Molokai History:
[from Hawaii Catholic Herald, February 4, 2011]
“Ground broken for Kaunakakai’s long-awaited church”
‘Not a basilica’
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.
Frank Skowronski, the architect, 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 a hundred more than the church it is replacing. A series of doors in the back can open up to accomodate 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.
[……. to be continued]
Blessings, pono and pule!
Fr. Brian Guerrini, ss.cc.
Priest
Molokai