibility of the diocese or other entity that requests it. This includes coach class airfare, ground transportation, and room and board for the person accompanying the relic. The relic will always be hand-carried, the bishop said, never mailed or checked in as luggage. “The Transportation Security Administration supervisor at the Honolulu International Airport has given approval for the relic to pass through security,” Bishop Silva said. “Should any agent question it, they can be referred to TSA in Honolulu.”
The original talus bone that is the source of this relic had been in the possession of the Sacred Hearts Congregation in Belgium ever since it was unintentionally separated from the rest of Father Damien’s remains when his casket was opened there in 1956 and his bones catalogued, separated and stored in a dozen zinc boxes before being returned to his tomb. That bone, sealed under glass in a small wooden reliquary made in Belgium, was presented to Bishop Silva by the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts in the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome on Oct. 12, 2009, the day after Father Damien’s canonization in St. Peter’s Basilica by Pope Benedict XVI.
While the relic was transported around the islands for veneration last year following the canonization, small pieces of it began to fall off. The bishop had a forensic specialist chemically coat the bone so it would not shed any more pieces, and the loose fragments were collected for the second relic. Yet another St. Damien relic, the remains of his right hand, lies in the priest’s original grave alongside St. Philomena Church in Kalawao, Molokai, where he was buried in 1889. Father Damien’s body was exhumed in 1936 and carried to his home country of Belgium at the request of the Belgian government. The bones of the priest’s right hand were returned to Hawaii during his beatification ceremony in Brussels, Belgium, in 1995.
By Patrick Downes Hawaii Catholic Herald

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A Leper on Molokai, 1880

Depicted next to Pope Pius XI and below Saint Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, is Bishop Stephen Alencastre who was the fifth Vicar Apostolic of the Hawaiian Islands.

The following poem appeared in the 15^th November 2010 issue of ‘America’ magazine. 

A Leper on Molokai, 1880

To the Father and to the sea

I confess my gross being,

embrace with withered arms

our rank God

here at Kalaupapa.

My eyes dull moons,

I know the sun by its smell.

More corrupt than Lazarus

I live this death before death,

live the reciprocity of flesh.

The death of our death stuns even the sky,

wailing birds reel in the unclean air.

The cemetery at Kalawa’o

vomits our pitted bones,

and the blind sun stares.

Kalaupapa is an open tomb—

three walls of water, one of rock.

When Lazarus died, Jesus wept.

With corrupt voices we sang

Mozart. The bishop wept.

J O S E P H  S O L D A T I

JOSEPH A. SOLDATI, of Portland, Ore., has published numerous poems and essays, most recently in New Millennium Writings.

(Note: Under the direction of Father Joseph Damien de Veuster, the patients sang a Mozart Mass for the visiting bishop (vicar apostolic) on June 8, 1875)

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Damien, the play, comes to North Vancouver

The Busy Catholic Blog: By now you're likely familiar with the story of Father Damien de Veuster who lived among the lepers on Molokai Island in Hawaii. (Saint Damien is the unofficial patron of those with HIV and AIDS.)

Now the play Damien is coming to North Vancouver's Presentation House Theatre, Nov. 16-28. The San Francisco Examiner says the play confronts Saint Damien's struggle with self-doubt and undying compassion towards what he originally describes as a dumping place for human beings. “Damien is a heartrending portrait of a selfless priest determined not to let the lepers think that God has abandoned them.”

Meanwhile, the other San Francisco paper, The Chronicle, has this account of a writer's experience visiting Molokai. It's worth a read.

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Canonization anniversary celebrated from Michigan to Molokai

Members of the St. Damien halau perform  a hula at the anniversary Mass, Oct. 11, in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu.                                                    HCH photo/Darlene Dela Cruz

 Hawaii Catholic Herald Oct.29th:   Parishes in Michigan and on Molokai named for St. Damien celebrated the one-year anniversary of the Belgian missionary priest’s canonization on Oct. 11.   The famed 19th century Sacred Hearts priest spent the last 16 years of his life bringing dignity and compassion to the exiled Hansen’s disease patients of Kalaupapa. Pope Benedict XVI declared him a saint in the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 11, 2009.
St. Damien Parish, Pontiac:
Michigan may be the only mainland state with a parish bearing the name of Hawaii’s saint. The parishioners at St. Damien of Molokai Parish in Pontiac, in the Archdiocese of Detroit, take pride in their island patron.
The parish itself is the result of archdiocesan downsizing measures which resulted in the merging in July 2009 of three churches — St. Vincent de Paul, St. Michael and Shrine of St. Joseph. Seeking a new “neutral” name and patron, the churches were first grouped under the title “Blessed Damien Parish” by Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron, a close friend of Hawaii’s Bishop Larry Silva. The name was changed to “St. Damien” at the moment of canonization.

The Pontiac parish sent 21 people to Rome for last year’s canonization. The pastor, Father Jim Kean, said the trip was helpful in bridging the three different church communities together.  “We needed something that gave us an extra cause with which to unite. It helped us recognize our own birth, that we are a new reality,” he told The Michigan Catholic newspaper in October 2009.

In an Oct. 20 e-mailed message to the Hawaii Catholic Herald, Father Kean highlighted the progress of St. Damien of Molokai Parish since the canonization:   "One of the parish’s Spanish-speaking choirs composed a song about St. Damien. Father Kean describes it as having “a calypso feel,” influenced by the church’s many Puerto Rican parishioners. He hopes to record the song soon and send a copy to Honolulu.  The parish still uses all three of its churches. One of the churches is being repainted, and an artist has been commissioned to create a mural there as a tribute to St. Damien.

Shortly after the canonization, the parish received a poster from Leonce Eraly, a great-great-great grand nephew of St. Damien. The poster sits behind the altar at one of the churches.  According to Lourdes Smith, the confirmation and youth ministry program coordinator at St. Damien of Molokai Parish, the parish hopes to organize a 2012 pilgrimage to Molokai around the second anniversary of St. Damien’s canonization.  Father Kean said his parish continues to grow slowly, and that he is optimistic about the faith of the budding community.“This gives even more reason to look to St. Damien, who, by the grace of God, took on his problems with determination and only over time was able to achieve success little by little,” Father Kean said.

Honolulu cathedral celebration:
Bishop Silva marked the anniversary with Mass at 6 p.m. on Oct. 11 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu. About 100 people, including a few patients from Kalaupapa, attended the Monday evening liturgy.   “We are here to thank God for what happened a year ago today,” the bishop said in his homily. “Damien was made a saint — something people around the world knew for a long time.”

“Damien could’ve had a comfortable life in Belgium, but that would not be the freedom to which God called him,” the bishop said. “Freedom was traveling halfway around the world to these islands. He made himself a slave to Jesus to share a message that would last for generations.  “We were given the gift of this saint so we can free ourselves to do what might not seem to be free at all,” the bishop added.

The St. Damien choir and halau sang and performed Damien-inspired hymns and hula written for canonization-related events a year ago.  The Mass ended with a public veneration of a St. Damien relic, bone from the saint’s foot.

Meanwhile, on Molokai:
Maria Sullivan, a parishioner and the special project manager of St. Damien Parish on Molokai, said that St. Damien was remembered with special prayers on Sunday, Oct. 10.  The parish, on topside Molokai, is comprised of three churches, two of which were originally built by Father Damien.  Sullivan said a special collection was taken up on Sunday at each of the Masses to raise money for the preservation of the tiny St. Joseph Church in Kamalo, which Father Damien built in 1876.

Molokai’s Catholic community also has been progressing in its efforts in building a new St. Damien Church, which will replace Kaunakakai’s St. Sophia Church which fire destroyed earlier this year. A contractor has already been selected for the project.  Sullivan said that Sacred Hearts Father Lane Akiona celebrated a special canonization anniversary Mass in Kalaupapa.

By Darlene J. M. Dela Cruz |

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Looking back one year

Hawaiian Catholic Herald: How time flies. Oct. 11 is the one year anniversary of the canonization of Father Damien of Molokai in Rome by Pope Benedict XVI. Bishop Larry Silva will celebrate with a Mass in the cathedral at 6 p.m.

For those who want to bring back memories, you can revisit some of the stories we wrote at the time. Here is the canonization story. Here’s a story on how the day was celebrated in Kalaupapa. Here’s a background piece written by Sacred Hearts Sister Mary Dolorine Pires on the transformation of Damien from Belgian to Hawaiian, from missionary to saint.

We also ran a story on St. Damien’s most famous photo and on the patients from Kalaupapa who went to Rome. Here also is a collection of post-canonization notes and commentary. There are more in the October 2009 archives of hawaiicatholicherald.com

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Father Felix's selfless service was a testament to his faith

Father Felix Vandebroek worked at many different churches during his 50 years in Hawaii, and was assigned to Kalaupapa in 2007. Here, Vandebroek visited Father Damien's grave with Audrey Toguchi, left, and Sister Margaret Wouters, a Belgian nun.
Star Advertiser: Sept. 19th 2010: A crowd of people poured out of the yellow Yamaguchi school bus and surged into the church like the tide. They rented the bus to take them from Waialua all the way to Kaimuki on a Thursday evening to attend the funeral of their beloved priest. Some people flew in for the funeral from Kauai, because he was their beloved priest for 24 years. For the last several years, he was Kalaupapa's humble, sturdy priest, too.

Father Felix Vandebroek had a way of being at home wherever he was. He made dear friends everywhere he lived. When he was the priest at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Honokaa, he would ride a horse with the cowboys. When he was assigned to Kalaupapa, he asked friends to mail him nails -- hard to come by on the isolated peninsula -- so he could build things people needed. He worked at many different churches during his 50 years in Hawaii, and people never wanted to see him moved to another parish.

"Wherever he was assigned he would adhere himself wholeheartedly to his parish family," said Father Christopher Keahi, provincial of the Sacred Hearts Fathers in Hawaii, the order to which Vandebroek belonged. "I have never heard a disparaging remark from anyone, but rather praise and earnest pleas to allow him to be with them throughout his priestly life."

Vandebroek died Aug. 28. He was 82 and had been a priest for 56 years. At the funeral Mass for him at St. Patrick Church in Kaimuki on Sept. 9, the church was full of people who came to say goodbye still wearing their work jeans and T-shirts. There was a procession of priests and brothers from his order, the Knights of Columbus in their regalia, the Bishop, the busload from Waialua and wiggly children he had baptized as newborns.

That was the one thing that saddened him about his time in Kalaupapa. Children are not allowed in the former Hansen's disease colony. "There are no children, so no baptisms, catechism, or First Communion," Vandebroek wrote in his 2008 Christmas letter to friends. "I say morning Mass at 5 a.m. Two people. And a Sunday Mass at 9 a.m. Ten people."

Otherwise, it was a dream come true for the Belgian-born priest to serve where his countryman Father Damien de Veuster served more than 100 years ago. Vandebroek was worried that at almost 80 years old, he was going to be asked to retire. He was not the kind of man who looked forward to retirement. Instead, in 2007, he was given the Kalaupapa assignment, and it was he who led the congregation through the excitement of Damien's canonization. He didn't travel to Belgium for the ceremony, preferring to stay behind on Molokai with those who couldn't make the trip.

"It has been hectic days. Interviews with journalists, TV crews, bringing them back and forth between Kalaupapa and Kalawao," he reported to his friends. He also served in churches in Waianae, Hana and Wailuku, but his longest assignment was 24 years at St. Raphael in Koloa, Kauai from 1979 to 2003. "He baptized, married and buried countless parishioners and visitors from all over the world," said Lori Parsonson, who served as his church bookkeeper for 17 years. "Sunday morning Masses were standing room only."

Vandebroek was at St. Raphael during Hurricane Iniki and oversaw the rebuilding of the church. As part of his many fundraising efforts, Vandebroek went on a daily walk around the church yard, which was once quite isolated but is now adjacent to a golf course. He collected stray golf balls every morning, asked his parishioners to wipe them, and sold them after Mass 10 for $1 in what he called a "Lil Grass Shack" along with local papaya, oranges and bananas. The tourists thought it was the most darling thing. "When Father Felix was transferred from St. Raphael's, not only was the rebuilding debt paid off, he left the parish with $305,000 in savings," Parsonson said.

Vandebroek was someone who could be counted on to help whether the need be prayers or Pampers. He kept Big Save Supermarket gift certificates on hand for those who needed food and diapers. He would go to the Koloa Pharmacy to pay for people's medicine or to the gas station to pay for people's fuel. "When Hurricane Iniki hit Kauai, Father Felix received checks totaling $45,000 in the mail from all over the world," Parsonson said. "He turned those checks into cash and immediately gave it to those local families in need. No committees, no paperwork. He just gave. So simple."

For an old-time kind of priest, the type not given to guitar Mass or websites, he navigated contemporary issues with great compassion. He never tsk-tsked at things like unwed parents or divorce, and would tell people, "God loves you. Be happy."

A memorial Mass is being planned for Father Felix at St. Raphael's Church in Koloa on Friday, Oct. 29, at 6:30 p.m. Vandebroek composed a simple prayer that he liked to share with people, a blessing that personified the idea of God:

May the eyes of the Lord watch over you,
May the feet of the Lord walk beside you,
And may the arms of the Lord encircle you in His everlasting love. Amen.

By Lee Cataluna
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