I’ve always felt Kauai should be proud of the diversity of its many churches. Numerous denominations are represented by churches in nearly every community around the island. Some have not only served Kauai residents for generations but are also historically
I’ve always felt Kauai should be proud of the diversity of its many churches.
Numerous denominations are represented by churches in nearly every community around the island.
Some have not only served Kauai residents for generations but are also historically significant.
For example, Lihue Lutheran Church was the oldest Lutheran church in the Hawaiian Islands. Built in 1881, it was destroyed by Hurricane Iwa in 1982 and rebuilt to look exactly the same.
St. Raphael’s Church in Koloa is Kauai’s oldest Catholic church. It was founded in 1841 by Rev. Arsenius Robert Walsh, who said the first Mass on Kauai on Dec. 25, 1841. Services are still held there every week.
St. Theresa’s in Kekaha (including its missions in Waimea and Kaumakani) is the westernmost parish in the United States. Kauai’s first Catholic school was also established at St. Theresa’s.
Waioli Mission Hall in is the oldest church building on Kauai. Built in 1841, church services were held there until 1912 when the current church was built. (Waioli Huiia Church is affiliated with the United Church of Christ.)
St. Catherine in Kapaa became our family’s church and parish shortly after we moved here in 1957. My brothers and I were also enrolled in St. Catherine School.
Back then, Mass was still being said in the original church, a tiny structure dedicated in 1887 on a hill overlooking the ocean near the church’s present cemetery. It was and is a beautiful site.
Eventually, as more and more Catholics in the area wanted to join, it soon became apparent a new and larger church was needed.
Enter the Rev. John McDonald, a charismatic priest renowned for his ability to promote his projects. “Kauai’s best salesman” was how he was once described.
He served as pastor at St. Catherine from 1954 to 1961. During his tenure here, he racked up several major accomplishments.
He formed the St. Catherine Choir, gathering talented teenagers from the area, arranging for them to perform at the Coco Palms Hotel regularly and make several recordings. He even convinced film producers to use choir members in the films “South Pacific” and “Blue Hawaii.”
He also persuaded the Trapp Family Singers (made famous in the movie “The Sound of Music”) to perform a concert here once. After it was over, two family members stayed on to coach his choir at his urging.
I still remember one of them I knew only as “Ms. von Trapp.” She was frequently at St. Catherine School while I was there.
Perhaps, though, Father McDonald’s biggest accomplishment was the donation of works of art for the new church and its mission churches in Hanalei and Kilauea by three of Hawaii’s most outstanding artists — Jean Charlot, Juliette May Fraser and Tseng Yo Ho.
All were affiliated with the University of Hawaii, were renowned worldwide and were friends of McDonald’s.
The collection of donated paintings was appraised in the early 1990s at more than $700,000. One painting, “Hawaiian Madonna” by Fraser, was said to be worth $100,000 at the time.
The most compelling, however, is Charlot’s fresco mural above the church altar. “The Compassionate Christ” is considered by the Charlot Collection to be the artist’s most significant work during his years in Hawaii.
In 1999, the Art Angel Project was started by Anne Loquercio to restore the artwork which was rapidly deteriorating after 40 years of tropical weather. (Appraisers had said that the price of Fraser’s “Hawaiian Madonna” would double if it was restored.)
The parish provided funds to start the restoration. Numerous donations were also received from corporations and individuals. Work was reportedly completed on the project in 2002.
McDonald eventually left the priesthood and became a tennis pro for his friends Grace and Gus Guslander at Coco Palms Resort.
St. Catherine’s remained our church long after my parents moved back to Honolulu and Wayne and I started a family of our own.
Over the years, it has been where we have celebrated first communions, weddings, baptisms and confirmations, and sought comfort from family and friends at far too many funerals.
On so many Sundays I have sat in this church, studied these paintings and admired the creativity, skill and kindness of the artists who donated them and the ceramic tile murals to St. Catherine Church and its missions, St. Williams in Hanalei and St. Sylvester in Kilauea.
For me, these works of art will forever be their legacy to our island and its people.
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Rita De Silva is a former editor of The Garden Island and a Kapaa resident.
