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 7th)
Less than a month later (probably sometime in the 1830’s or 1840’s), on a Sunday, Father Desvault, provincial of the Sacred Hearts Fathers in Hawaii, went to Waimanalo in Oahu to say Mass for the Catholic Hawaiians of the village. As prearranged, he embarked in a large canoe in the company of two or three Catholic Hawaiians, on their way to Molokai. He spent a whole week on the island visiting, consoling, exhorting and instructing the catechists and their converts and catechumens. Though it is not mentioned in catechist Lecomte’s diary, we may be sure that Father Desvault, well known and successful trouble-shooter for the catholic Mission, found his way to the administrator to protest the behavior of some of his subjects and to demand that the religious freedom of Catholics be respected.
Blessings, pono, and pule to all!
Fr. Brian, ss.cc.
Priest
Molokai