Molokai History:
(from “Pioneers of the Faith: History of the Catholic Mission in Hawaii (1827-1940)” by Robert Schoofs, SS.CC., Sturgis Printing Company, Inc., Honolulu, HI, 1978)
(continued from May 16th)
On the beautiful four-acre church property at Kaluaaha with Our Lady of Sorrows Church, Father Thomas had a small but comfortable rectory. It was from there as from the center of the district that the quiet little priest travelled in all directions, and it was there that he returned in the late afternoon. Even today it is an idyllic spot; the two white buildings sit on the green lawn like two large bouquets of white flowers.
St. Joseph’s Chapel at Kamalo still stands, next to the main road, ever watching over the sleeping faithful in her graveyard. Farther down there used to be another small chapel at Moanui, dedicated to St. John the Evangelist. By 1930 it had succumbed to termites, rains and winds. All three churches were in the Pukoo district, while at the very end, in the Halawa Valley, another small chapel dedicated to St. Ann served the Hawaiian settlement up to the mid-1920’s. Then the inhabitants, with others of East Molokai, moved to their homesteads on the central plateau.
(to be continued tomorrow)
Blessings, pono and pule!
Fr. Brian Guerrini, ss.cc.
Priest
Molokai