KAPA‘A — The Reverend Mary Koppel had only arrived to her new post from New Orleans, LA., on Monday, the first day of a week-long schedule celebrating the All Saints Church’s 80th Anniversary. Wednesday evening, Rev. Koppel led a special
KAPA‘A — The Reverend Mary Koppel had only arrived to her new post from New Orleans, LA., on Monday, the first day of a week-long schedule celebrating the All Saints Church’s 80th Anniversary.
Wednesday evening, Rev. Koppel led a special service to an overflow audience, acknowledging them for their attendance to the service that was highlighted by the rededication of the pohaku anchoring the Central Bay of the church’s Memorial Hall.
The pohaku was presented to the church by the Iolani Guild and is part of the Founders’ Porch fronting the hall that is used for meetings and other church gatherings.
Representatives of numerous Hawaiian civic groups and organizations also turned out including Debbie Nakanelua-Richards who represented the Iolani Guild.
Nakanelua-Richards, a former Miss Hawai‘i, and featured in Hawaiian Airlines advertisements, said that the pohaku presentation was missing from the archives of the Guild, and Wednesday’s service afforded them an opportunity to view the pohaku firsthand as well as learn more about its significance to the church.
Sitting prominently in the Central Bay that is dedicated to Her Majesty, Queen Emma of Hawai‘i, “through whose instrumentality the Anglican Church was brought to the Islands,” the presentation was a gift of the Iolani Guild of St. Andrews Cathedral.
St. Andrews Cathedral was completed following the death of Emma, and named in memory of the king, who died on that Saint’s day.
The path leading to the construction of St. Andrews started when King Kamehameha IV’s interest was piqued through a boyhood tour of England where he had seen, in the stately beauty of Anglican liturgy, a quality that seemed attunded to the gentle beauty of the Hawaiian spirit.
England responded by sending the Rt. Rev. Thomas N. Stately and two priests who arrived on Oct. 11, 1862.
This started preparations for a cathedral and school, and the King started to translate the Book of Common Prayer and much of the Hymnal.
Kamehameha’s life was married by the death of his four-year-old son and only child in 1863. He seemed unable to survive his sadness, and his own death took place only a year following his son’s passing.
Emma declined to rule, but instead committed her life to good works which resulted in schools, churches, and efforts on behalf of the poor and sick.
Members of the Hawaiian civic groups and organizations offered ho‘okupu to both the pohaku as well as to a portrait of Queen Emma during the poignant rededication ceremony that was highlighted by the procession from the All Saints Church to the Central Bay led by Koppel and members of the Kapa‘a First Hawaiian Church Choir.
Strains of “Nu‘oli” enhanced the quiet evening air, drowning out sounds of the non-ceasing traffic that rolled through Kapa‘a town.
As the final ho‘okupu was presented, and the blessing offered, a beautiful, strong rainbow appeared in the eastern sky, a fitting tribute to an evening where the church paid tribute to its Hawaiian roots.
