Kalaupapa Access on the Edge

A weathered sign for Molokai Mule Ride stands in front of the now-empty stables on topside Molokai.
A poignant history is contained on a tiny peninsula off Molokai, guarded by the world’s highest sea cliffs – a history of pain and exile, saintliness and triumph. Access to Kalaupapa, the remote home of Saint Damien, has always been difficult. Since April, however, it has been nearly impossible.

The settlement’s lifeline, the pali trail, was closed after a landslide washed away one of the trail’s bridges. The closure has left some local businesses on the brink of survival, and many tourists and pilgrims without access to the famed peninsula.

Gloria Marks, Kalaupapa resident, patient and owner of Damien Tours, said there has been a significant decrease in visitors since the trail closure. She said her business, which offers guided bus tours of the peninsula, usually has 500 to 600 customers per month. Last month, there were only about 200. Access to Kalaupapa is now available only by plane.“The trail is significant in the sense that you are spiritually walking the journey that Father Damien walked and even more significantly in the steps of Christ,” said Father Clyde Guerreiro of the Saint Damien Parish on Molokai. “You need to do it once or twice in your life,” he added.

The National Park Service (NPS), which maintains the trail, constructed a temporary wooden bridge to allow employees to hike to work. But the trail is closed to all other hikers, visitors and the famous Molokai Mule Rides. NPS is working to install a permanent 65-foot prefabricated aluminum bridge to span the gap. It likely will not be complete until late September or early October. NPS first estimated the completion date to be just weeks after the washout. “It’s sad; I wish they would hurry up,” said Marks. “First they tell us in July, then August, now October. I just keep hanging on.”

Damien Tours is not the only business feeling the harsh effects of fewer customers from the closed trail. “We’re slowly dying,” Molokai Mule Ride owner Roy Horner said of his business. “It’s going to take creativity, some good fortune, and a little magic to make it until fall.” Molokai Mule Ride, a well-known and bumpy experience that guides visitors on the narrow trail winding down 1,700 feet of cliff on mule back, has been closed since the trail shut down in April. They normally offer daily treks to the settlement. Horner said he hopes to continue on a reduced scale after trail repairs are complete.

Steve Prokop, NPS Kalaupapa superintendent, said he has employed the ‘muleskinners” – as mule drivers and guides are known – to help with the bridge repairs whenever possible. But the business is still struggling for survival. “We’re hoping and praying we can find some money,” said Horner. The options left for pilgrims and tourists hoping to visit Kalaupapa are few and expensive. The only commercial air carrier that flies into the settlement, Pacific Wings, charges $250 one-way for the 10-minute flight from topside Molokai.

Molokai Mule Ride has adapted to provide air charter packages with Makani Kai Air Charters, offering a package deal that includes a round trip air ticket as well as a spot on the guided Damien Tours. Charter packages from Oahu are also available. “Not having the trail has hurt the whole island, not just Kalaupapa,” said Clare Mawae, owner of Molokai Outdoors. Her business offers Molokai tour packages, outdoor equipment rentals and activity bookings.

Molokai Outdoors offers day hikes for those coming from Maui on the ferry, hike-in and fly-out packages, and also special pilgrimage hikes for those who want a more slow-paced spiritual and historical focus. Charter flights to Kalaupapa are also available through Molokai Outdoors. Molokai Fish & Dive offers similar options. “We’ve had people cancel because they can’t hike or do the mule ride,” said Mawae. Marks said the bridge failure not only affects visitors, but Hansen’s disease patients who still live in Kalaupapa as well. She said family and friends who used to hike down to visit cannot afford the air fares. In addition, she said she believes it is important that people continue to visit Kalaupapa to learn about the patients and the rich history of the peninsula. “They take it back home and talk about it,” Marks explained.

Trail or no trail, no one is allowed in Kalaupapa without a permit from Damien Tours or by special invitation of a patient or employee, per patients’ request. Prokop said three bridges have given out in the past 15 years in the same location – switchback No. 2 toward the top of the 2.9 mile trail. The soil is unstable in this section, he explained, prone to washing out with heavy rain.

The new bridge will be built to last. Prokop said eight holes have been bored in the cliff side 23 feet deep to hold steel pins that will secure the bridge. Next, concrete anchors will be installed at either end. The actual bridge will be flown in in sections, scheduled to take place in another few weeks, Prokop said. Bridge repairs are estimated at $200,000 to $500,000, paid for by the NPS. Walking in the footsteps of Saint Damien and the exiled Hansen’s disease patients he served, and gazing at breathtaking valleys populated by ancient Hawaiians is an experience coveted by people around the world. Until bridge repairs are complete, even fewer can have this privilege.

Posted on August 22, 2010 by Catherine Cluett [Appeared in the Aug. 20, 2010 issue of the Hawaii Catholic Herald]
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HCH photo by Patrick Downes

HCH photo by Anna Weaver

Saintly celebrations

Left, Sacred Hearts Sister Julie Louise Thevenin kisses the relic of St. Damien after a Mass on his feast day, May 10, at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa celebrated by Bishop Larry Silva and a dozen priests. The church was about 75 percent filled for the evening liturgy, Father Damien’s first feast day celebration since his canonization last October.

Right, Bishop Silva processes past Sisters of St. Francis during a Mass celebrating the fifth anniversary of the beatification of their fellow Franciscan, Mother Marianne Cope, on May 14 in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace. Blessed Marianne, Hawaii’s second candidate for sainthood, was beatified in Rome in 2005.
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(Polynesian Cultural Center President Von D. Orgill, Elder Scott D. Whiting, Bishop "Larry" Silva and Father Marc Alexander with a certificate of appreciation from the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu. The certificate is "in gratitude for the collaboration" between Catholic Saint Damien and Mormon convert Jonathan Napela, who worked together to serve patients at the leprosy quarantine settlement on the isolated Kalaupapa Peninsula in the 19th century.)

LAIE, Hawaii — Soon after the Catholic Church canonized Saint Damien of Molokai in October 2009, largely for his 19th century work at the leprosy or Hansen's Disease quarantine settlement on the isolated Kalaupapa Peninsula, senior service missionaries in the Polynesian Cultural Center's Hawaii Mission Settlement began wondering how they might add that information to the exhibit in the small, thatched-roof chapel that tells how Christianity came to the islands.

They had no idea, however, that the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Honolulu would respond by presenting the PCC and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with a unique certificate "in gratitude for the collaboration" of St. Damien and Jonathan Napela, a traditional Hawaiian ali'i or chief who was among the earliest converts and leaders in the Sandwich Islands Mission. The lives and stories of the two men became inseparably entwined at Kalaupapa in the 1870s.

The Most Rev. Clarence "Larry" Silva presented the certificate to Von D. Orgill, president and CEO of the Cultural Center, and Area Seventy Elder Scott D. Whiting, during a meeting on May 7, 2010, that began with flower lei greetings and a Hawaiian chant. Also participating in the presentation were Father Marc Alexander, Vicar General for the Honolulu Diocese; Steven C. Wheelwright, president, Brigham Young University-Hawaii; R. Eric Beaver, president and CEO of Hawaii Reserves Inc., and his assistant, Steve Keali'iwahamana Hoag; John A. "Jack" Hoag, Hawaii public affairs director for the church; and Elder Marshall and Sister Jolene Ogden, the service missionaries, as well as several other PCC officers and leaders.

Bishop Silva said that though the two men belonged to different churches, they worked closely together at Kalaupapa in selfless service to the patients; and that each eventually contracted the dreaded disease, died from it and were buried there. St. Damien once described Napela as his "yoke-mate" in the work.

Josef de Veuster left his native Belgium and was ordained Father Damien, SS.CC., soon after arriving in Honolulu in 1864. Following nine years of ministering on the island of Hawaii, he volunteered to serve at Kalaupapa, which the Kingdom of Hawaii had established as a confinement colony for Hansen's Disease patients in 1865. By early 1885 it was confirmed that Father Damien was a patient as well as a priest. He died from the ravages of the disease in 1889 at age 49.

Napela, who was among the first Hawaiian chiefly children educated at Lahainaluna by Protestant New England missionaries, helped Elder George Q. Cannon translate the Book of Mormon into Hawaiian soon after joining the church. He also served as a missionary and helped establish a short-lived church settlement on the island of Lanai as well as the Laie Plantation in 1865. In 1869 he traveled to Utah where he became the first known Hawaiian to receive temple endowments and be ordained a seventy. When his wife, Kitty — once described as the most beautiful woman in Hawaii — was diagnosed with Hansen's Disease in 1873, Napela chose to leave his leadership responsibilities behind and accompany her to Kalaupapa as a non-patient kokua, or helper. He soon began working with Father Damien, but he, too, became a patient within one year and died on Aug. 6, 1879. His wife died a short time later.

Orgill thanked Bishop Silva for "allowing us the opportunity to share this message with the people who come here from everywhere in the world." Then, following Polynesian custom, he presented the Catholic bishop with a gift: a hand-carved Hawaiian koa wood paddle, which represents that "we're all on a journey, and hopefully, we're much more often paddling together, trying to make good things happen, to preserve in the world the things that are worth preserving, and to share those things with everyone that we know, love, care about and associate with."

In addition to the new certificate, Jonathan Napela also continues to be remembered in Laie, where a heroic-sized statue outside the BYU-Hawaii Cannon Activities Center recognizes him and George Q. Cannon for their work in translating the Book of Mormon into Hawaiian. The school's Hawaiian Studies program is also named in Napela's honor.
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Damien's Body arrives in Belgium

In 1936 Damien's body was transported from Molokai aboard the Mercator via San Francisco to Belgium. The video is a clip on the arrival of the Mercator and the procession which followed.
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Damien of Molokai

Sr. Mary Peter

On my first flight to Hawaii where I lived for three years, I was impressed to hear the attendant tell in brief the story of Father Damian. Our plane had lots of people headed for an island vacation. I was amazed that Hawaiians had adopted Damian as one of their own, and were very proud of what he did for them.
Today the Catholic church celebrates the feast of St. Damian of Molokai. Damian was born in Belgium and joined the Missionary order of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. He volunteered for the Hawaiian missions and was ordained in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu. He served on Hawaii--the Big Island--and on Oahu. At that time there seemed to be an epidemic of leprosy or Hansen's Disease. Since it was thought to be highly contagious, lepers were sent to a smaller island, Molokai to a settlement called Kalaupapa. The Hawaiian government assumed that the people could farm the land and support themselves, despite their disease. When Damian volunteered to be their pastor, he found sickness of body and rampant sickness of soul. Due in part to their illness, people found it close to impossible to farm the land. Many lived in rundown shacks because they did not have the energy to build houses. Fresh water was hard to come by. Morale and morality were at a low ebb.
Damian set to work to cure illness, build houses, schools, and a church.
He used his imagination and strength to fashion water pipes from bamboo to bring fresh water to the colony. His enthusiasm and energy set an example for people who until his arrival had little or no hope. Robert Louis Stevenson, the famous author, was not a Catholic, but he defended Damian who was criticized by a Protestant minister who referred to him as a sort of unwashed peasant. Stevenson's defence helped to spread the good news about the missionary priest's heroic efforts to do all he could for the people on Molokai. Mother Marianne of the Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse came and brought Sisters who would staff a hospital. Joseph Dutton, a native of Vermont and a Civil War veteran, came and offered his services full time. He became known as Brother Dutton. Doing what he could to bring hope to lepers, Father Damian made his life a sort of torch shining on a remote Hawaiian island. That torch beckoned people far and wide to come and help. Many did come and now Kalaupapa still has the leper colony which is much smaller. People in Hawaii never forgot the priest who became a leper with the lepers to bring Christ to them. May St. Damian pray for all of us, especially for all our Hawaiian people.
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Three priests and a Sister are honored in the US National Statuary Hall?

Immediately south of the Rotunda in the United States Capitol is the National Statuary Hall, where each of the 50 states gets to honor and immortalize two famous people with a larger-than-life sized statue. But did you know three four states have honored a Catholic priest?(Apparently these states don’t buy the ACLU’s argument that you establish a state religion simply because you decide to honor a clergy member.) So can you name any of the four priests honored in the National Statuary Hall? The answers are after the jump.

Wisconsin honors the missionary priest Father Jacques Marquette, a French Jesuit missionary priest who brought the teachings of Jesus to Native Americans living in what we now call Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota.

Blessed Junipero Serra was another great priest who established missions up and down California. His first mission was established in 1769 in what we now call San Diego. Father Serra was beatified by Pope John Paul II on September 25, 1988.

Fr. Eusebio Kino SJ was born on August 10, 1645, in Segno, Italy. He became a missionary to Mexico. Fr. Kino built missions extending from Sonora 150 miles northeast to San Xavier del Bac, a building which still stands outside of Tucson. He built 19 rancheras, which supplied cattle to new settlements. He was also instrumental in the return of the Jesuits to California in 1697. Father Kino remained in southern Arizona until his death in 1711. [***Special thanks to our reader Mark for reminding us of the Fr. Kino statue.]

Saint Damien of Molokai was born Joseph de Veuster in Belgium in 1840. The Kingdom of Hawaii placed lepers on the island of Molokai. Father Damien ministered to the lepers for 16 years before eventually contracting the disease himself. His statue depicts the scars that the disease caused on his face. Last October, Pope Benedict XVI canonized Father Damien, making him the first Catholic saint to be honored with a statue in our United States Capitol.

This upcoming Monday, May 10, is a special day for those who love Saint Damien. It marks the first time we’ll celebrate his feast day as a saint.

Saint Damien, pray for us

We also wanted to note that a Catholic nun is also honored in the National Statuary Hall. A bronze likeness of Mother Joseph rests in the Capitol courtesy of the State of Washington. (Which is ironic, given their state’s Blaine Amendment.) Mother Joseph was born in 1823. She entered the Sisters of Charity of Providence in Montreal. She lead a group of five missionaries to the Pacific Northwest Territories of the United States. She was responsible for the completion of eleven hospitals, seven academies, five Indian schools, and two orphanages throughout an area that today encompasses Washington, northern Oregon, Idaho, and Montana.
by CatholicVoteAction on May 5th, 2010
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Statue ceremony, Mass to mark Hawaii saint’s first feast day

Detail from the statue of St. Damien at the Hawaii state capitol
The first feast day of Hawaii’s first saint will be celebrated modestly. May 10 will be the first observance of St. Damien’s feast since his Oct. 11 canonization. That morning at the state capitol, the outdoor bronze statue of Father Damien will be the site of the now familiar ceremony of songs, prayers and lei presentations. That evening, the bishop will celebrate a feast day Mass at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa. The ceremony at the state capitol starts at 10 a.m. and will last about 45 minutes.

It will begin with a welcome by Sacred Hearts Father Lane Akiona, a performance of Hawaii Ponoi performed by Maryknoll School students, and an invocation by vicar general Father Marc Alexander. The program will include a Scripture reading, a reflection by Sacred Hearts Father Herman Gomes, a hula by students from Sacred Hearts Academy, the draping of the statue with leis, the singing of E Kamiano and Hawaii Aloha, and a benediction by Sacred Hearts Father Christopher Keahi. The ceremony is being organized by the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts.

Bishop Larry Silva will celebrate the feast day Mass at 6 p.m. at the co-cathedral. The relic of St. Damien, now on display at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, will be brought to the Kapalama church for veneration that evening. Many of the members of the choir created for the Hawaii pilgrimage to the October canonization in Rome will reassemble for the co-cathedral Mass. Light refreshments will be served after the Mass.

Pope Benedict XVI canonized Father Damien on Oct. 11 in the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Basilica. Prior to his official feast day designation, “Damien Day” had long been celebrated in Hawaii on April 15, the date of his death, the traditional choice for a saint’s feast day. After his beatification in 1995 made him eligible for a spot on the liturgical calendar as an “optional memorial,” the May 10 date was picked because April 15 fell during Lent when optional and obligatory memorials are not celebrated. May 10 is the date he first stepped onto Molokai to care for the leprosy patients quarantined there. But his feast has actually switched back and forth from April 15 to May 10 a few times.

In November 1999, Honolulu Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo asked the U.S. bishops to place Father Damien’s feast on the American Catholic calendar on May 10 as an “optional memorial.” The bishops voted overwhelmingly in favor of the request. However, on Dec. 20, 1999, when the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments approved the U.S. bishops’ decision, it changed the date back to April 15.

In April 2000, Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston, president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, wrote back to the Vatican congregation asking that the observance be returned to May 10 as originally requested. In a letter dated April 24, 2001, the congregation approved the request. The bishops were informed of the change in early May. Last Oct. 25, another Vatican degree elevated the feast from an “optional” memorial to an “obligatory” memorial in Hawaii. That change, made by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments at the request of Bishop Larry Silva, means that all Masses celebrated in Hawaii on that day — unless it falls on a Sunday — must be for St. Damien. It is not a holy day of obligation.

The Mass prayers will be specific to Father Damien. They are essentially the same ones used since Father Damien’s beatification except that the title “Saint” replaces the title “Blessed.” The Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship also changed the day’s Gospel reading from the verses about the Good Shepherd in John, chapter 10, to the account of the washing of the feet in John 13. According to Sacred Hearts Sister Helene Wood of the Office of Worship, this is because the Good Shepherd narrative is also the reading for the Third Sunday of Easter which falls near to St. Damien’s feast. Everywhere else in the United States, the feast of St. Damien is an optional memorial.
By Patrick Downes | Hawaii Catholic Herald
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VIETNAM - Diocese vows to defeat poverty among lepers

A sister talks to former leprosy patients.
PLEIKU, Vietnam (UCAN) May 5th: — A diocese which has Vietnam’s highest number of leprosy cases has pledged to eliminate poverty among sufferers by providing education and health care for their children. “Local people with leprosy will not escape from poverty and integrate with society unless their children are given formal education,” said Father Pierre Nguyen Van Dong.

The head of caritas in Kon Tum diocese was speaking to 120 leprosy sufferers and church workers at an annual gathering in Pleiku city, in central Vietnam on May 3. He said this year; his first priority is to provide health care and education for children from families affected by leprosy. “We will provide children with milk and vaccines against polio, measles, tetanus and diphtheria — which are the most common diseases among them,” he pledged. The local Church will also provide health care for pregnant women, he added.

Father Dong, 67, pastor of Thang Thien parish, said he will also provide scholarships and accommodation for students whose parents suffer from leprosy, so that they can receive further education. He noted that most children suffer malnutrition and few get an education as a result of poverty and many develop a complex about their situation. He said 70 students are currently staying at hostels run by local Saint Paul de Chartres nuns and 10 others have recently graduated from local colleges or universities. Father Dong said the diocese, covering Gia Lai and Kon Tum provinces, serves 3,570 patients out of a diocesan total of 7,000 leprosy sufferers. Most of them are from ethnic minority groups, he added.

The priest said 150 caritas workers, Religious and lay volunteers take patients to state-run hospitals for treatment, build houses for them and provide clothes, clean water and food for them. The sufferers and their families are also given money to cultivate crops and raise pigs, cows and poultry, he added. He said the diocese spent 3.5 billion dong (US$184,892) on those activities in 2009.

Ama Pua, a former sufferer, told UCA News that he is grateful to Church workers who helped cure him of his disease and covered his three children’s school fees. The ethnic Jarai man now works with local Franciscans taking sufferers to hospitals.
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An Uncommon Kindness

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Simple Courage

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THE LAST DAYS OF FATHER DAMIEN, THE HERO MARTYR'..

The Brisbane Courier June 17th 1889

In reference to tho death of Father Damien, the Hawaiian Gazette of 23rd April says: - By the steamer Mercoli that arrived from Molokai on Saturday morning, news was brought of the death of Father Joseph DeVeuster Damien, the Roman Catholic priest, who had gained worldwide fame for devoting his life to ministrations among the inmates of the Molokai leper settlement. He died on Monday morning, l0th April. Father Damien had been sixteen years in that living tomb, and three years ago contracted the terrible disease that has ended his days. Upon his death he was dressed in priest's vestments and the following day the body was laid in a coffin that the Sisters had lined with white silk. A requiem high mass was said on Tuesday by Father Wondelin, who preached to a crowded church from the words, "The Good Shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep." The body was borne to the tomb by white lepers. There had been a vault prepared under the lauhala tree, beneath which the departed Father was wont to sleep when he first arrived at the settlement. This last resting-place had been chosen by himself.

The following sketch of Father Damien's early life and instalment at the settlement was written by Charles Wan-en Stoddard, after getting the story from the priest's own lips at Kalawao. It is reprinted from a little work, " The Lepers of Molokai," by that well-known author, and the copy used for this purpose was mailed by the late priest to the local editor of this paper only a few weeks ago, for use in writing a sketch of Father Damien and the leper settlement to the order of an Australian newspaper editor. An autograph letter from the then dying Father, pathetic in its statement of the writer's weak condition, was re-mailed to the gentleman soliciting tho article. Mr. Stoddard, who wrote the book four or five years ago, said: "Born in Louvain, Belgium, 3rd January, 18-10. When he was but four-and twenty, his brother, who had just entered the priesthood, was ordered to embark for Honolulu, but at the moment fell sick with typhoid fever. Young Damien, who was a theological student at the university, having received minor orders and belonging to the same order - the Society of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (commonly called Society of Picpus) -at once wrote to his superior and begged that he mighty be sent upon the mission in his brother's stead. In one week he was on his way to that far country. He was ordained upon his arrival in Honolulu, and for a few years led tho life of toil and privation which invariably falls to the lot of the Catholic missionary.

"In 1873 he, in common with others of the clergy, was invited to be present at the dedication of a beautiful chapel, just completed by Father Loonor, at Wailuku, on the island of Mam. There he met the Bishop, who expressed regret that he was still unable to bind a priest to Molokai, for the demand was far in excess of the supply. Father Damien at once said : ' My Lord, I hear that a small vessel will next week take cattle from Kawaihae to Kalaupapa ; if you will permit mo I will go there to help the lepers make their Easter duties.'

"His request was granted and in company with the Bishop and the French Consul, he landed at the settlement, where he found a colony of 800 lepers, of whom between 400 and 500 were Catholics. A public meeting was immediately called, at which the Bishop and the consul presided. His Grace arose to address the singular gathering, and said : “Since you have written to me often that you have no priest, I leave you one for a little time” and imparting the benediction, he returned immediately to the vessel, which was to sail that very hour. Father Damien added: “As there is much to be done here, by your leave I will not accompany you to the shore.” Thus the good work was at once begun. It was high time; tho lepers were dying at the rate of from eight to twelve per week. Tho priest had not time to build himself a hut - he had not even tho material with which to build it - and for a season he slept in tho open air, under a tree, exposed to the wind and the rain.

"Soon after, he received a letter of congratulation from the white residents of Honolulu chiefly Protestants - together with some lumber and a purse of $120. Then he put up his little house, and began to feel at homo. After remaining some weeks at Kalawao, he was obliged to go to Honolulu, there being no more convenient priest to whom he could make his confession.'''

Tho sketch proceeds to relate the cool reception Father Damien received from the President of the Board of Health, who in the course of an interview said, “the priest might go to Molokai, but, if so must remain there for good. It was in vain that the father urged the necessity of one priest having to make confession at stated intervals, to another. "An eminent physician," one of the board, pleaded the cause of the priest and aided by the French Consul, a special permit was obtained, on which Father Damien returned to Kalawao. Mr. Stoddard continues : "Shortly after his return he received official notice that he must remain where he was; and that on any attempt to leave the island, or even to visit other portions of Molokai, he would be immediately put under arrest. Tho notice was sharply worded. This roused the indignation of the priest and he notified tho Board of Health that if they would attend strictly to their duties he would attend to his. When it became necessary for him to visit a priest on a neighbouring island he did so, asking no odds of any man. He also visited his scattered flock on the circuit of Molokai, attending faithfully and fearlessly to the wants of his people.

"Often on these rounds he was the welcome guest of a gentleman, tho son of a Protestant missionary and on one occasion the host said to him playfully: “I suppose you are aware that I have orders to place you under immediate arrest if you presume to leave your leper settlement” And this was the Sheriff of Molokai. “Six months later a permit came, granting Father Damien leave to come and go as he pleased; but in eleven years how seldom has he cared to use it!"

"Office of the Board of Health, Honolulu, April 22, 1889. - The Very Rev the Bishop of Olba, Honolulu.
Sir, - It is with feelings of pain that the board received by mail last week from Molokai the sad intelligence of the death of the lamented Father Damien, Catholic priest at Kalawao, Molokai, who passed away on Monday last, 19th April, 1889. 'On behalf of the Board of Health, permit me to express to you as his spiritual adviser our condolence and sincere feeling of sympathy; with you in view of the sad event and our high appreciation of his long and faithful service to the Board of Health and to humanity. I am, rev. sir, very sincerely yours, N. B. EJÍBUSOIÍ, President Boaid of Health."

"Honolulu, 23rd April, 1889. - Dr. N. B. Emerson, President of the Board of Health.
Dear Sir, - Please accept for yourself and for the other members of the Board of Health, my sincere thanks for the kind expression of your condolence and feeling of sympathy in view of the Rev. Father Damien's death. I highly value your appreciation of his long and faithful service to the board and humanity. Allow me to add that the members of the Catholic

Mission will always be happy to co-operate with the Board of Health in the work of humanity and Christian charity after the example of the late Father Damien, as far as it may be desirable-Very respectfully, you, obedient servant, HERMAN, Bishop of Olbar V. Ap."

(Click Here) TO VIEW BRISBANE COURIER

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Another Molokai Church Damaged

The high winds of Holy Week took a toll on St. Joseph Church in Kamalo, on Molokai, tearing a gaping hole in its fragile steeple and blowing the cross off. The damage to this historic church, one of several St. Damien built, is the second calamity to strike the island’s St. Damien Parish in recent months. On Feb. 11, the parish’s main church in Kaunakakai, St. Sophia, was destroyed in a fire.

Sacred Hearts Sister Jessie Kai called Sacred Hearts Father Clyde Guerreiro, pastor of St. Damien, early on Holy Thursday, April 1, to tell him that someone reported the steeple cross missing. The cross had adorned the church since Father Damien built it in 1876.

“I immediately went out to check on it and found the cross lying directly at Father Damien’s feet,” said Father Guerreiro, referring to the life-sized statue of Father Damien standing in the graveyard next to the church.

Tiny St. Joseph is significant among the three Molokai churches built by Father Damien because it remains in the most original condition. The 40-seat chapel is a regular stop for pilgrims. It was one of the places Bishop Silva and 12 mainland bishops visited while accompanying St. Damien’s relic on an island tour last October following his canonization.

Father Guerreiro had already started to raise money this past fall and winter to repair, re-roof and repaint St. Joseph. “The church has not been re-roofed since the late 1960s,” he said. “Last year I began a letter-writing campaign to 563 visitors to raise funds to repair St. Joseph Church.”

The pastor’s effort led to one benefactor agreeing to re-roof the church, plus $6,000 donated for window restoration, painting and fumigation. However, the steeple damage has raised the price beyond what the parish has available. “The repair projects are critical to the preservation of this Damien church,” Father Guerreiro said, “because now when it rains, it rains inside the church.” Father Guerreiro says the church had so far survived on “borrowed time,” but the time is now up.

The new damage has added yet another strain to the 300-plus family parish which has two other churches and stretches across topside Molokai. Other priorities, including building St. Sophia’s replacement, have challenged the parish’s limited budget. With the island’s unemployment chronically in the double digits, the parish has relied on donations from friends and supporters throughout Hawaii and the mainland.

But Father Guerreiro is optimistic. “When I saw the cross lying at Father Damien’s feet I thought, ‘Well, I’m a Sacred Hearts priest and my challenges are minor, compared to those that faced my predecessor Father Damien.’ However, I am at the point that I need to ‘Let go, and let God,’ and trust that our benefactors will come forward to help us. We need to preserve this Damien Church before it disappears.”

How you can help: Send your check payable to “St Damien Parish — St. Joseph Church Fund” to: Father Clyde Guerreiro, SS.CC., St. Damien Parish — St. Joseph Church Fund, P.O. Box 1948, Kaunakakai, HI 96748. For more information contact St. Damien parishioner, Maria Sullivan at mjs@aloha.net, or (808) 553-5181.
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FATHER DAMIEN'S PROTESTANT CHAMPION

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVIII, Issue 8, 20 June 1890, Page 5

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Fr Damien Documentary

Church to celebrate feast of newly canonized St. Damien

This Thursday is the feast day of St. Damien de Veuster, better known as St. Damien of Molokai.

This year, the feast takes on new significance as it is marks the first celebration of the former blessed’s feast since his October 11, 2009 canonization.

Damien de Veuster was born in Belgium to a poor farming family. Answering God’s call, he joined the Fathers of the Sacred Heart, and spent the rest of his life as a missionary in Hawaii. After being ordained in 1864, Fr. Damien was sent to the peninsula of Kalawao on Molokai, an isolated area of the Hawaiian island where the panicked government of the time quarantined people suspected of having leprosy. Arriving in 1873, he lived on the island for the rest of his life, dying in 1889 of the very disease whose suffering he sought to alleviate in others.

Fr. Damien dedicated his life to the native Hawaiians he found suffering in exile on Molokai. When he arrived, there were very few structures in the area. Many people slept on mats, covered by only a thin blanket as protection against the rain. Though there was a small, preexisting chapel, dedicated to St. Philomena, Fr. Damien set up his first rectory in the shade of a tree. However, he was a skilled carpenter and a hard worker. Quickly, he worked to build coffins, a rectory, houses, a school, and eventually a new chapel for the community.

Fr. Damien ministered to Catholics and non-Catholics alike. His primary aim was to restore dignity to the people who had been robbed of everything through no fault of their own. Thus, one of his first accomplishments was to build a fence around, and clean up, the cemetery. Then, by building coffins and encouraging the creation of a Christian Burial Society, Fr. Damien gave dignity to the leprosy victims.

Children were especially close to the Belgian missionary’s heart. As was the law of the time, families were split up, and often children with leprosy were sent to Molokai while their parents were forced to remain at home. Fr. Damien set up a dormitory for boys, and eventually one for girls as well. He worked hard to keep the children away from the depravity that had become commonplace in the rather lawless society that had sprung up on Molokai. The children became so devoted to him that they wrote a song in their native Hawaiian, calling him their father, which they used to stand outside his house and sing.

Fr. Damien also worked tirelessly to bring in outside supplies and funding. The Hawaiian government considered him to be a stubborn nuisance as he sent letter after letter petitioning for food and building materials. He also wrote to his superiors and the local bishop to increase awareness of the conditions, sufferings, and needs of the people to whom he ministered.

Ultimately, Fr. Damien contracted leprosy himself. However, he did not allow it to put an end to his ministry. As frustrating as the situation may have been at times, he never lost hope and continued to think of the people, who he made his own. He died on March 28, 1889 and was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 11, 2009.
Every schoolchild in Hawaii is familiar with his story.
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New Damien Documentary

Hawaii: April 2nd. - The Honolulu Film Festival will screen a new California-produced documentary about St. Damien at 1:15 p.m., April 25, in the Coral Ballroom Theater of the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Tickets are $7.

The film, “Damien making a Difference, God making a Saint,” is directed and written by Jennifer Hoge. It was produced by her San Dimas, Calif., company, Premier Image Productions. The executive producer is the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts, USA West, Secular Branch.

The film tells the story of St. Damien through his own words recorded in letters and journals, and through narration and commentary. Members of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts, of which Damien was a member, provide reflections on Father Damien’s life.

St. Damien’s words were taken from the book, “Damien of Molokai: Through His Letters,” by Osvaldo Aparicio. Sacred Hearts Congregation archives in Hawaii, California, Belgium and Rome provided images for the film.

The Secular Branch of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts USA West gave the funds to produce this film. The voice of Father Damien is provided by Tom Wilson, an actor and standup comedian who has appeared in about 25 films. Mike Laponis, a voice actor and video producer, is the narrator. Commentary is provided by Sacred Hearts Fathers Michael Barry and Martin O’Loghlen of their congregation’s west coast province. Shane Rodrigues, who was born and raised on Maui, was the director of photography. The film was made at the request of Father Barry and completed in six weeks before Father Damien’s canonization in October 2009. It is the winner of an Accolade Film Award of Merit.

Trailers of the film may be viewed at www.premierimageprod.com which also has a link to the Honolulu Film Festival, that lists the schedule of films and how to buy tickets.

To buy a copy of the documentary, send a suggested donation of $30 to: SSCC USA West, Provincial Office, PO BOX 668, San Dimas, CA 91773, (909) 593-5441, ssccwest@cpl.net. Proceeds go to the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary USA West Secular Branch.
By Patrick Downes |Hawaii Catholic Herald
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Some Excellent Damien Photos

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Damien Shrine

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The Colony - Book Review

THE COLONY: New York : Scribner, c 2006 John Tayman Leprosy , Hawaii , Molokai , History Hardcover. 1st ed., later printing. vi, 421 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. 387-396) and index. Clean, tight and strong binding with clean dust jacket. No highlighting, underlining or marginalia in text. VG/VG

In 1866, twelve men and women and one small child were forced aboard a leaky schooner and cast away to a natural prison on the Hawaiian island of Molokai. Two weeks later, a dozen others were exiled, and then forty more, and then a hundred more. Tracked by bounty hunters and torn screaming from their families, the luckless were loaded into shipboard cattle stalls and abandoned in a lawless place where brutality held sway. Many did not have leprosy, and most of those who did were not contagious, yet all were caught in a shared nightmare. The colony had little food, little medicine, and very little hope. Exile continued for more than a century, the longest and deadliest instance of medical segregation in American history. Nearly nine thousand people were banished to the colony, trapped by pounding surf and armed guards and the highest sea cliffs in the world. Twenty-eight live there still.

John Tayman tells the fantastic saga of this horrible and hopeful place — at one time the most famous community in the world — and of the individuals involved. From the very first exile — a gentle part-time lawyer trapped in an unjust ordeal beyond his imagination — to the last remaining residents, the narrative is peopled by presidents and kings, cruel lawmen and pioneering doctors, and brave souls who literally gave their lives to help. A stunning cast includes the martyred Father Damien, Robert Louis Stevenson, Jack London, Mark Twain, Teddy Roosevelt, John Wayne, and more. The result is a searing tale of survival and bravery, and a testament to the power of faith, compassion, and heroism.
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St. Damien Church of Molokai

The St. Damien Catholic Community held a fundraiser on Saturday, March 13th. In attendance were Bishop Larry Silva, Fr. Javier Álvarez-Ossorio, SS.CC., the order's Superior General, and Fr. Felipe Lazcano Hamilton, SS.CC., one of the order's General Councillars.

Pictured on right are are event organizer Maria Sullivan, Fr. Clyde and chair of the Diocesan Road Map Implementation Commission Colleen Sathre:
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St. Damien of Molokai

St. Damien of Molokai by David Hart

A Leper with the Lepers

During this Year of the Priest, I have taken advantage of opportunities to write about priests outstanding in their life and ministry whom the church has honored with canonization and/or beatification. On my recent trip to Belgium, I was privileged to celebrate the Eucharist at the tomb of one of these great men, Jozef de Veuster, who received the name of Damien in the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Damien was canonized during this Year of the Priest by Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009. Celebrating his canonization and visiting his tomb within less than four months prompted me to write about him and showcase his pastoral zeal as an inspiration for the rest of us during these early days of Lent.

In his homily at the Mass of canonization last October, Pope Benedict had this to say about St. Damien: “When he was 23 years old, in 1863, he left Flanders, the land of his birth, to proclaim the Gospel on the other side of the world in the Hawaiian Islands. His missionary activity, which gave him such joy, reached its peak in charity. Not without fear and repugnance, he chose to go to the Island of Molokai to serve the lepers who lived there, abandoned by all. Thus he was exposed to the disease from which they suffered. He felt at home with them. The servant of the Word consequently became a suffering servant, a leper with the lepers, for the last four years of his life.”

All good disciples of Jesus eventually come to the realization that the more self-serving their lives seem to become, the less can they consider themselves friends of Jesus Christ. Young Jozef was born in Belgium back in 1840, the seventh child of his family. His dad was a grain trader and wanted Jozef to take over the business on their farm. But Jozef’s dreams lay elsewhere. His older brother was a priest, and at age 18 St. Damien wanted to be a priest, too. He became a member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts, also described as the Picpus Fathers. He was sent off as a missionary. On the way he came down with typhus but eventually reached the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii) in March of 1864. He became acquainted with the language and the customs of the Hawaiian people and was ordained a priest there in May of the same year.

Damien was no great scholar but he was truly a man of action. In embarking upon his mission to the Hawaiian people he initially regarded them as immoral, uncivilized and overly superstitious people. He traveled extensively in his efforts to convert many of them to Christianity and when asked where he lived, he would point to his horse’s saddle and say “That’s where I live.” St. Damien had a special concern for those who were experiencing great suffering. He was concerned about the mistreatment of the dead, the extensive drinking and gambling among the natives, the abuse of young orphans as well as the extreme prices in the shops. He also felt that lepers deserved better medical care. It was his dream that an ideal Christian community would eventually be established where he would be the father. His concern about the lepers continued to grow. He knew they lived in exile on the volcanic island of Molokai. He told the bishop he wanted to stay among them permanently because he thought this would be the only way he could win the lepers’ trust.
The leper colony was located at Kalawao on Molokai. This location was chosen deliberately because the village was very hard to reach. Because the lepers were placed in quarantine, the village was a kind of natural prison. When the quarantine laws were strengthened, St. Damien himself became an exile and a prisoner of his missionary calling. He was excluded from the outside world just like those whom he served. By January of 1885 Damien wrote, “I am still in good health… except my left foot, which has lost almost all sensation for three years now. It is a hidden poison which threatens my whole body.” He hoped he could get over his sickness or keep it under control, but more and more he would address his parishioners with these words, “We lepers.”

In concluding his reflections on the day of St. Damien’s canonization, Pope Benedict stated, “He invites us to open our eyes to the forms of leprosy that disfigure the humanity of our brethren and still today call for the charity of our presence as servants, beyond that of our generosity.” Every Lent we are called to embrace the Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting and good works. Many Catholics are generous, but the example of priests like St. Damien challenges us to take to heart the words of our Holy Father which invite us to move beyond the “comfort zones” of our own practical generosity. Certainly we can place some limits on the sharing of our time, treasure and talents, but the season of Lent asks us to re-examine those limits and to see if it might be possible to extend them somewhat, even to the point where they are less than comfortable, maybe even where they hurt.

It was the miraculous healing of a Hawaiian woman with cancer that led to the canonization of St. Damien. He himself died of leprosy at the age of 49. The fame of his life lived among the lepers led to an intensive study of Hansen’s disease (leprosy), which eventually led to a cure. In speaking to the International Theological Commission last December, the Holy Father reminded this learned assembly that, in the history of the church, many men and women who may not have been so scholarly were, on the other hand, capable of the humility that led them to reach the truth about the great mysteries of our faith. He mentioned St. Damien and described him as one of those “little people who are also wise,” from whom we draw inspiration because “they were touched in the depths of their hearts.” Small people like Father Damien often become great saints.

The priests who serve you in our parishes across western Oregon typically attract headlines or prompt letters to the bishop only for their misdeeds, not for their faithful service. They may be “little people” in the eyes of the world, and perhaps in your eyes, too, but every time they touch the depths of any person’s heart, they become great in the eyes of God. As Damien was a leper among lepers, we priests today are sinners among sinners. Please pray for all of us this Lent that, in spite of ourselves, we too will always want to be there for others, not just for ourselves, confident in the mercy of a loving God.
By Archbishop John Vlazny
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Trailer - The Story of Fr. Damien

MOLOKAI: THE STORY OF FATHER DAMIEN: Movie Trailer - Click here for funny video clips

Fire Damages St Sophia Church on Molokai

Feb. 11th: Late Wednesday a fire broke out at St. Sophia Catholic church in Kaunakakai, charring the entire inside and much of the outside.

The fire alarm sounded at 10:42 p.m. Wednesday with all three Molokai engine companies responding. Engine 4 was first on the scene and was quickly followed by engines 9 and 12. It took about two hours to get the fire under control with mop up operations continuing through the night. Emergency crews shut down the town last night for safety. Yesterday morning fire crews could still be seen spraying water and foam in the smoldering ruins.

An investigator came in from Maui yesterday to help determine the cause of the fire. Molokai Fire Inspector Rick Schoneley began the preliminary investigation and took photos but no cause has yet been determined. While some speculated, including Father Clyde Guerrero, that the devotional candles may have set the blaze, this is still speculation at this time.

Father Clyde, pastor of the Saint Damien Parish, said that St. Sophia has held its last service. With the entire insides blackened it cannot be saved. Father Clyde said an insurance company inspector will come to Molokai Tuesday to determine the extent of the damage but he believes the building will most likely be demolished.

The church, built in 1937, has been in need of replacement for some time. Since 1995, the Molokai Catholic Community has been working to raise the $3 million needed to rebuild Saint Sophia as Blessed Damien Church in honor of Saint Damien who was canonized in October.

On January 5, the Maui County’s Urban Design Review Board recommended a special management area permit for approval by the Molokai Planning Commission.

The church serves about 300 families on Molokai. Other churches in the area have already offered their worship space to the Catholic community until a new church is built.
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REINFORCE STRATEGIES IN THE STRUGGLE AGAINST LEPROSY

VATICAN CITY, 29 JAN 2010 ( VIS ) - The Message for the fifty-seventh World Day of Leprosy was published today. It bears the signature of Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, president of the Pontifical Council for Healthcare Ministry. The Day itself is due to be celebrated on Sunday 31 January.

According to the most recent data from the World Health Organisation (WHO), "in 2009, 210,000 new cases of the disease were recorded. ... The countries most affected are in Asia, South America and Africa . India has the greatest number of sufferers, followed by Brazil ".

Archbishop Zimowski makes a call "to the international community and to the authorities of each individual State, inviting them to develop and reinforce the strategies necessary to combat leprosy, making them more effective and far-reaching especially in places where the number of new cases remains high. This", he continues, "must be done without overlooking educational and awareness-raising campaigns capable of helping those affected, and their families, to emerge from isolation and obtain the necessary treatment".

At the end of his message, the president of the Pontifical Council for Healthcare Ministry expresses his thanks to the WHO, and to religious, missionaries, non-governmental associations and organisations, and many volunteers for their commitment "to eradicate this and other 'forgotten' diseases".
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Pope: Charity is "the badge of a Christian"

Angelus, Benedict XVI invites prayers for peace in the Holy Land and thoughts for those who have lost their jobs in the economic crisis. World Day of Leprosy Suffers.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) Jan 31st: - An invitation to join in prayer for peace in the Holy Land and some thoughts on how many are losing their jobs because of the economic crisis, in the words of Benedict XVI to twenty thousand people present in St Peter's Square, despite the rainy day, after the midday Angelus prayer, before the recital of which the pope spoke of charity, as "the badge of Christianity."

Taking a cue from the passage of St Paul in this Sunday’s liturgy, the so-called "hymn of charity”, the Pope stressed that "Paul shows us the 'path' to perfection. This - he says - does not consist in possessing exceptional qualities: speaking new languages, knowing all mysteries, having wonderful faith or carrying out heroic gestures. Rather it consists in charity - agape - that is in true love, what God has revealed to us in Jesus Christ. Charity is the ‘greatest gift’, which gives value to everything else, but it 'does not boast, it is not swollen with pride,' indeed, it 'rejoices in the truth' and the good of others. Who really loves 'does not seek his own interests', he 'takes no account of evil received', he 'bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things' (cf. 1 Cor 13:4-7). Eventually, when we meet face to face with God, all the other gifts will be less; the only one that will remain forever is charity, because God is love and we shall be like Him, in perfect communion with Him. "

"For now - he continued - while we are in this world, charity is the badge of a Christian. It is the synthesis of his whole life for what he believes and what he does. For this reason, at the beginning of my pontificate, I wanted to dedicate my first Encyclical to the theme of love: Deus Caritas Est. As you recall, this encyclical is composed of two parts, which correspond to the two aspects of love: its meaning, and therefore its implementation. Love is the essence of God himself, it is the sense of creation and history, it is the light that gives goodness and beauty to every human existence. At the same time, love is, so to speak, the 'style' of God and he who believes, it is the behaviour of those who, responding to the love of God, lays down his own life as a gift of self to God and to neighbour. In Jesus Christ these two aspects form a perfect unity: He is Love Incarnate. This love is revealed to us fully in Christ crucified. "

Many themes were touched upon by Benedict XVI, after the Marian prayer. The Holy Land as well as those suffering from leprosy. "The last Sunday of January - he said - is the World Day of Leprosy Suffers. One thinks immediately of Father Damien de Veuster, who gave his life for these brothers and sisters, and who last October, I declared a saint. To his celestial protection I commend all the people who unfortunately are still suffering from this disease, as well as health workers and volunteers who devote themselves so there might be a world without leprosy. I greet in particular the Italian Association Amici di Raoul Follereau”.

"Today - he said then - it also celebrates the second day of intercession for peace in the Holy Land. In communion with the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and the Custody of the Holy Land, I unite myself spiritually in prayer with the many Christians from all over the world, while I warmly greet those who are gathered here for this occasion. "A message of peace - added the Pope – is also brought to us by the boys and girls of Catholic Action Rome." Traditionally, they conclude the month of January with the "Peace Caravan" and the end of the audience two of them are invited to the Papal apartments from where they release two doves from the window, a symbol of peace.

A thought, finally, for those who are losing their jobs, with the statement that "this situation requires a great sense of responsibility on the part of all: employers, workers, governments".
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New Book about Damien

Anwei and Henry Law's recent book, Father Damien ... 'A Bit of Taro, A Piece of Fish, and A Glass of Water,' is more than a book about St. Damien de Veuster of Molokai. It's a book about leprosy and the disease's effect on the people of Hawaii, and especially those who lived in Kalaupapa on the island of Molokai. "Father Damien has always been regarded as the center of their history. If you read other books on Kalaupapa and their history, it's all about Father Damien," explained Anwei Law, who with her husband, Henry, resides in Seneca Falls.

Father Damien de Veuster, a Belgian missionary, was ordained in Honolulu in 1864 and in 1873 arrived in Kalaupapa, which at the time was a settlement for Hawaiians with leprosy. Men, women and children who were diagnosed with leprosy were taken from their families and sent by boat to the island and were not allowed to return to their own homes and communities. The Belgian priest ministered to people there for 16 years before dying of leprosy himself in 1889 at the age of 49.

Pope Benedict XVI canonized the priest Oct. 11, 2009, and called St. Damien a "shining example" of Christian love, according to Catholic News Service. "He invites us to open our eyes towards the 'leprosies' that disfigure the humanity of our brothers and sisters and that today still call, more than for our generosity, for the charity of our serving presence," the pope said during the canonization Mass, which more than 40,000 people attended, according to CNS. "You really see the impact that this man has had on people," Anwei Law said. "He stood up for what was right. He knew what he needed to do. He just loved the Hawaiian people."

The Laws' book is not the first to be written about St. Damien, and it's not likely to be the last. It is, however, the only book the Laws know of that focuses on the viewpoints of the people with leprosy St. Damien lived amongst, Anwei Law said. The Laws' book presents the story of St. Damien as told through the letters and testimonies -- passed down through oral histories -- of the people who knew him. "We were trying to bring the voices of the people who had leprosy back into the story of Father Damien," Anwei Law said.

Although much has been written about St. Damien and about leprosy, which is now called Hansen's disease, the voices of the people affected by this disease have been conspicuously missing in written history, Bishop Clarence Silva, bishop of the Diocese of Honolulu, noted in the forward to the Laws' book. "Even though they wrote hundreds of letters and petitions and provided eye-witness testimony to the historical events of the 19th and 20th centuries, their perspective simply hasn't been included in the traditional histories," Bishop Silva wrote in the foreword.

Throughout history, the voices of those with leprosy have been discounted as unimportant, Anwei Law said. This discrimination continued even after the 1940s, when the first cure for leprosy was developed, she said. Even well-respected doctors and lawyers have faced discrimination after contracting the disease, she noted. "People thought when you got this disease you no longer had any credibility ... as a human being ... and you're worth nothing anymore. People are people, no matter if you have leprosy or not," Henry Law said. "In every religion and culture, men, women and children have been discriminated against," Anwei Law added.

This discrimination still exists today, but she and her husband hope their new book will be a weapon against such discrimination. Their inclusion of the voices of people who've actually lived with the disease leaves less room for misinterpretation, she said. "When people's voices are included, they are able to define themselves rather than be limited by the imagination and perceptions of others who did not know them," she said. The Laws have long advocated for people who've dealt with leprosy. Anwei Law's father was a leprosy researcher, and she became interested in the disease at a young age. In 1977 she moved to Kalaupapa to continue her own research, and there she met Henry Law, who was working as an architect for the National Park Service. The couple lived in Kalaupapa for several decades before moving to Seneca Falls several years ago.

The couple still visits Hawaii several times a year and is active within the International Association for Integration, Dignity and Economic Advancement, which is the largest international advocacy organization by and for individuals who've faced the challenges of leprosy. Proceeds from the sale of Father Damien will be donated to IDEA, Henry Law said. "We're just saying that the discrimination and the labeling of people really has to stop," Henry Law said.

The Laws' book may be ordered online for $25 at www.fatherdamienmolokai.org, or by sending a check payable to IDEA to PO Box 651, Seneca Falls, NY 13148.
By Jennifer Burke
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The Management of Kalaupapa

Jan. 28th: - The Associated Press reported yesterday that State Senator J. Kalani English, who represents Molokai, has proposed legislation that would transfer management of the Kalaupapa settlement form the state Department of Health to the Department of Hawaiian Homelands.

The transfer would not happen until there are no more patients receiving care in Kalaupapa. At this time there are 19 patients living in Kalaupapa, all are over the age of 65. Senator English said the state should prepare for more visitors interested in the historical, cultural and religious significance of Kalaupapa.

Because there are some Hawaiian homesteads on the north shore of Molokai in Kalawao County, English believes it makes more sense for the DHHL to manage this area once the patients are gone.
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No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Mozlink’ for any or all of the articles/images placed here. The placing of an article does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
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