Damien de Veuster SSCC - Leper Priest of Molokai (1840-89)

Leprosy returns to Bangladesh

2012-01-31T08:25:00.004Z

Jan 30th 2012 ICN: Bangladesh was declared free of leprosy 13 years ago by the World Health Organisation - but the disease has now returned to the capital Dhaka as well as rural areas.

The announcement was made yesterday at a rally in Khagrachhari in the southeastern Chittagong Hill Tracts to mark World Leprosy Day.

About 500 people attended the event, organized by Chittagong Leprosy Control Mission, part of The Leprosy Mission International, (TLMI) an NGO working to increase awareness about diagnosis and treatment of the disease.

District deputy commissioner Anisul Haque said the area was among the most risky places for leprosy, because the tribal people were very unaware of the disease and it carries a great stigma.

Sanay Tripura, 42, a Catholic and local TLMI medical officer, said there are about 4,500 leprosy patients in the country today. He said the chance of catching the disease in the region is around one in 10,000.

According to TLMI, 3,800 fresh leprosy cases were found last year with 732 being Dhaka city dwellers.

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St. Damien Statue Unveiled In Kapalama - Honolulu News Story - KITV Honolulu

2012-01-29T15:01:00.000Z

St. Damien Statue Unveiled In Kapalama - Honolulu News Story - KITV Honolulu

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Statue of St. Damien unveiled at Honolulu boys school named after the Belgian-born priest

2012-01-29T14:57:00.003Z

In this photo provided by Pat Bigold Media Consulting, Pookela Glasco-Kamauoha helps Anthony Eleno place a lei around the neck of a statue depicting St. Damien during an unveiling Friday, Jan, 13, 2012 at Damien Memorial School in Honolulu. St. Damien, Hawaii's patron saint, is best known for caring for leprosy patients exiled to the Kalaupapa settlement in the mid-1800s. He contracted leprosy 12 years after he arrived, and died of the disease four years later. (AP photo/Pat Bigold Media Consulting)

HONOLULU — A 7-foot statue of St. Damien has been unveiled at the Honolulu school named after the Belgian priest who cared for leprosy patients exiled to a remote Molokai peninsula.

The China-made statue is mounted next to the chapel at Damien Memorial School. The all-boys school will become coed next fall and is the only school in Hawaii named after Damien, who gained sainthood in 2009.

Hawaii's patron saint is best known for caring for leprosy patients exiled to the Kalaupapa settlement in the mid-1800s when no one else would. He contracted leprosy 12 years after he arrived, and died of the disease four years later.

The school says the statue depicting the saint wearing his signature wide-brimmed hat and glasses was unveiled at a ceremony Friday.
From: Associated Press

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Artist sculpts St. Damien statue for Pahoa church

2012-01-29T14:41:00.001Z

HILO, Hawaii (AP) — A sculptor on the island of Hawaii is creating a life-size statue of St. Damien for the Sacred Heart Church in Pahoa, located in the district where the venerated Roman Catholic priest first worked after being ordained in 1864.

William McKnight is chiseling a 7-ton basalt boulder into a statue depicting a 5-foot-10, 210-pound Damien topped by his signature hat. The sculpture will show Damien extending his hand to help people.

The base will feature Hawaii Island's main volcanoes, which also are meant to represent the Trinity, along with water symbolizing Damien's crossing to Molokai, McKnight said.

Damien was just 24 when he arrived in Puna, his first parish. Church records show he baptized nearly 100 people and performed seven marriages in the few months before he moved north to minister to people in Kohala and Hamakua.

The priest is best known and honored for work he did after moving to isolated peninsula of Kalaupapa on Molokai, where he cared for exiled leprosy patients in the mid-1800s when no one else would. He contracted leprosy 12 years after he arrived, and died of the disease four years later in 1889.

The Vatican canonized Belgian-born Joseph de Veuster, or Father Damien, in 2009.

A dedication ceremony will be held in March to coincide with the arrival of Bishop Larry Silva, who heads the Diocese of Honolulu.

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Hawaii nuns describe life of soon-to-be saint

2012-01-29T14:36:00.003Z

San Antonio News: WAILUKU, Hawaii (AP) — Sister Rose Annette Ahuna walks the same paths on a remote Molokai peninsula where a soon-to-be saint treaded while caring for exiled leprosy patients.
Ahuna and other nuns who have been researching Blessed Mother Marianne Cope describe her as tough, yet kind. The pope recently announced Marianne will be canonized, making her the second saint with ties to Kalaupapa. A date for canonization has not yet been set but it's expected to take place in 2012. In 1888, Marianne, then 45, succeeded Father Damien in caring for patients exiled to there. Damien gained sainthood in 2009.
Ahuna is one of two nuns from Cope's order who volunteer in Kalaupapa. "She encouraged everyone," Ahuna told the Maui News (http://bit.ly/usKdD9 ). "She and Father Damien also understood people regardless of their religion. And no matter what she was doing, she would put it down to help someone."
Soon-to-be Saint Marianne was the only one of 50 religious leaders to respond positively to an emissary from Hawaii who requested for nuns to help care for Hansen's disease patients on Kalaupapa, the religious order said, earning her the title of "beloved mother of the outcasts."
Marianne was known for demanding money from the government to help the leprosy patients. She wasn't "afraid to pursue anything for her people," said Sister Davilyn Ah Chick of Honolulu.
"I'm sure she would be saying, 'What is all this fuss about me for? Oh, forget about it,'" Ah Chick said.
The nuns said Marianne is credited with having a school built and teaching women and girls to sew and garden. She was also a source of support during a time of much suffering, which included abuse, families forced apart and the banning of pregnancies, Ahuna said.
Marianne died there of natural causes in 1918.
The Kalaupapa settlement is now a National Historic Park. The government has spent more than $1 million restoring parts of the peninsula associated with Marianne's work including a chapel, nuns' living quarters and walking paths.

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Saint Damien Church Opens on Molokai in Time for Christmas

2012-01-29T14:21:00.003Z

Island Catholic Community Proud to Have Two Saints

Saint Damien Church in Kaunakakai, Molokai

Hawaii Reporter - KAUNAKAKAI, MOLOKAI - For 14 years, the Catholic community on the scarcely populated island of Molokai, has tried to raise enough money to build a church in its main town of Kaunakakai to honor Saint Damien of Molokai.
After raising $2 million from bake sales, community fairs and donations, and the Catholic Diocese kicking in another $1.2 million, St Damien of Molokai Church opened two weeks ago. Run by Sacred Heart priests, the parish held its first mass last Sunday and will celebrate its first Christmas mass on December 24 and 25. The timing for the church opening, some island Catholics believe, could not be more perfect.

Fr. Damien, known as "The Leper Priest and Hero of Molokai," was declared a saint in 2009 and Blessed Mother Marianne Cope, who worked side by side with Damien and other sisters in Molokai, was cleared for "sainthood" by the Roman Catholic Church Pope last week.

Saint Damien

Saint Damien was sent to Honolulu in 1864 and then worked in Big Island missions. In 1873, he volunteered to work in Kalaupapa. In 1885, he was diagnosed with the disease, something he announced proudly because he wanted to experience what his patients did. And he continued to build hospitals, clinics, churches and coffins on the island. His sainthood ceremony was held in Rome on October 11, 2009, with King Albert II of the Belgians, Queen Paola and Belgian Prime Minister in attendance.
The Molokai church writes on its web site: In his ministry on Molokai, Father Damien bandaged and comforted the leprosy patients; built hospitals, houses, chapels and coffins; organized picnics; educated the children; and ministered to the patients' spiritual needs. In his work with the patients who had been exiled to the isolated Kalaupapa peninsula, Father Damien reformed a settlement known for its lawlessness, filth and despair, into a community of individual respect, love and laughter. Father Damien built a community of love and hope through his teaching and living Jesus Christ's gospel message of unconditional love."
Like Saint Damien, Cope, the former leader of Syracuse’s Franciscan sisters, was known for her work and dedication to leprosy patients in Kalaupapa, Molokai.
Cope was born in Germany, but her family moved to the United States eventually settling in Utica. After joining the Sisters of St. Francis in Syracuse in 1862, she established two hospitals there.
Always caring for the sick and abandoned, she brought a group of sisters to Hawaii in 1883 to care for those with Hansens disease. When the patients were sent to Kalaupapa, Molokai, in an effort to keep the disease from spreading, she moved there in 1888 and continued to care for the patients for 30 years. She promised the sisters who came with her that none of them would ever contract leprosy and she kept her word. She died in 1918 and was buried in Kalaupapa.

Blessed Marianne Cope:

Cope, who has historical tribute to her work at the Kalaupapa lookout on Molokai, is deemed the "beloved mother of the outcasts." Her remains were exhumed in 2005 by the church to prepare her for canonization.
Several cardinals and bishops on the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes for Saints announced last month the finding by a Vatican medical board there is no medical explanation for a "second miracle" that occurred when Cope healed an unnamed woman who was dying.
This followed her first miracle involved healing a 14-year old with a fatal health condition. According to Syracuse.com: "In 2004, Vatican officials ruled that a miraculous recovery involving a 14-year-old Syracuse girl in 1993 was the result of Mother Marianne’s intercession. The girl, Kate Mahoney, nearly died from complications after cancer surgery at Crouse Hospital. Sister Mary Laurence Hanley, a Franciscan nun, visited Mahoney in the hospital and prayed to Mother Marianne to intercede with God on her behalf. Others also prayed for her to Mother Marianne. The Sisters of St. Francis have a shrine to Mother Marianne at their residence on Court Street in Syracuse."
Nearly a century later, in 2003 and 2004, the Congregation for the Cause of Saints affirmed her as Venerable Marianne Cope. In 2004, the Vatican Medical Board ruled the girl's case as an inexplicable medical recovery - a miracle due to the intercession of Cope. She was affirmed as Mother Marianne for beatification. Pope John Paul II confirmed the miracle case and Cope was declared blessed. In 2005, she was declared blessed in Rome in St. Peters and in 2011, she was confirmed for canonization. Last week, Pope Benedict XVI gave his final approval for Cope and 6 others to be canonized.
Saint Damien built a Catholic church in Kalaupapa, but the only way for people living outside the former Hansen's disease colony to get there is by boat, airplane or mule. The other church, built by Saint Damien, is located on the east end of Molokai, more than an hour's drive away from the island's main population center.
The Catholic community here lost its main church to a fire more than a year ago.
Larry Helm and his wife Barbara Helm were active in helping to fund raise for the new Saint Damien Church, the only one named for Saint Damien in Hawaii.
Larry believes the spirits of both Saint Damien and Blessed Marianne Cope are with the people of Molokai.
Residents here say having two Saints from the remote Hawaiian island, and the long awaited church finally open in time for Christmas mass, are miraculous events for Molokai's Catholic community.
Author: Malia Zimmerman
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A New American Saint

2012-01-29T14:08:00.002Z

Dwight G. Duncan

Pilot Catholic News: Posted: 12/23/2011:

On Dec. 19 in Rome, the Holy Father signed the decree recognizing the canonization miracle for Blessed Marianne Cope, the nun from Syracuse, N.Y., who responded to the call to care for the lepers in Hawaii, along with St. Damien of Molokai, and spent the last 30 years of her life in Molokai until her death in 1918.

In fact, Pope Benedict was the one who beatified Mother Marianne in May of 2005, in the first of his beatifications. Just recently, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops asked the pope to make her feast day a memorial throughout the United States, as it is currently celebrated (as is typical for Blesseds) only in the dioceses of Hawaii and Syracuse, and in her religious congregation, the Sisters of St. Francis.

There is a wonderful biography of this luminous figure, entitled "Pilgrimage and Exile: Mother Marianne of Molokai," written by Sister Mary Laurence Hanley, O.S.F., and O.A. Bushnell (University of Hawaii Press 1991). It captures in careful detail the trials and tribulations endured by Mother Marianne in her life of cheerful self-giving.

For example, there was the time one of her sister nuns, the charming Sister Leopoldina, who spent her days cleaning and wrapping sores of those afflicted with leprosy, understandably panicked at the thought of herself becoming a leper, as had happened to Father Damien. "Mother, I asked, what will you do with me if I become a leper?" "You will never be a leper, I know," she said, "we are all exposed but God has called us for this work. If we are prudent and do our duty He will protect us...Remember you will never be a leper, nor will any Sister of our order."

Her biographers report, "Mother Marianne's prophecy has been fulfilled: not one of the scores of Franciscan sisters who have attended lepers in Hawaii has contracted leprosy."

Although she was born in Germany in 1838, she came to upstate New York with her family as an infant and was raised in Utica. She entered the Sisters of St. Francis in Syracuse in 1862 and quickly became a superior and eventually provincial in 1877. When, in 1883, she was invited (along with 50 other religious superiors) to come to Hawaii to nurse the leprosy patients, her religious congregation was the only one who accepted, sending a group of seven sisters, with her in charge. Initially tending lepers in a hospital in Honolulu, she and two other sisters arrived in Molokai in 1888, six months before the death of Father Damien from leprosy. Her virtues were every bit as heroic as St. Damien's, and she lived for another 30 years on the isolated island of Molokai until her death at age 80.

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Catholic Heroes for Today:

2012-01-29T13:56:00.002Z

National Catholic Register: Sainthood causes introduced in the United States continue to be investigated by Rome. Since the Register looked at canonization causes in October 2010 (see also here), there have been exciting updates on a few in progress, plus some causes recently introduced.

Candidates range from those with mystical spiritual gifts to those who did ordinary things extraordinarily well. And there are some who helped strengthen families and had connections to other saints. Several were foreign-born, but all except one became American citizens.
This week at NCRegister.com, we’ll be looking at these causes and the miracles that Rome and diocesan tribunals have examined.
It’s “American Saints Week” at the Register.

Blessed Marianne Cope
In June, the cause of Blessed Marianne Cope of Molokai, who died in 1918, took a giant leap forward when her Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities in Syracuse, N.Y., received word from Rome that seven doctors at the Vatican Congregation for Saints’ Causes medical board announced there was no medical explanation for the cure of a woman with a fatal condition.
Next comes final papal approval. A board of theologians will investigate the woman’s healing, and a committee of cardinals and bishops will examine the findings and make a judgment concerning canonization.
Sister Mary Laurence Hanley, the director/historian of the cause, says that the example of Blessed Marianne’s selflessness is as relevant and inspiring for the Church in the United States today as it was in her lifetime.
“Her selflessness comes through because she was revered here in the [Syracuse] area when she began one of the very first hospitals in the United States,” Sister Mary said. “In spite of that, she gave it all up, going over to Hawaii. She established the first [general] hospital for non-leprosy patients on the island of Maui. Five years later, she exiled herself on Molokai, taking care of leprosy patients.”
It was quite a distance from Germany, where she was born, and from Utica, N.Y., where she arrived as a year-old child with her parents.
Blessed Marianne met St. Damien De Veuster of Molokai, saw to his care on Oahu, and besides her own programs, brought to fruition several projects he sought to begin. She spent 30 years on Molokai caring for patients with leprosy, now called Hansen’s disease.
She insisted on cleanliness to prevent the spreading of disease. None of the sisters ever contracted leprosy.
Said Sister Mary, “Here was a person talented and beautiful in every way, and she followed God’s will no matter what the cost was to herself.”
by JOSEPH PRONECHEN08/07/2011

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/catholic-heroes-for-today/#ixzz1kr2ut4N8
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Mother Marianne to join Father Damien as saint of Molokai

2011-12-21T13:23:00.001Z

Dec. 19th. 2011: Blessed Marianne Cope followed Fr. Damien's footsteps by serving the leper colony on Moloka‘i, arriving several months before his death in 1889 and toiling until her own death, from natural causes at Age 80 in 1918. And now she's a small step away from formally joining him in saintdood, thanks to Pope Benedict XVI's decrss signed earlier today that recognizes a second miracle attributed to her intercession.
Known as Mother Marianne until her beatification in 2005, she was born in Germany and raised in upstate New York, where she joined the Sisters of St. Francis and became a school principal and hospital administrator, co-founding hospitals in Utica and Syracuse before heading to the Hawaiian Islands in 1883 to lead a seven-nun nursing mission. (For details of her widely hailed hospital reforms and her devoted care for and education of the exiled patients of Hansen’s disease — as leprosy is now known — see her biography here.)
A canonization date can’t be set until a special cardinals’ meeting in Rome, according to today’s Catholic News Service report, but it will apparently be pro forma. For the few remaining patients of Kalaupapa, still cared for by Sisters of St. Francis, and those in Moloka‘i’s struggling visitor industry hoping for a few more pilgrims, “Saint Marianne” would be a rare occasion to celebrate.

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Vatican Approves Miracle No. 2 for Blessed Marianne Cope

2011-12-16T10:07:00.001Z

National Catholic Register - 15th Dec. 2011: Canonization is the next step. It would make the Franciscan sister who served at Hawaiian leper colony the ninth U.S. saint.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — In 1883, Mother Marianne Cope, the superior general of the Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse, opened her mail and read a plea for nurses that could minister to leprosy patients in Hawaii. Forty-nine religious orders had set the request aside, but she chose to accept the challenge. “I am not afraid of any disease,” announced Mother Marianne, an early advocate of routine hand washing in the order’s hospitals. She soon departed for Hawaii with six sisters, with plans to stay just long enough to get them settled. But the patients’ great needs led her to remain in Hawaii for four decades — she died there in 1918.

Almost a century later, Blessed Marianne is expected to be canonized, possibly in 2012, following the Vatican’s Dec. 6 announcement that a second miracle attributed to her intercession was approved. Her order now awaits a final confirmation from Pope Benedict XVI. “We are so deeply thankful to God. For anyone to be declared ‘Blessed’ is a miracle in itself. But for Hawaii to have two saints for the universal Church, that is the beautiful part of it,” said Franciscan Sister Davilyn Ah Chick, who attended the order’s school in Honolulu, where relics of Blessed Marianne and St. Damien de Veuster, canonized in 2009, have been installed at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace.

On the East Coast of the United States, that joyful gratitude was echoed at the motherhouse of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities in Williamsville, N.Y. “As soon as we sent word out, a larger number of sisters went to the shrine where her remains have been buried and said a prayer of thanksgiving,” said Franciscan Sister Patricia Burkard, the designated spokeswoman for Blessed Marianne’s cause.
“She is recognized as a person with great compassion, but she also had the kind of skills that inspired trust and hope. She showed enormous dedication, giving to others at great personal sacrifice,” said Sister Patricia.

Saintly Sacrifice
Blessed Marianne faced hardship from her early years. Born in 1838, the then-Barbara Koob was the oldest of 10 children of German immigrant parents who settled in Utica, N.Y. Her father’s health failed, and Barbara went to work in a factory after completing eighth grade. Once her siblings were old enough to support themselves, she entered the convent of the Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse. She began working in the order’s schools, serving as a teacher and principal, but eventually her focus shifted to include health care.
In the 1880s, as a member of the governing board of her religious community, she helped pave the way for the opening of two hospitals that boasted distinctive charters for that era: They accepted patients of any nationality, creed or race. At the time, they were among just 60 registered hospitals in the United States.
“Early on, she was recognized to have great leadership. She helped found St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Utica and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse,” said Sister Patricia.

Mother Marianne left those institutions in capable hands when she left for Hawaii in 1883. And when the sisters’ ship arrived in Honolulu Harbor later that year, they were greeted by the pealing of bells from Our Lady of Peace Cathedral and a jubilant crowd. The sisters received their first glimpse of the tragic plight of Hawaii’s leprosy patients at the holding hospital in Honolulu, where those suspected of contracting the disease — known today as Hansen’s disease — were evaluated by public-health officials.
Once the diagnosis was confirmed, they were “exiled” to the island of Molokai, where Father Damien had already begun his own ministry with afflicted men and boys. But soon after her arrival, the government’s policy of exile was temporarily discontinued, and patients were cared for at a Honolulu hospital.
Within two years, King Kalakaua of Hawaii had decorated Mother Marianne with the medal of the Royal Order of Kapiolani for her outstanding service to the sick and the needy. In 1884, she established “Malulani Hospital, the first general hospital on the island of Maui,” according to her official biography.

Care and Christian Comfort
Mother Marianne moved a step closer to a permanent stay in Hawaii after she was asked to return to Honolulu to intercede on behalf of leprosy patients who were mistreated by a government-appointed administrator. She issued an ultimatum: She would return to Syracuse if he was not dismissed. Ultimately, she was placed in charge of that hospital, securing her commitment to remain there. But five years after her arrival in Honolulu, the government reinstituted its policy of exiling leprosy patients. The government asked the sisters to take over nursing duties in the isolated settlement of Kalaupapa on Molokai. Marianne knew that if they accepted the assignment, there would be no going back to New York. “Our hearts are bleeding to see them shipped off,” she wrote to Father Damien, confirming her decision to establish a home for afflicted women.

She met Father Damien soon after her arrival, though the two operated separate missions. In 1886, after he contracted leprosy, according to her biography, “Mother Marianne alone gave hospitality to the outcast priest upon hearing that his illness made him an unwelcome visitor to church and government leaders in Honolulu. … Her caring turned other leaders around to his favor, especially after a visit by royalty was arranged to take place at the hospital.” At the end of his life, Damien asked her to take over his mission, and she carried on his work with men and boys until a religious order of brothers took charge.

The settlement of Kalaupapa was primitive, and her patients lived in huts, their sense of dignity in tatters. The sisters began by nursing the patients, and, eventually, the order established a hospital for treatment. Mother Marianne continuously stressed the need for hand washing, promising the sisters that if they maintained that simple ritual no one would contract the disease. “And, 127 years later, that is still true. Not one sister ever contracted the disease,” said Sister Patricia. Over time, the order opened schools for the patients’ healthy children. The children lived in an orphanage established by the sisters and were only able to see their parents from time to time under restricted conditions at the settlement. The patients’ profound isolation had resulted in deep spiritual and emotional wounds. As their spiritual mother, Mother Marianne sought to draw out their humanity and affirm their inalienable dignity, even as their own people shunned them. She offered them training and classes that drew them into creative and productive work. “At Kalaupapa, she incited an interest in color harmony, needlework and landscaping. For spiritual direction, the pastor of St. Francis Church was invited to give instructions to the patients at the home, and non-Catholics were free to see their pastors,” states the official biography. “A beautiful aspect of her life, besides her courage and spirit of joy, was that she impressed everyone as a mother,” noted Sister Davilyn, who said that Mother Marianne took great care to help her patients dress in beautiful garments befitting their true dignity.

The author Robert Louis Stevenson, a contemporary of Mother Marianne, offered this verse acknowledging the sisters’ inspirational care for an afflicted people:
He marks the sisters on the painful shores.
And even a fool is silent and adores.
Mother Marianne died from natural causes in 1918, but her legacy in Hawaii continues. There are schools and hospice-care programs in various locations on the Hawaiian islands. At Kalaupapa, the sisters still care for a small number of patients who live voluntarily at the settlement.

Canonization Cause
About 40 years ago, the Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse began exploring the possibility of promoting her canonization. Sister Mary Laurence Hanley made Mother Marianne’s cause her life’s work. She authored a definitive biography, Pilgrimage and Exile, with O.A. Bushne and spent almost four decades researching her cause, visiting Hawaii to review old records and sharing Marianne’s life with interested Catholics.
Sister Mary died just days before the Vatican approved the second miracle this month. “When the order began to review her life and the sisters realized the incredible work she had accomplished, many sisters were assigned to her, and when she passed away, the sisters continued to come so that her legacy lived on.

Regarding her work in Hawaii: The order recognized that it was an extraordinary response to people in need and the call of the Gospel,” said Sister Patricia. In 2003, theologians at the Congregation for the Causes of Saints declared her “heroically virtuous” and the following year Pope John Paul II named her “Venerable.”
In 2005, the order celebrated her beatification, following the Vatican’s approval of a first miracle: the return to health of a young girl whose major organs shut down following cancer treatment. That same year, the order exhumed Marianne’s body and brought her remains back to St. Anthony Convent in Syracuse. “We often hear of the miraculous activities of medieval saints that could fly, but, sometimes, God works in an ordinary way with extraordinary power,” said Jeannine Marino, a program specialist at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Evangelization and Catechesis, who confirmed that, following Benedict XVI’s expected approval, Blessed Marianne would be the ninth U.S. saint. “What will happen is that the Holy Father will announce the day for the canonization for the official ceremony. It appears that he has been limiting canonizations to twice a year, in the fall or in late spring or summer,” she said. Marino suggested that Blessed Marianne’s example offers a path for “embodying the New Evangelization: going forth, proclaiming the Gospel, and meeting people where they are — in a hospital, soup kitchen or classroom.”
by JOAN FRAWLEY DESMOND12/15/2011

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Blessed Mother Marianne Cope, Who Cared for Leprosy Patients on Molokai, One Step Closer to Sainthood

2011-12-10T13:24:00.001Z

Rainbow over Kalaupapa

Hawaii Reporter Dec. 6th. 2011: Blessed Mother Marianne Cope, the former leader of Syracuse’s Franciscan sisters known for her work and dedication to leprosy patients in Kalaupapa, Molokai, has been nearly cleared for "sainthood" by the Roman Catholic Church. Several cardinals and bishops on the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes for Saints today announced the finding by a Vatican medical board there is no medical explanation for a "second miracle" that occurred when Cope healed an unnamed woman who was dying.
This followed her first miracle involved healing a 14-year old with a fatal health condition. According to Syracuse.com: "In 2004, Vatican officials ruled that a miraculous recovery involving a 14-year-old Syracuse girl in 1993 was the result of Mother Marianne’s intercession. The girl, Kate Mahoney, nearly died from complications after cancer surgery at Crouse Hospital. Sister Mary Laurence Hanley, a Franciscan nun, visited Mahoney in the hospital and prayed to Mother Marianne to intercede with God on her behalf. Others also prayed for her to Mother Marianne. The Sisters of St. Francis have a shrine to Mother Marianne at their residence on Court Street in Syracuse."

Saint Damien sscc

Fr. Damien, who worked side by side with Cope and other sisters in Molokai, and was known as "The Leper Priest and Hero of Molokai" was declared a saint in 2009. Damien was sent to Honolulu in 1864 and then worked in Big Island missions. In 1873, he volunteered to work in Kalaupapa. In 1885, he was diagnosed with the disease, something he announced proudly because he wanted to experience what his patients did. And he continued to build hospitals, clinics, churches and coffins on the island. His sainthood ceremony was held in Rome on October 11, 2009, with King Albert II of the Belgians, Queen Paola and Belgian Prime Minister in attendance.
The path to sainthood for Cope has also been a long one. She died in 1918 and was buried in Kalaupapa.

Sr Marianne Cope

Nearly a century later, in 2003 and 2004, the Congregation for the Cause of Saints affirmed her as Venerable Marianne Cope. In 2004, the Vatican Medical Board ruled the girl's case as an inexplicable medical recovery - a miracle due to the intercession of Cope. She is affirmed as Mother Marianne for beatification. Pope John Paul II confirms the miracle case and Cope is declared blessed. In 2005, she is declared blessed in Rome in St. Peters and in 2011, she is confirmed for canonization. The next and final step is for Pope Benedict XVI to give his approval.
Cope was born in Germany, but her family moved to the United States eventually settling in Utica. After joining the Sisters of St. Francis in Syracuse in 1862, she established two hospitals there.
Always caring for the sick and abandoned, she brought a group of sisters to Hawaii in 1883 to care for those with Hansens disease. When the patients were sent to Kalaupapa, Molokai, in an effort to keep the disease from spreading, she moved there in 1888 and continued to care for the patients for 30 years. She promised the sisters who came with her that none of them would ever contract leprosy and she kept her word.
Cope, who has historical tribute to her work at the Kalaupapa lookout on Molokai, is deemed the "beloved mother of the outcasts." Her remains were exhumed in 2005 by the church to prepare her for canonization.
Author: Malia Zimmerman

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Path to Sainthood Cleared for Blessed Marianne Cope

2011-12-10T13:22:00.001Z

Path to Sainthood Cleared for Blessed Marianne Cope

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No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Mozlink’ for any or all of the articles/images placed here. The placing of an article does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
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Saint Damien of Molokai Hip Hop Music Rap Song w/"The Lord's Prayer

2011-12-03T09:46:00.000Z

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No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Mozlink’ for any or all of the articles/images placed here. The placing of an article does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
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Oahu school inspired by Blessed Marianne unveils statue of nun who cared for leprosy patients | The Republic

2011-11-24T12:51:00.000Z

Oahu school inspired by Blessed Marianne unveils statue of nun who cared for leprosy patients The Republic

Sacred Hearts Consolidation is Complete

2011-11-20T11:36:00.001Z

The Rev. Johnathan Hurrell, elected Wednesday as the head of the consolidated chapter, at the St. Anthony's retreat center.

Star Advertiser: Nov. 20 2011: The Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, which brought the first Catholic missionaries to Hawaii in 1827, formally merged its Hawaii chapter with a mainland contingent this week to expand its resources and invigorate its ministries.

The Rev. Johnathan Hurrell, an assistant pastor of St. Michael's Church in Waialua, was elected Wednesday as head of the consolidated chapter. The reorganization and election were part of a weeklong conference at St. Anthony Retreat Center in Kalihi Valley, presided over by the Rev. Javier Alvarez-Ossorio, the Rome-based superior general of the global organization's governing body.

"My big push will be vocations (recruiting priests). That will be an absolute priority — to bring new life into the community," Hurrell said.

Consolidating the two chapters into the new United States Province "is an exciting time," Hurrell said. "We will have more resources to pool from. We can discover our potential, which will increase with the merger. I hope to animate the brothers and make them feel encouraged and challenged."

Hurrell, 46, said he was elected probably because "they were looking for youth, a vigor for change and for energy to move ahead with positive changes. I hope to have the courage to embrace the changes the community is looking for."

The Hawaii Province had consisted of 15 priests and six brothers who staff four Oahu parishes: St. Augustine-by-the-Sea in Waikiki, St. Patrick Church in Kaimuki, St. Ann Church in Kaneohe and St. Michael Church in Waialua; and the two Molokai parishes, St. Damien Church in Kaunakakai and St. FrancisChurch in Kalaupapa, according to a Sacred Hearts news release.

The former U.S. East Province included 31 priests and three brothers at seven parishes in Massachusetts, Texas, Mexico and Washington, D.C., and a mission in India.

The merger had been under consideration for 20 years as the Sacred Hearts Congregation, like other Catholic organizations, faces a dwindling corps of priests and brothers due to retirement, and because few young men are choosing to take vows of celibacy, obedience and poverty to enter priesthood, the news release said. Sisters of the Sacred Hearts, who are organized separately, are not party to the merger.

Fr General: Javier Alverez-Ossorio sscc

Alvarez-Ossorio said the consolidation of provinces in general ends duplication of some functions and facilities. It will also allow smaller chapters to expand their resources to take advantage of strengths the other province might have, and thus increase the creativity and broadening of outreaches to new communities. Mergers have worked well with the Mozambique and Congo provinces, and the Japan and Philippine provinces, which have different languages and cultures, Alvarez-Ossorio added.

Hurrell, a native of New Zealand, said being chosen was "a big of a shock for me," as senior ministers are usually selected for the top job. He has been an assistant pastor at St. Michael's the past few years, and worked at various parishes on Oahu in the 16 years he's lived in Hawaii, he said. He was ordained by Catholic Diocese of Honolulu Bishop Larry Silva six years ago.

Hurrell will lead a management team of four councilors, including the Revs. Herman Gomes, pastor of St. Ann's Church in Kaneohe; Chris Santangelo and Stan Kolasa from Massachusetts; and Bob Charlton of Texas, who was elected vicar provincial.

The Sacred Hearts Center in Kaneohe will be the residence of the new provincial, and the administrative offices of the U.S. Province will be in Fairhaven, Mass. Hawaii and Massachusetts maintain retirement homes for members.

The Rev. Christopher Keahi, who headed the Hawaii Province, said Hawaii has played a key role in the history of Sacred Hearts.

"We were the first mission of the order after it was founded in France. We are the land that produced its great Saint Damien of Molokai," he said in the release. A parish priest will continue to be provided at Kalaupapa, which has been staffed by the Sacred Hearts since Father Damien de Veuster served leprosy patients for 16 years until his death from the disease in 1889, the release said. Damien was canonized by the Catholic Church in 2009.

"It is the memory and witness and spirit of Damien that inspires the whole world and directs us to take care of the poor people, suffering people everywhere," Alvarez-Ossorio said. "It is up to us to live out his spirit as we are in service in our own time, to the forgotten."

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Hawaiian Missionaries book release October 2011

2011-11-03T10:13:00.001Z

Hawaiian Missionaries is a new narrative non-fiction book. The book contains amazing stories of the opportunities and obstacles the American Missionaries faced. Kassel discovered that the American Missionaries created their own Post Office and linked it with the United States when Hawaii was still a Kingdom. The book ISBN 1461157560 is available on Amazon.com and directly from the publisher at https://www.createspace.com/3607362

Anthony R. Kassel announces his new book Hawaiian Missionaries and an associated website http://www.HawaiianMissionaries.com The book deals with a controversial subject and will find a host of readers with diverse backgrounds. The actions of the adult children of the Protestant missionaries prompted an attitude in the islands that still lingers today. It is said that the missionaries came to do good and they did very well. The conflict between the Catholics and the Protestant sects continued in Hawaii until it was solved via French Gunboat Diplomacy. The Catholic Priest now known as Saint Damian of Molokai would not have been able to ease the suffering of the Lepers on Molokai if it had not been for the action of the French navy.
Kassel says his new book is the result of five years of research. The project started when Kassel read an intriguing story of the Grinnell Hawaiian Missionary postage stamps. Those stamps were seized by the US Secret Service when they became the subject of a Superior Court case. Kassel discovered new information that indicates that those stamps are in fact a genuine first printing. In the book Kassel investigates a story that has been circulating for years in philatelic journals. As the story goes a wealthy stamp collector was murdered in Paris. The motive of the murderer was a desire to possess a two cent Hawaiian Missionary postage stamp.
Kassel says, "Hawaiian Missionaries contains amazing stories that are the Gems of Hawaiian History." Kassel found a common denominator in these stories in the Emerson mission family; the book is dedicated to them in appreciation of the selfless acts they performed to better the lives of the Hawaiian people. More information on this fascinating book can be found at http://www.HawaiianMissionaries.com

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Father Damien of Molokai - Hawaii's First Saint

2011-10-31T14:01:00.000Z

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Blessed Damien of Molokai

2011-10-25T12:36:00.001+01:00

2011-10-25T08:50:00.000+01:00

October 23, 2011 Reporting from Kalaupapa, Hawaii—

After hiking downhill 90 minutes on a three-mile trail with 26 switchbacks, we came to a clearing with a long, peaceful stretch of sandy white beach juxtaposed against the aqua ocean. Almost anywhere else in Hawaii, this majestic site would be an indication of a five-star resort around the corner. But here on the remote peninsula of Kalaupapa, on the island of Molokai, the end of the trail had only a small collection of worn, sun-washed wooden bleachers on which we sat and waited for a yellow school bus to arrive and take us on a tour of this critical piece of Hawaiian history.

Surrounded by ocean and cut off from the rest of the island by some of the world's highest — 1,600-foot — sea cliffs, Kalaupapa was for more than a century the designated settlement for Hawaiians suffering from Hansen's disease, or leprosy. In 1865, as a preventive measure to stop the spread of the illness, King Kamehameha V signed a law setting aside land for isolating those afflicted.

By 1866, the first group of 12 patients had been sent to the original settlement at Kalawao, on the opposite side of the peninsula. In the next decades, an estimated 8,000 more would arrive, with as many as 1,000 people at a time in residence. By the late 1800s, most of the inhabitants had settled at less windy, warmer Kalaupapa on the leeward side. Beginning in 1946, the use of sulfone and, later, multi-drug therapies brought about effective treatment of the disease, and those who were once confined could come and go as they pleased.

Today, the 11 remaining residents at Kalaupapa are guaranteed a home here as long as they choose to stay. Visitors are allowed only by permit and must be escorted by an official tour guide. Although this was my fifth trip to Molokai, this was my first time to Kalaupapa. I was with my friend Lynette Sheppard, who lives eight months of the year on the island with her husband, former National Geographic photographer Dewitt Jones.

Lynette has made the journey to Kalaupapa seven times. The last was five years ago, when the halau (hula group) she dances with was invited to perform in honor of the 50th wedding anniversary of two of the residents, who had met and married as young people at the settlement. "I find Kalaupapa a very spiritual place," she said as we sat waiting for the tour guide to arrive. "With its rough and rugged cliffs, it's one of the most incredibly beautiful places in Hawaii, but the sadness still lives there. I think you can't really know Molokai without having seen this. It's a huge part of our history, and it's a place that still has a lot to teach about tolerance and compassion."

Within a few minutes of our arrival, another group of visitors, who had come down the trail by mule, appeared. All together, there were about 25 of us sitting quietly, our eyes scanning the verdant settlement a short distance away, which, from its pastoral look, betrayed no hint of its history. The tour bus arrived and our guide, Beverly, gave us the lay of the land. Dressed in a casual blue Hawaiian shirt, she was cheerfully approachable, but her lightness gave way to a more serious tone as we drove into the settlement and she explained the significance of the buildings and sites.

The 3 1/2-hour tour of the grounds revealed to visitors the history and civic structure of Kalaupapa with its library, fire station, post office, store, churches, resident quarters, hospital ruins and even jailhouse. In the official bookstore, I met Boogie, 59, who had Hansen's and had come to live at the settlement when he was 19. "I already had one brother and one sister who had been sent here before me," he said. When I inquired why he chose to stay after a cure made it possible to leave, he smiled and told me, "I'm happy here."

By far one of the most moving parts of the tour was the visit to St. Philomena Catholic Church, where Father Damien (canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on Oct. 11, 2009) preached. Damien, born Joseph De Veuster in Belgium in 1840, arrived in Kalaupapa in 1873 and was instrumental in transforming it into a cohesive community. Together with Mother Marianne Cope (beatified in 2005) and Brother Joseph Dutton (a layman), they built houses, hospitals and churches. In 1884, Damien contracted the disease but continued his work until his death five years later. His humble grave site sits beside St. Philomena church on a large stretch of grassy land overlooking the ocean. Damien's body was later moved to Belgium, but in 1995, the relic of his right hand was reinterred in his former grave.

The final stop on the tour ended where the story began for many of the settlement's early inhabitants — at the rocky cliffs overlooking the blue-green waters below. I sidled up to Beverly, who was leaning against the railing and gazing at the sea. "Is that where the ships used to drop people off?" I asked. I had read enough of Molokai history to know that the earliest patients were torn from their families, forced onto ships and thrown overboard into these waters.

"Yes," Beverly said as she shook her head. "They threw them into the sea with just one change of clothes and enough food for two days. There were women and children too. Many of them drowned before making it to shore." We were both silent after that, and then I heard what Lynette referred to earlier as the sadness and spirituality of Kalaupapa. It's the whisper of waves crashing on the rocks, a mix of natural beauty and human sorrow, all churning together and rising up from the sea.
By Karen Leland, Special to the Los Angeles Times

Missionary Stories

2011-10-18T08:22:00.002+01:00

The Irish Missionary Union recently launched the Irish Missionary Stories Project, a collection of 150 audio interviews with missionaries. This video is a selection of audio clips from the collection.
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No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Mozlink’ for any or all of the articles/images placed here. The placing of an article does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise. Mozlink

Timeline - Damien of Molokai

2011-08-30T13:20:00.005+01:00

Joseph (Ira) Dutton (1843-1931)

2011-07-30T13:36:00.003+01:00

Wisconson State Journal, July 26th 2011: There’s been so much anger and violence in the news lately that it might be refreshing to consider the life of a Wisconsin man who devoted half a century to humility and compassion.

Ira Dutton was born in Vermont in 1843 and came to Wisconsin as a child. He was still a teenager when the Civil War broke out, and he joined the 13th Infantry as quartermaster. His duties included provisioning soldiers with food and clothing, tending the sick and burying the dead. After his discharge in 1865, Dutton stayed in the South tracing missing soldiers, collecting their remains and settling survivors’ claims.
These horrors and a failed marriage drove him to drink heavily. By his own account, he spent the next decade in a drunken stupor. When he emerged from the gutter in 1876, Dutton began to study religion, and in 1883 he joined the Trappist Monastery at Gethsemane, Ky., expecting to spend his life in contemplation.
But he soon learned about the work of Father Damien DeVeuster (“Damien the Leper”) caring for shunned native Hawaiians at Molokai, and he left for the islands in 1886. Dutton introduced himself as “Brother Joseph” when he met the tiny relief corps at the Kalaupapa Leper Colony.
He volunteered there for 45 years, until his death in 1931. Dutton spent his days building latrines, bandaging sores, mopping floors, and serving meals to the diseased and despised. He accepted no pay and insisted that his military pension be donated to the monks at Gethsemane.

Molokai Postal Service

2011-07-30T13:32:00.004+01:00

Associated Press HONOLULU -- The U.S. Postal Service is considering shuttering a tiny Molokai post office in the remote Kalaupapa peninsula known as a former leprosy settlement, accessible only by plane or mule.

The one-woman Kalaupapa office that serves less than 100 residents is on a list of about 3,700 locations nationwide the postal service announced Tuesday are being considered for closure.
"The post office is the lifeline for the residents out here at Kalaupapa," Stephen Prokop, Kalaupapa National Historical Park superintendent, said Wednesday. "There is no Internet access, no cellphone access. Mail is the only way we can communicate."
Hansen's disease patients were forced into isolation there in 1866, where they were cared for by Father Damien, who became Hawaii's first saint in 2009. About a dozen patients still live there since the quarantine was lifted in 1969, Prokop said. The rest of the residents are mostly National Park Service employees who tend to more than 200 historic structures.
"The youngest patient is 70. For them to not have access to regular mail is extreme," Prokop said.
Mail is processed in Honolulu and then flown once a day to the Kalaupapa office, which "serves the most isolated population of postal customers in the state," said USPS spokesman Duke Gonzales. "We understand especially in a community like Kalaupapa the necessity of mail and what mail means to them."
That's why the postal service is looking for alternative ways Kalaupapa residents can receive mail if the office closes, including using a privately operated office or a mail receiving agency that distributes mail for a larger organization such as a college. Gonzales said the post office won't close without finding a way to give customers access to mail service.
The Kalaupapa post office is an example of other historical relationships the postal service has with remote areas, such a settlement of Native Americans in the Grand Canyon that get mail delivered by a mule.
"There are others that are more remote," Gonzales said. Kalaupapa is "only a short plane ride from Oahu."
The unique way mail arrives to Kalaupapa, where residents pick up letters and packages from the post office, was first highlighted by The Maui News on Wednesday.
Two post offices on Oahu and one on Kauai are also on the list of potential closures. Most of the 3,653 post offices nationwide being studied for closure have so little foot traffic that workers average less than two hours of per day and average sales are less than $50 a day, Gonzales said.

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER

Fr. Damien Of Molokai

2011-07-30T12:55:00.007+01:00

A full TV film (117 mins) at the following link http://bit.ly/ogqvQD

60 Utube videos on Father Damien at the following link: http://bit.ly/qR3CMf

Blessed Marianne Cope Returns

2011-05-02T10:58:00.000+01:00

Blessed Mother Marianne Cope’s relic will be on display on topside Molokai May 6 and Kalaupapa the following day. Photo courtesy of bigislandchronicle.com.
While St. Damien is a household name on Molokai, Blessed Mother Marianne Cope isn’t far behind in the process of being declared a saint. A relic of the venerated nun, who served in Kalaupapa with Damien, will be on display on Molokai on May 6 and 7. Not only did Mother Marianne leave her home in New York to care for Hansen’s disease patients in Kalaupapa and Honolulu for 35 years, but she also founded the first hospital on Maui, as well as Hilo General Hospital and orphanages for children around the state.

“I am hungry for the work, I am not afraid of the disease, hence it would be my greatest delight even to minister to the abandoned lepers,” said Mother Marianne in response to a request to serve in Hawaii, in 1883, according to blessedmothermarianne.org Topside Molokai will be the first of eight stops on the relic’s Hawaiian tour. Bone fragments from Cope’s hand will be on display on Friday, May 6 at Kalaniana`ole Hall and St. Damien Center. It will be moved to St. Francis Church in Kalauapapa for presentation at 10:30 a.m. the following day.

“I am pretty excited; we know much of the good work she has done especially on Molokai,” said Father Clyde Guerreiro, Saint Damien Catholic Parish priest. “St. Damien blessed Mother Marianne and we have two people on Molokai who have been found to be heroic examples of following Christ.” After touring the state, the relic will come to a permanent rest at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu. It was the first place where Mother Marianne worshipped upon her Hawaii arrival on Nov. 8, 1883.

Returning to Molokai
The Diocese of Honolulu has been waiting six years to receive the relic. Bishop Larry Silva has been requesting that a relic of Mother Marianne be returned to Hawaii ever since her bones were exhumed from Kalaupapa in 2005. The rest of Mother Marianne’s body was taken to Syracuse, New York, where Mother Marianne first joined the Franciscan Sisterhood. Sister Alicia Lau, a fellow Franciscan sister, will accompany the relic to Molokai and Lanai. “She’s the reason we [Franciscan sisters] came here [to Hawaii],” Lau said. “She assured none of our sisters will contract Hansen’s disease. And nobody has. That in itself is a miracle, I think.”

Mother Marianne spent the last thirty years of her life in Kalaupapa taking care of those exiled there, never having a chance to return to her home in New York before dying of natural causes. During her time there, she helped start the construction of the Bishop Home in Kalaupapa for homeless women and girls affected with Hansen’s disease. She also opened the Kapiolani Home on Oahu for daughters of Hansen’s disease patients.

In order to be declared a saint by the Catholic Church, two miracles must be attributed to the subject and verified by the Vatican in Rome; Mother Marianne has one miracle to her name. In 1992, a cancer patient, Kate Mahoney, touched a relic of Mother Marianne and was healed shortly after. Doctors were dumbfounded by her recovery and she is still alive today. There is currently one more alleged miracle attributed to Mother Marianne, but the details of it have not been released. Marianne’s first phenomenon was verified in the late 1990s. Another possible miracle is being reviewed by the Vatican in Rome, but the details of it have not been released. The relic comes just in time for her six-year anniversary of being declared Blessed. She gained beatification in 2005, which is the third step of four in the canonization process.

Mother Marianne’s efforts on Oahu earned her the Royal Medal of Kapiolani. Upon arrival in 1883, the Sister’s first task was to take care of newly diagnosed Hansen’s disease patients at Branch Hospital. A year later, she founded Malulani Hospital, the first hospital on Maui. Mother Marianne met St. Damien two years before he was diagnosed with Hansen’s disease, in 1884. He was so satisfied with her and her Sisters’ work, he requested that they take over for him in Kalaupapa after he died.

Blessed Mother Marianne Cope’s relic will be on display at Kalaniana`ole Hall on May 6 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. and at St. Damien Center until midnight for prayers. From there, it will be transported to St. Francis Church at 10:30 a.m. on May 7.

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St. Damien relic to travel the Mainland

2011-03-27T13:59:00.001+01:00

The traveling relic of St. Damien, a foot bone fragment, is visible through the reliquary’s glass window. HCH photo|Darlene Dela Cruz The spirit of Molokai’s saint will inspire Catholic communities from Tulsa to Brooklyn

Oklahoma and Maryland in April. New York and Illinois in November. A travel itinerary like that seems more befitting of a rock band than a humble saint from Molokai. Yet those destinations are on the agenda for the spirit of St. Damien this year.
Last November, Bishop Larry Silva announced that the diocese would have a “traveling relic” of St. Damien available for veneration. Word of the relic has reached the far corners of the U.S., and several mainland parishes have since requested an opportunity to host Hawaii’s saint. “The inquiries were more of a personal connection with the person of Damien — as a hero, saint — and wanting to share this with their diocese or parish through veneration, Mass and catechesis,” said Jonila Kim of the Office of Worship, which handles requests for the relic.
Kim recently gave the Hawaii Catholic Herald a list of the traveling relic’s upcoming destinations. The relic will be accompanied to each of the following locations by Sacred Hearts Father Paul Zaccone, who was officially assigned by Bishop Silva to take it abroad.

Oklahoma
The traveling relic of St. Damien will first head to the Midwest to the Diocese of Tulsa, Okla., which has prepared four days of veneration and other St. Damien-themed events April 5-8. “Many of us have grown up with the image of St. Damien in our imagination,” said Msgr. Patrick Brankin of the Tulsa diocese’s Office of Divine Worship via e-mail. “The story of his surrender to the will of God and his voluntary exile on Molokai has certainly been a large part of the inspiration of my vocation. I know that the same would be true of other priests,” he said. Msgr. Brankin said that Tulsa’s Bishop Edward James Slattery attended Damien’s canonization in Rome in 2009.
To share the story of St. Damien with his diocese, Msgr. Brankin has first lined up an evening of solemn vespers at the Holy Family Cathedral on April 5. Veneration of the relic, confession and Mass are scheduled for the following morning. On the afternoon of April 6, the relic of St. Damien will head to St. Pius X parish. Middle school students from the diocese will gather there to watch actor Casey Groves perform “Damien,” a one-man play written by Aldyth Morris and previously made famous by Hawaii actor Terence Knapp.
That Wednesday will culminate with the relic being taken to the AIDS hospice run by the Tulsa diocese, and then a return to Holy Family Cathedral for veneration and a special Mass with an anointing of the sick. Msgr. Brankin said the relic will travel on April 7 to spend the day with the monks at Benedictine Abbey of Our Lady of Clear Creek, “a daughter house of the Abbey of Fontgombault, and a granddaughter house of Solesmes,” two famous abbeys in France.
On April 8, the relic’s last stop in Tulsa will be at Bishop Kelley High School. Msgr. Brankin said in addition to veneration of the relic, awards will be handed out for a St. Damien-inspired essay and poster contest at the diocesan school.

Washington, D.C.
Immediately after its visit to Oklahoma, the relic of St. Damien will travel to the Maryland/Washington, D.C. area April 10-12. There, Father Zaccone will give talks and celebrate healing Masses at three different parishes. “I believe each parish will use Father Paul Zaccone and St. Damien to help us understand God’s purpose for St. Damien and his work with the [Hansen’s disease] community at Kalaupapa, as well as to use Father Damien to inspire us in God’s spirit of humility and service,” said Julie Benjamin of Jesus the Divine Word Parish in Huntingtown, Md., via e-mail. “Father Zaccone will bring the intercession of St. Damien directly to the people — to place our needs and wounds … upon God’s altar,” Benjamin said.
Benjamin, Jesus the Divine Word Church’s director of religious education, coordinated the relic’s visit to the east coast. As a former Hawaii resident, she is excited about hosting the relic in their community. Benjamin lived on Oahu with her husband and children from 1991 to 2002, serving as the director of religious education at the Pearl Harbor chapel for four years before her family transferred to the mainland. During her time in Hawaii, Benjamin visited Kalaupapa and came to admire Father Damien’s work and sacrifice. “Because Father Damien had been — and continues to be — such an important part of Hawaii Catholic history and its ohana, I came to love him in my love for the Islands,” Benjamin said.
The pastor of Jesus the Divine Word Parish, Father Dan Leary, also has been inspired by St. Damien. Father Leary said that as a seminarian, he read “The Heart of Father Damien” by Vital Jourdain and was instantly moved by his story. While in the seminary, Father Leary worked with Blessed Teresa of Calcutta and the Missionaries of Charity. His dedication to serving the poor was further deepened by the impact St. Damien had on Mother Teresa’s mission. “Certain lives of saints are digestible for a young man going into the priesthood. St. Damien is one of them,” Father Leary told the Hawaii Catholic Herald by phone.
Father Leary and Benjamin have been searching for a relic of St. Damien for about six years. Benjamin said she has traveled to Hawaii several times, and Father Leary asked her on each occasion to inquire about obtaining a relic. Benjamin said she by chance came in contact with Sacred Hearts Father Christopher Keahi during a trip to the Islands in January. Father Keahi was the visiting priest at Pearl Harbor; after Mass, he told Benjamin about the diocese’s traveling relic of St. Damien. “It was divine intervention,” Benjamin said. “What a blessing!” Father Leary is looking forward to the relic’s visit and hopes it will also be good to share St. Damien’s story for religious vocations in their area. “I’m excited,” he said. “It truly is a huge honor.”

Brooklyn and Springfield
A couple of dates are in the works for the relic to travel in the fall. The Diocese of Brooklyn, N.Y., has secured a stretch of days in early November for several parishes to host the relic for veneration. According to Father Raymond Roden, the relic also will travel to St. Joseph Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y., on Nov. 9. “Our intentions (for the relic) would probably be to assist in advancing our response to the universal call to holiness, solid vocations to priesthood and consecrated life,” Father Roden said.
The relic’s visit also will mark the successful transition of various parish and seminary mergers in their diocese. Father Roden said that Father Jim Sweeney, pastor of Our Lady of the Presentation Church in Brooklyn, will present Aldyth Morris’ “Damien” play at each of the veneration sites.
Father Daren Zehnle, the episcopal master of ceremonies and associate director of the Office of Vocations in Springfield, has inquired for the relic to possibly travel to Illinois in November. Father Zehnle has been to Hawaii several times and said he is “enamored with Father Damien.” “I have a friend from college who is from Waipahu,” he said. “When I visited him for the first time in Hawaii a few years ago, I arrived just before Damien’s feast and concelebrated Mass on his feast day at the Cathedral.” Dates and events for the relic’s visit to the Diocese of Springfield have not been set, but Father Zehnle said he is discussing the details with the pastor of their local cathedral.

New Jersey update
Earlier this year, the Hawaii Catholic Herald reported that a new St. Damien Parish in Ocean City, N.J. had made a request for the traveling relic of St. Damien. It turns out the parish will no longer be needing the traveling relic for its upcoming inaugural Mass. According to Deacon Joseph Orlando of the Ocean City Catholic Community, the parish has obtained its own relic of the saint.
“Archbishop Edwin O’Brien — the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore and a good friend of Ocean City — has obtained a relic of St. Damien through his contacts in Rome,” Deacon Orlando said. “The relic is from Belgium and is being presented to us to use at our Mass on April 10 for the faithful to venerate. We will be able to keep the relic here permanently at the parish and use it on feast days and special occasions,” he said. Deacon Orlando reports that the spirit of St. Damien is alive and well in Ocean City. The merging of three parishes into the new St. Damien parish will officially be completed on March 23. Plans are under way for more than 20 priests and deacons to concelebrate the parish’s inaugural Mass on April 10. Deacon Orlando said he expects the Mass to draw more than 1,000 people. “It is going to be a beautiful Mass,” he said.
By Darlene J.M. Dela Cruz | Hawaii Catholic Herald

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Father Damien of Molokai

2011-02-23T20:38:00.003Z

A century ago Hawaiian blood froze at the very name "Molokai." Lepers waded through this surf to await death. - FROM THE DAMIEN MUSEUM, HONOLULU

As a boy, I heard leopard colony"

and dreamed of joining him for a glimpse
of the big cats with the terrifying skin.
At night, in bed, I'd whisper
"Da-mi-en of Mol-o-kai ... "
each syllable mysterious and transporting,
like "Jesus of Nazareth" or "Tarzan of the Apes."
Stark photographs revealed
the cats' appalling appetite for flesh,
the wounds that never healed,
the wasted, dying, brown-eyed
natives Damien had come to save.
He helped them by the thousands
through their final hours,
knowing his own would come,
a gorgeous head tearing cassock and collar,
limb from noble, careworn limb.

Sahib! Where the leopard walks,
he brushes out his tracks with his tail

My teacher brushed away a smile
at the symmetry of my mistake:
"Like Daniel in the Lion's Den?" she asked.
I thought of that, years later,

walking on the sand at Waikiki
the week they closed the Father Damien Museum,
which I'd stumbled on by accident,
while shopping for sunscreen, my white legs
slippery with coconut oil,
my mind on sunburn and melanoma
an unheroic, uncontagious man.
By then, I knew that both Bacillus leprae and Panthera pardus had survived the flood,
that Hawaii had no cats worth speaking of,
that god's work was stranger than it seemed.
I'd learned, as well, that most of us forgo
the swift drama of the muscled beast
that there are other ways to be destroyed.
I knew that you could walk
for years along the shores of Molokai
and not see what was eating you alive.

by Timothy McBride

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The Recognition of Fr. Damien

2011-02-15T21:03:00.000Z

On October 11, 2009, Fr. Damien of Molokai, the Leper Priest, was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in St. Peter’s Basilica. He was a rough and ready man with a will of iron and a heart of gold. At the age Christ died, Damien began an unbroken ministry to the lepers on the Hawaiian island of Molokai, a ministry carried on mostly alone, and one from which he would be released only by his death from the same disease sixteen years later in 1889. By that time, Fr. Damien, a Belgian Sacred Hearts missionary who began life as Jef De Veuster, had made his mark not only on the leper colony but, without even trying, on the late 19th century world, which was inspired by his single-hearted love much as the late 20th century world would be inspired by Mother Teresa of Calcutta. But Fr. Damien’s immediate superiors were often less inspired than the rest of the world. Where much of the world saw single-minded devotion, his superiors often described Damien as short-sighted, attached to his own will, and insufficiently grateful for the work of others.
In the end, the Church decided that the shoe was really on the other foot. But because of some of these testimonies against him, it took a long time, nearly 90 years, for Damien’s virtue to be declared heroic so that he could be named Venerable. After that, Mother Teresa and the poorest of the poor around the world took up the cause, continuing to press Pope John Paul II until she was able to attend Damien’s beatification Mass in 1995. It may come as a surprise, but Mother Teresa felt she needed a saint of Damien’s mettle to inspire her Congregation to still greater service.
You can read about what made Damien great in Jan De Volder’s new biography, The Spirit of Father Damien, translated into English by John Steffen and published by Ignatius Press. The book not only provides all the necessary detail to fill in Damien’s life on Molokai and his relationships with his superiors, but it takes a clear look at Damien’s personality, both his weaknesses and his strengths, and ably charts the development of his spirituality from a youthful enthusiasm for missionary battle to a deep serenity which, by the end of his life, nothing could shake.
When examining the life of a leper, the outward flaws of the flesh force one to remember that, even for saints, the interior life also has flaws. A work in progress, holiness is a process as much as it is a fact. Over the centuries, different cultures have portrayed saints in different ways. In some periods, authors and their audiences have been captivated by the miraculous; in others it is the heroic virtue that inspires; in still others, there is a deep interest in the saint’s human side, his struggles, his failures and his triumphs. In a highly critical (and frequently dubious) age such as our own, there is a desire to see what a saint was like in the absence of grace (if that were possible). How much of his life can be explained by his human nature alone?
De Volder does not fall into the trap of attempting to isolate the supernatural, and he certainly has no desire to exclude it, but neither is he blind to the raw natural material. We see the cocky young Damien reminding his parents of their pious duties as if, should he fail to speak, those who had raised a strong Catholic family might not seek God. We notice that he delights far too much, or at least too openly, when his older brother Pamphile became too sick to go on the mission to Hawaii so that Damien was able to take his place. We see his impatience with superiors who, unlike Damien, had to juggle a far wider range of concerns than were represented by the leper colony on Molokai. We overhear conflicts with those assigned (occasionally!) to assist him, even if these conflicts were, in the main, not of Damien’s making. We observe Damien’s competition with rival missionary groups. We share his occasional complaints.
But it is precisely the single-minded devotion to their mission and to those in their charge which make saints so difficult to appreciate by those of us who are “more balanced”. De Volder paints for us a picture of Damien giving his life, wholeheartedly from the first, but still step by excruciating step, to those exiled to Molokai, torn away by force from their friends and family in order to prevent the spread of the dread disease. We see Damien taking great care to protect visitors from contagion while he himself ate from the same pot and shared his pipe with the living dead. We see him administering the sacraments, catechizing and converting, burying the dead (often more than one per day), taking in orphans, driving out dissipation, building homes and churches, attempting new medical treatments, organizing his people and offering both purpose and hope.
We also see him maintaining a life of rigorous prayer, several hours in each day when he would do his best to avoid being disturbed, precisely so he could grow spiritually, retain his resolve, and succeed in doing good for the rest of the day, always suspicious of his own weakness, always insistent on drawing strength from the Eucharistic Christ. And we see him physically isolated, painfully alone, longing for a confrere as his Order’s rule required, often having no one to confess to, almost never visited by his squeamish superiors, frequently misunderstood, and isolated spiritually too, accused of pride and vainglory because he insisted again and again on his lepers’ need of more and better help.
For my tastes, at least, Jan De Volder strikes just the right balance. Damien emerges as a man I can appreciate, because he was a man, yet one I can imitate, because he was a saint. And to return to his superiors one last time, De Volder also gives us a lucid account of the efforts to raise Damien to the altars, the difficulty of overcoming their negative testimonies, and the way in which it was ultimately proved beyond reasonable doubt that the fault was more on their side than on Damien’s. This opens a window not only into the life of a great saint, but into the vagaries of a saint’s cause. It is a reminder that holiness must endure even when recognition is lacking, but that in the Church’s own time and God’s—and not for the saint’s own sake but for ours—recognition too may come.
By Dr. Jeff Mirus
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Riding Muleback to a Forbidden Village: Kalaupapa’s Leper Colony

2011-02-08T09:58:00.000Z

It was probably one of the most difficult ventures I’d ever undertaken, riding a mule down a 1700-vertical foot, 26-switchback trail to the formerly forbidden village of Kalaupapa on the Island of Molokai, Hawaii.
Kalaupapa National Historical Park’s mission is to preserve the memories and experiences of the past in order that valuable lessons might be learned from them. Since no roads connect Kalaupapa with the rest of Molokai, the village can be approached only by flying in, hiking, or by mule. Visitors must come with a designated group, so arrangements must be made in advance.
When I was a high school junior, I wrote a report on leprosy, more properly called Hansen’s Disease, and learned about Father Damien. Elevated by the Catholic Church in October, 2009 to Saint Damien of Molokai, he dedicated his life to those who suffered that most terrible disease, leprosy. Since writing my school report, Father Damien and the leper colony has held great fascination for me.
By Mary E. Trimble

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Ground broken for Kaunakakai’s long-awaited church

2011-02-05T12:40:00.000Z

St. Damien parishioners throw flowers into the ditch holding sacred objects from the old St. Sophia Church.

About 300 people gathered beneath a cloudless blue sky at the grass-covered empty lot at 115 Ala Malama Street in Kaunakakai to watch a long-held dream emerge into reality. The Molokai parish of St. Damien officially broke ground for its new church, also to be called St. Damien when it is completed near the end of this year. After more than 15 years of wishing and planning and fundraising and designing and negotiating, the black fabric construction fence screens were up, the heavy equipment parked in the back and the building permit prominently posted. The contractor was there, and the architect, the pastor, the parish building committee, civic leaders, the bishop, and an assortment of happy parishioners, neighbors and friends.

At 9:29 a.m. the old church bell tolled and Stephen Petro, chairman of the parish building committee, introduced the formalities and Bishop Larry Silva. “It is a joy and a privilege to be here with you,” said the bishop who had arrived that morning on the 8:15 flight. “Let us pray that God will bring this construction to successful completion and keep the workers safe from injury.” “We plant a seed today that will grow not just a building, but a living church to be touched by Christ’s love for generations to come,” he said.

Sister Helene Wood, speaking on behalf of her Congregation of the Sacred Hearts, said it was “a historic day, because of the spirit and long standing faith of the people.” Maui County councilman Danny Mateo, who represents Molokai, made reference to the fire that destroyed the old church, St. Sophia, that the new one is replacing. “From the ashes came dreams, from the ashes came hope, from the ashes came life, a new determination to build,” he said.

It was then the architect’s turn to speak. “What a great day!” said Frank Skowronski of Haiku, Maui. “We celebrate the transition from designing, dreaming and hoping to building.” “Things will move quickly now,” he said. Glen Kaneshige, executive vice president of Nordic PCL, the Oahu construction company that will build the church, thanked the “island of Molokai … for making us feel welcome.” “It’s been 40 years since we’ve been back here,” he said. “Every project is special to us.”

Assisted by Sacred Hearts congregational candidate Jeremy Sabugo, Bishop Silva then walked around the 16,000 foot lot, his red cope catching the breeze, sprinkling a blessing of holy water. Roughly near the center of the plot was a trough about eight-feet long, three-feet wide and three-feet deep, dug out earlier by a backhoe. The pastor Father Clyde Guerreiro explained that the hole, located where the future altar will stand, would be the burial site for sacred objects from St. Sophia, burned beyond use in the fire 12 months earlier.

The first item to be laid on the dirt was the old church’s charred five-foot high crucifix, followed by the Stations of the Cross, carried to the opening in the ground by a slow procession of parishioners. Parish representatives and construction personnel then grabbed 10 red-handled, gold-bladed shovels and sent spade-loads of dirt into the ditch. Finally, everyone was invited to grab handfuls of flowers to throw into the hole and the ceremonies were over. The event wrapped up with bento lunches for everyone.

Rose Brito, St. Damien Parish’s administrative assistant who moved to the island in 1945, said the groundbreaking made her feel “very, very jubilant.” “We worked so hard and for so long for this day,” she said. “I am very excited. I can’t wait.”

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.

Skowronski, 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 100 more than the church it is replacing. A series of doors in the back can open up to accommodate 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.

When complete, the church will not have ornamentation or stained glass windows, the architect said. “It will be a shell, functioning, legal, in still skeletal form, a very utilitarian building.” But it will have built-in the potential for artistic enhancement and adornment as the parish grows, he said. The design “reflects the new liturgy, not replicating the past,” said Skowronski, a Catholic who helped with the design of St. Theresa Church in Kihei, Maui. The ideas for the Molokai church come from the parish building committee, he said. “The design is mostly theirs,” he said. “We were here to make it work, to make it stand up, to adhere to the budget, to make it happen.”

The church will cost more than $3 million to build. Nordic is an Oahu-based 70-year-old local company. The on-site project engineer is Danyelle Kahanaoi who is from Molokai. Baranski said the company will use as many Molokai workers as possible, though some specialized expertise will have to come in from Oahu and Maui.

The Kaunakakai Church will be the main church of the St. Damien Parish, which encompasses all of topside Molokai. The parish has three other churches — St. Vincent Ferrer in Maunaloa on the west side, and on the east side, Our Lady of Seven Sorrows in Kaluaaha and St. Joseph in Kamalo. Masses are no longer celebrated in the tiny Kamalo church.
By Patrick Downes | Hawaii Catholic Herald

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Damien School with the Relic of St. Damien

2011-01-27T17:47:00.002Z

Students of Damien High School, youth and young adults of Molokai and the diocese of Honolulu, Fr. Clyde and others, carrying the relic of St. Damien down the cliffs of Molokai into Kalaupapa, where Damien served his beloved patients.
Damien School with the Relic of St. Damien

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2011-01-21T23:25:00.006Z

Fr Patrick J Bradley, ss.cc.
1934 - 2011

Father Patrick J Bradley, ss.cc. [aged 76] was called home to the Lord on Friday, 21st January 2011, at his residence in Ranelagh, Dublin.
He was born on 25th May 1934 to Patrick Bradley & Catherine Waters of Douglas Road, Cork. He was educated by the Christian Brothers in Cork City. He entered the Novitiate of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts in Cootehill, Co Cavan and made his first Profession on 2nd September 1953. Following his ordination on 29th June 1959, he was assigned to teach Theology at Sacred Hearts Seminary, Jaffrey, New Hampshire, USA. He returned to work in Ireland in 1964 serving as Director of Fr Damien Juniorate, Clones, Co Monaghan, before moving on to teach Philosophy at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth in 1969. During the 1960’s and ’70s Father Pat was very active in leading retreats throughout Ireland, especially to Religious Sisters. In 1977 he was elected Provincial of the Ireland-England Province of the Congregation before moving to Rome in 1982, following his election as Superior General. Having served twelve years with distinction in this office, in 1995 he became Parish Priest of Our Lady of Lourdes, Acton, West London. His final appointment in 2001 was as Parish Priest to the Sacred Heart Parish, Sruleen, Clondalkin where he worked up until his retirement to Ranelagh in 2009.
Fr Pat throughout the course of his life dedicated his many gifts to the service of the Church and his Religious Congregation. He was insightful, inspirational and, above all, imbued with a profound sense of his life being guided by Divine Providence.
He will be deeply missed by his own family, his religious family and his many friends.

“Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dilis”

Note: Fr. Pat during his time as Superior General (1982- 1994), devoted much time and energy towards achieving the beatification of Fr. Damien in 1995, eventually leading to the canonisation of Damien in October 2009.

The Funeral arrangements for Father Pat Bradley, ss.cc. are as follows:
Tuesday 25th January 2011: Arriving Sacred Heart Church, Sruleen, Clondalkin, Dublin 22 @ 7.00 pm.
Following reception prayers reposing in the Church until 10 pm
Wednesday 26th January 2011: Funeral Mass @ 11.30 am in Sacred Heart Church, Sruleen, Clondalkin, Dublin 22, followed by burial afterwards in Palmerstown Cemetery, Dublin.

Directions:
To Sacred Heart Church, Sruleen, Clondalkin, Dublin where Fr. Pat's funeral will take place. http://bit.ly/f4GlMr Use the Green Isle Hotel on the Naas Rd. as your landmark. The Church is two blocks North of the hotel. Use Oak Way or Hazelwood Crescent to get to the Church from the Green Isle Hotel.
To Palmerstown Cemetery http://bit.ly/gbwejr Beside M50 Junction with N4. From M50 head towards City centre on N4. Take a right at 1st traffic lights Up Kenilsforth Rd & 1st rt. on to The Dingle Rd. & left into Palmerstown Heights.

Thanks to all who sent messages of condolence and to those who attended the funeral. May he rest in Peace.

Fr. Pat's Month's Mind Mass will be held at Sacred Heart Church, Sruleen, Clondalkin, D 22
beginning 7.30 pm on Thursday February 17th 2011. All are welcome.

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Knight of Molokai

2011-01-18T09:59:00.000Z

by Eva K. Betz (1897-1968)
Hurricane! Volcano eruptions and fire! Leprosy! Nothing deterred Father Damien from doing the work to which he had been called. Outstandingly big and strong as a boy, he was notably kind as a young man. He needed all his strength and kindness when he went to live at the leper colony of Molokai.
This children’s biography of Father Damien of Molokai was written by Eva K. Betz, a prolific Catholic writer of history and biography books for children. (Introduction from an original dust jacket and Maria Therese)
•No online text
•LibriVox’s Knight of Molokai Internet Archive page
•Zip file of the entire book 98.7MB
•RSS feed · Subscribe in iTunes
Total running time: 3:25:47
See: http://bit.ly/eUAP1m

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Kalaupapa - A Love Story

2010-12-24T13:10:00.010Z

(Click Here) An Excellent new video on Damien and the witness of his life
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The Mules ride again

2010-12-14T08:34:00.000Z

A new earthquake-proof bridge on the Kalaupapa trail reopens land access to St. Damien’s remote settlement
KALAUPAPA, Hawaii, Catholic Herald: Thirteen mules lurched their way down the Kalaupapa trail on Dec. 1 for the first time in nearly seven months. A bridge on the second switchback of the zigzagging trail leading to the remote Hansen’s disease settlement where Father Damien labored had been washed out by a landslide in early April. The famous Molokai mule operation was left at a standstill while a new bridge was being built. Financial hardship caused the nearly 40-year-old Molokai Mule Ride to close. But now that the bridge is complete, the company is back in business under a new name — Kalaupapa Guided Mule Tour.

A spirit of gratitude and celebration filled both visitors and mule tour workers on the business’ first day back. “We want to thank all the people who called us to offer well wishes,” said Roy Horner, co-owner of Kalaupapa Guided Mule Tour. Family members are offering their time to help out the business. “Everyone is working for love right now,” Horner said. Co-owner and mule trainer Buzzy Sproat and his employees, called muleskinners, have been leading the mules up and down the trail for the past two weeks to get them back in shape for the rigorous trek. The mules also had to become accustomed to the new bridge so they wouldn’t spook while crossing it.

On the hour-long trip back up the 26 switchbacks, Sproat and his lead mule paused several times to give a break to the line of animals behind him who were carrying visitors for the first time in a long while. “After standing idle for seven months, they get a little winded,” he said. Sproat and Horner are re-starting the business slowly, with only 10 visitors maximum per trip, compared to last year’s maximum of 15. They are gradually getting the word out that they are back in operation.

With the new bridge completed at the end of October, the Kalaupapa trail is once again open to the public, though only those with a permit or sponsor may enter the settlement. The bridge had been scheduled to be completed in July, but was redesigned for extra strength to better withstand the perilous terrain, weather conditions and weight it must hold, according to Steve Prokop, superintendent of Kalaupapa National Historical Park. The bridge often carries five mules at one time, which Prokop said is nearly equivalent in weight to vehicle traffic.

Engineers drilled eight 23-foot long bolts vertically and horizontally into the side of the pali, Prokop said. These were encapsulated in the concrete abutments at either end of the bridge. “The extra safety feature should enable it to withstand violent shaking of an earthquake or a major landslide,” the superintendent said. He added that in the past 25 years, at least three bridges have been built in the same location. “We wanted to do something longer lasting,” he said. “We’re looking forward to having visitors back from near and far.” The completed bridge cost nearly $400,000, paid for in part by emergency funding secured from Washington, D.C. Prokop called the project the number one National Park Service emergency repair job in the Pacific Western region.

To help keep the mule business afloat during the downtime, NPS hired mule tour employees to help with the construction of the new bridge, hauling cement and other materials on mule-back. Other local businesses were also affected by the trail closure. Damien Tours, owned by Kalaupapa resident Gloria Marks, was hit particularly hard. The isolated peninsula has become a much sought-after destination for pilgrims and tourists ever since Father Damien’s canonization by Pope Benedict XVI last year in Rome.

Marks gets much of her business from the mule tours. “We help each other out,” Marks said. Her business has been hurting for the past seven months, with visitors only able to come in to Kalaupapa by plane. During that time, barely 100 pilgrims and visitors took the guided bus tour around the peninsula each month. Normally, that number soars between 500 and 600 per month. The busy season, Marks said, is January through May, and she hopes business will pick up again then. Molokai Outdoors and Molokai Fish and Dive also offer travel packages to Kalaupapa. Clare Mawae of Molokai Outdoors said while the trail was closed, potential visitors to Molokai changed their plans when they heard they could not hike or ride a mule to Kalaupapa. But thanks to its re-opening, they are adding Molokai to their itinerary. Kalaupapa Guided Mule Tour also continues to offer air travel packages into Kalaupapa, something they began while the trail was closed.
“We want to give people a good experience of Kalaupapa,” said Horner.
By Catherine Cluett

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No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Mozlink’ for any or all of the articles/images placed here. The placing of an article does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
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St_Damien_Mass

2010-12-11T09:51:00.000Z

A Mass of Thanksgiving celebrating the recent canonization of St. Damien of Molokai, held at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C., on Sunday, January 31, 2010, World Leprosy Day. Homilist is Father William Petrie, SS.CC., provinicial of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, the order of Father Damien.

Duration : 0:3:32
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Father Damien’s St. Joseph Church Rescued

2010-12-04T11:19:00.000Z

St. Joseph’s Church is awaiting a new spire. Photo by Judy Bittenbender.
Molokai Dispatch: Dec. 3rd: St. Joseph Church at Kamalo is a State Historic site and one of the most visited on Molokai. Each year more than 4,000 Hawaii residents, visitors and pilgrims visit the church, built in 1876 by Father Damien and the Kamalo community. Today, due to the grace and generosity of many people, this 134-year-old church is being saved, so it can continue to tell the story of Molokai, and of one of its most famous residents, Father Damien.

In addition to his work with the Hansen disease patients on the Kalaupapa peninsula, Father Damien also served as pastor and church builder for the Catholic faithful who lived on topside Molokai. Of the churches built by Father Damien, St. Joseph Church at Kamalo remains in the most original condition. However, due to time, weather and termites the church was at risk of being lost. A windstorm this past April complicated matters by blowing off the cross and tearing a large, gaping hole in the church’s eight-sided steeple spire. Last August, the church was closed to the public to undertake the desperately needed interior and exterior repairs and restoration. However, only “temporary” repairs were made to the steeple and it was not repainted. Initial investigation indicated that the church’s steeple was unstable and that an engineering study was necessary. Additional fundraising is required before the church’s “praying hands” steeple can be repaired and spire reinstalled. In the mean time, the church has now been reopened to the public.

The St. Damien Catholic Parish is most grateful to the following organizations and persons who have assisted and contributed to this important effort to save this historic church:
Kualapu`u Ranch (roofing team, materials, housing and scaffolding), Huntington Beach Roofing – David and DJ Hoffman and Nicholas Sampson (roofing team), Akamai Tree Trimming –Dolphin Pawn and Travis Phillip (bucket truck), SW Carpenter Training Center – Randy Leavenworth and Nicholas Sampson (fabrication of new cross), Evelyn Bicoy and Napua Silva (meals for roofing team), David Ohst (interior/exterior finish carpentry), David Schneiter (power washing, interior/exterior painting), Makoa Trucking – Chris Mebille (storage container), Bugman-Gerry Garcia (pest services), Art Parr AIA (consultation), Dathan Bicoy (consultation), Judy Bittenbender (project manager), plus over 90 off-island cash donors, and Saint Damien parish cash donors. St. Joseph’s Church is awaiting a new spire. Photo by Judy Bittenbender.
There are still substantial costs ahead to evaluate the structural integrity of the steeple, and to reinstall a new top spire. Father Guerreiro and the parish are hopeful that donors will come forward and join the parish in its effort to “Save the Steeple” at Father Damien’s historic St. Joseph Church.
By Maria Sullivan, St. Damien Parishioner

Help Save the Steeple
Make your check payable to: “St. Joseph Church Fund”
Attn: Fr. Clyde Guerreiro
Saint Damien Parish-St. Joseph Church Fund
P.O. Box 1948
Kaunakakai, HI 96748
For more information about the church and project, contact Maria Sullivan, St. Damien Parishioner (808) 553-5181; mjs@aloha.

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New Biography Captures the Spirit of Beloved 'Leper Priest' Saint Damien

2010-11-23T12:09:00.001Z

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 22, 2010 /Christian Newswire/ -- Ignatius Press has just released a new biography about Father Damien, the priest who is famous for his missionary work with exiled lepers on the Hawaiian island of Molokai, who is now finally Saint Damien. His sanctity took 120 years to become officially recognized, but between his death in 1889 and his canonization in 2009--amid creeping secularization and suspicion of the missionary spirit he so much embodied--Father Damien De Veuster never faded from the world's memory.

What kept him there? What keeps him there now?
To find an answer, Belgian historian and journalist Jan De Volder sifted through Father Damien's personal correspondence as well as the Vatican archives. With careful and even-handed expertise, De Volder follows Father Damien's transformation from the stout, somewhat haughty missionary of his youth, bounding from Europe to Hawaii and straight into seemingly tireless priestly work, to the humble and loving shepherd of souls who eventually succumbed to the same disease that ravaged his flock. "The Spirit of Father Damien" is illustrated with many photos of Damien throughout his life that paint a vivid picture of his work and missionary spirit.
De Volder finds that--as spiritual father, caretaker, teacher, and advocate--Father Damien accomplished many heroic feats for these poor outcasts. Yet the greatest gift he gave them was their transformation from a disordered, lawless throng exiled in desperate anarchy into a living community built on Jesus Christ, a community in which they learned to care for one another.
De Volder says, "I have known Damien since my childhood, as has every Belgian. It struck me that, even in so secularized a country as Belgium, he's still widely admired for what is seen as his humanitarian deeds for the leper-outcasts of his time. Yet, you cannot grasp the meaning of Damien's self-gift without an understanding of his deep faith and obedience: he shows that love for the Gospel, love for the Church, and love for the poor belong together. And Damien's witness has been so powerful that even today his story inspires many to live lives devoted to Jesus and the sick, the poor, and the weak."
To request a review copy or an interview with author Jan De Volder, please contact: Rose Trabbic, Publicist, Ignatius Press, rose@ignatius.com

‘Traveling relic’ of St. Damien available for veneration

2010-11-13T12:01:00.005Z

The reliquary made of monkeypod tree wood from a tree planted by St. Damien on Molokai. The box was made by Maui residents Edwin Ferreira and Allan Marciel.
Nov. 12th: Hawaiian Catholic Herald: The Diocese of Honolulu has a “traveling relic” of St. Damien, available for veneration wherever it is welcome. "We are putting the word out to bishops,” Bishop Larry Silva said. The relic is made up of bone fragments shed from another relic, a talus (ankle) bone now on permanent display in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace. Bishop Silva said he was planning to send an e-mail message this month to every bishop in the country to tell them that the traveling relic is available for veneration in their dioceses.
Typically, the relic of a saint would be put on display in a church or chapel for the faithful to approach it, view it, perhaps touch the box it is in, and pray in its presence. The bishop has assigned Sacred Hearts Father Paul Zaccone as the person who “will normally be the one to take the relic to its various locations.” “He will be prepared to give talks and to lead prayers, if desired,” the bishop explained in an e-mail message. Father Zaccone will also arrange for any accompanying literature, art and religious objects that would supplement the display of the relic, the bishop said.
The relic is owned by the Diocese of Honolulu. Bishop Silva said that he would consider future requests directly from individual parishes, convents, monasteries or other church entities. The diocesan Office of Worship would handle requests. The bone fragments are held in a 6-inch by 9-inch by 4-inch reliquary of polished monkeypod wood, and are visible behind a thick oval glass window on the lid. The box is secured by a brass Louis Vuitton padlock made in Paris. It is carried in a donated 16-inch long black leather bag by Prada. The reliquary was made by two Makawao, Maui, craftsmen, Edwin Ferreira and Allan Marciel. The wood comes from a 100-year-old tree Father Damien planted on topside Molokai near the church he built in Kaluaaha, Our Lady of Seven Sorrows.
The traveling relic has already been on the road. When the bishop and Father Peter Dumag visited Hawaii’s seven seminarians at Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon for two days in October, they brought the relic along. It was incorporated into the student and faculty evening prayers. The relic is now in Wisconsin, at Sacred Heart Seminary in Hales Corners, where two other Hawaii seminarians are studying. It was carried there by Father Thomas Knoebel, the seminary vice rector who was returning to Hales Corners after spending several months in Honolulu. Seminarian Nick Brown will bring the relic back to Hawaii.
According to the bishop, the transportation costs of the traveling relic will be the responsibility of the diocese or other entity that requests it. This includes coach class airfare, ground transportation, and room and board for the person accompanying the relic. The relic will always be hand-carried, the bishop said, never mailed or checked in as luggage. “The Transportation Security Administration supervisor at the Honolulu International Airport has given approval for the relic to pass through security,” Bishop Silva said. “Should any agent question it, they can be referred to TSA in Honolulu.”
The original talus bone that is the source of this relic had been in the possession of the Sacred Hearts Congregation in Belgium ever since it was unintentionally separated from the rest of Father Damien’s remains when his casket was opened there in 1956 and his bones catalogued, separated and stored in a dozen zinc boxes before being returned to his tomb. That bone, sealed under glass in a small wooden reliquary made in Belgium, was presented to Bishop Silva by the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts in the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome on Oct. 12, 2009, the day after Father Damien’s canonization in St. Peter’s Basilica by Pope Benedict XVI.
While the relic was transported around the islands for veneration last year following the canonization, small pieces of it began to fall off. The bishop had a forensic specialist chemically coat the bone so it would not shed any more pieces, and the loose fragments were collected for the second relic. Yet another St. Damien relic, the remains of his right hand, lies in the priest’s original grave alongside St. Philomena Church in Kalawao, Molokai, where he was buried in 1889. Father Damien’s body was exhumed in 1936 and carried to his home country of Belgium at the request of the Belgian government. The bones of the priest’s right hand were returned to Hawaii during his beatification ceremony in Brussels, Belgium, in 1995.
By Patrick Downes Hawaii Catholic Herald

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A Leper on Molokai, 1880

2010-11-12T16:11:00.000Z

Depicted next to Pope Pius XI and below Saint Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, is Bishop Stephen Alencastre who was the fifth Vicar Apostolic of the Hawaiian Islands.

The following poem appeared in the 15^th November 2010 issue of ‘America’ magazine.

A Leper on Molokai, 1880

To the Father and to the sea

I confess my gross being,

embrace with withered arms

our rank God

here at Kalaupapa.

My eyes dull moons,

I know the sun by its smell.

More corrupt than Lazarus

I live this death before death,

live the reciprocity of flesh.

The death of our death stuns even the sky,

wailing birds reel in the unclean air.

The cemetery at Kalawa’o

vomits our pitted bones,

and the blind sun stares.

Kalaupapa is an open tomb—

three walls of water, one of rock.

When Lazarus died, Jesus wept.

With corrupt voices we sang

Mozart. The bishop wept.

J O S E P H S O L D A T I

JOSEPH A. SOLDATI, of Portland, Ore., has published numerous poems and essays, most recently in New Millennium Writings.

(Note: Under the direction of Father Joseph Damien de Veuster, the patients sang a Mozart Mass for the visiting bishop (vicar apostolic) on June 8, 1875)

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Damien, the play, comes to North Vancouver

2010-11-07T12:59:00.000Z

The Busy Catholic Blog: By now you're likely familiar with the story of Father Damien de Veuster who lived among the lepers on Molokai Island in Hawaii. (Saint Damien is the unofficial patron of those with HIV and AIDS.)

Now the play Damien is coming to North Vancouver's Presentation House Theatre, Nov. 16-28. The San Francisco Examiner says the play confronts Saint Damien's struggle with self-doubt and undying compassion towards what he originally describes as a dumping place for human beings. “Damien is a heartrending portrait of a selfless priest determined not to let the lepers think that God has abandoned them.”

Meanwhile, the other San Francisco paper, The Chronicle, has this account of a writer's experience visiting Molokai. It's worth a read.

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Canonization anniversary celebrated from Michigan to Molokai

2010-10-30T15:29:00.000+01:00

Members of the St. Damien halau perform a hula at the anniversary Mass, Oct. 11, in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu. HCH photo/Darlene Dela Cruz

Hawaii Catholic Herald Oct.29th:   Parishes in Michigan and on Molokai named for St. Damien celebrated the one-year anniversary of the Belgian missionary priest’s canonization on Oct. 11.   The famed 19th century Sacred Hearts priest spent the last 16 years of his life bringing dignity and compassion to the exiled Hansen’s disease patients of Kalaupapa. Pope Benedict XVI declared him a saint in the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 11, 2009.
St. Damien Parish, Pontiac:
Michigan may be the only mainland state with a parish bearing the name of Hawaii’s saint. The parishioners at St. Damien of Molokai Parish in Pontiac, in the Archdiocese of Detroit, take pride in their island patron.
The parish itself is the result of archdiocesan downsizing measures which resulted in the merging in July 2009 of three churches — St. Vincent de Paul, St. Michael and Shrine of St. Joseph. Seeking a new “neutral” name and patron, the churches were first grouped under the title “Blessed Damien Parish” by Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron, a close friend of Hawaii’s Bishop Larry Silva. The name was changed to “St. Damien” at the moment of canonization.

The Pontiac parish sent 21 people to Rome for last year’s canonization. The pastor, Father Jim Kean, said the trip was helpful in bridging the three different church communities together. “We needed something that gave us an extra cause with which to unite. It helped us recognize our own birth, that we are a new reality,” he told The Michigan Catholic newspaper in October 2009.

In an Oct. 20 e-mailed message to the Hawaii Catholic Herald, Father Kean highlighted the progress of St. Damien of Molokai Parish since the canonization:   "One of the parish’s Spanish-speaking choirs composed a song about St. Damien. Father Kean describes it as having “a calypso feel,” influenced by the church’s many Puerto Rican parishioners. He hopes to record the song soon and send a copy to Honolulu. The parish still uses all three of its churches. One of the churches is being repainted, and an artist has been commissioned to create a mural there as a tribute to St. Damien.

Shortly after the canonization, the parish received a poster from Leonce Eraly, a great-great-great grand nephew of St. Damien. The poster sits behind the altar at one of the churches. According to Lourdes Smith, the confirmation and youth ministry program coordinator at St. Damien of Molokai Parish, the parish hopes to organize a 2012 pilgrimage to Molokai around the second anniversary of St. Damien’s canonization. Father Kean said his parish continues to grow slowly, and that he is optimistic about the faith of the budding community.“This gives even more reason to look to St. Damien, who, by the grace of God, took on his problems with determination and only over time was able to achieve success little by little,” Father Kean said.

Honolulu cathedral celebration:
Bishop Silva marked the anniversary with Mass at 6 p.m. on Oct. 11 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu. About 100 people, including a few patients from Kalaupapa, attended the Monday evening liturgy.   “We are here to thank God for what happened a year ago today,” the bishop said in his homily. “Damien was made a saint — something people around the world knew for a long time.”

“Damien could’ve had a comfortable life in Belgium, but that would not be the freedom to which God called him,” the bishop said. “Freedom was traveling halfway around the world to these islands. He made himself a slave to Jesus to share a message that would last for generations. “We were given the gift of this saint so we can free ourselves to do what might not seem to be free at all,” the bishop added.

The St. Damien choir and halau sang and performed Damien-inspired hymns and hula written for canonization-related events a year ago. The Mass ended with a public veneration of a St. Damien relic, bone from the saint’s foot.

Meanwhile, on Molokai:
Maria Sullivan, a parishioner and the special project manager of St. Damien Parish on Molokai, said that St. Damien was remembered with special prayers on Sunday, Oct. 10. The parish, on topside Molokai, is comprised of three churches, two of which were originally built by Father Damien. Sullivan said a special collection was taken up on Sunday at each of the Masses to raise money for the preservation of the tiny St. Joseph Church in Kamalo, which Father Damien built in 1876.

Molokai’s Catholic community also has been progressing in its efforts in building a new St. Damien Church, which will replace Kaunakakai’s St. Sophia Church which fire destroyed earlier this year. A contractor has already been selected for the project. Sullivan said that Sacred Hearts Father Lane Akiona celebrated a special canonization anniversary Mass in Kalaupapa.

By Darlene J. M. Dela Cruz |

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Looking back one year

2010-10-18T09:10:00.001+01:00

Hawaiian Catholic Herald: How time flies. Oct. 11 is the one year anniversary of the canonization of Father Damien of Molokai in Rome by Pope Benedict XVI. Bishop Larry Silva will celebrate with a Mass in the cathedral at 6 p.m.

For those who want to bring back memories, you can revisit some of the stories we wrote at the time. Here is the canonization story. Here’s a story on how the day was celebrated in Kalaupapa. Here’s a background piece written by Sacred Hearts Sister Mary Dolorine Pires on the transformation of Damien from Belgian to Hawaiian, from missionary to saint.

We also ran a story on St. Damien’s most famous photo and on the patients from Kalaupapa who went to Rome. Here also is a collection of post-canonization notes and commentary. There are more in the October 2009 archives of hawaiicatholicherald.com

Father Felix's selfless service was a testament to his faith

2010-10-18T08:54:00.003+01:00

Father Felix Vandebroek worked at many different churches during his 50 years in Hawaii, and was assigned to Kalaupapa in 2007. Here, Vandebroek visited Father Damien's grave with Audrey Toguchi, left, and Sister Margaret Wouters, a Belgian nun.
Star Advertiser: Sept. 19th 2010: A crowd of people poured out of the yellow Yamaguchi school bus and surged into the church like the tide. They rented the bus to take them from Waialua all the way to Kaimuki on a Thursday evening to attend the funeral of their beloved priest. Some people flew in for the funeral from Kauai, because he was their beloved priest for 24 years. For the last several years, he was Kalaupapa's humble, sturdy priest, too.

Father Felix Vandebroek had a way of being at home wherever he was. He made dear friends everywhere he lived. When he was the priest at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Honokaa, he would ride a horse with the cowboys. When he was assigned to Kalaupapa, he asked friends to mail him nails -- hard to come by on the isolated peninsula -- so he could build things people needed. He worked at many different churches during his 50 years in Hawaii, and people never wanted to see him moved to another parish.

"Wherever he was assigned he would adhere himself wholeheartedly to his parish family," said Father Christopher Keahi, provincial of the Sacred Hearts Fathers in Hawaii, the order to which Vandebroek belonged. "I have never heard a disparaging remark from anyone, but rather praise and earnest pleas to allow him to be with them throughout his priestly life."

Vandebroek died Aug. 28. He was 82 and had been a priest for 56 years. At the funeral Mass for him at St. Patrick Church in Kaimuki on Sept. 9, the church was full of people who came to say goodbye still wearing their work jeans and T-shirts. There was a procession of priests and brothers from his order, the Knights of Columbus in their regalia, the Bishop, the busload from Waialua and wiggly children he had baptized as newborns.

That was the one thing that saddened him about his time in Kalaupapa. Children are not allowed in the former Hansen's disease colony. "There are no children, so no baptisms, catechism, or First Communion," Vandebroek wrote in his 2008 Christmas letter to friends. "I say morning Mass at 5 a.m. Two people. And a Sunday Mass at 9 a.m. Ten people."

Otherwise, it was a dream come true for the Belgian-born priest to serve where his countryman Father Damien de Veuster served more than 100 years ago. Vandebroek was worried that at almost 80 years old, he was going to be asked to retire. He was not the kind of man who looked forward to retirement. Instead, in 2007, he was given the Kalaupapa assignment, and it was he who led the congregation through the excitement of Damien's canonization. He didn't travel to Belgium for the ceremony, preferring to stay behind on Molokai with those who couldn't make the trip.

"It has been hectic days. Interviews with journalists, TV crews, bringing them back and forth between Kalaupapa and Kalawao," he reported to his friends. He also served in churches in Waianae, Hana and Wailuku, but his longest assignment was 24 years at St. Raphael in Koloa, Kauai from 1979 to 2003. "He baptized, married and buried countless parishioners and visitors from all over the world," said Lori Parsonson, who served as his church bookkeeper for 17 years. "Sunday morning Masses were standing room only."

Vandebroek was at St. Raphael during Hurricane Iniki and oversaw the rebuilding of the church. As part of his many fundraising efforts, Vandebroek went on a daily walk around the church yard, which was once quite isolated but is now adjacent to a golf course. He collected stray golf balls every morning, asked his parishioners to wipe them, and sold them after Mass 10 for $1 in what he called a "Lil Grass Shack" along with local papaya, oranges and bananas. The tourists thought it was the most darling thing. "When Father Felix was transferred from St. Raphael's, not only was the rebuilding debt paid off, he left the parish with $305,000 in savings," Parsonson said.

Vandebroek was someone who could be counted on to help whether the need be prayers or Pampers. He kept Big Save Supermarket gift certificates on hand for those who needed food and diapers. He would go to the Koloa Pharmacy to pay for people's medicine or to the gas station to pay for people's fuel. "When Hurricane Iniki hit Kauai, Father Felix received checks totaling $45,000 in the mail from all over the world," Parsonson said. "He turned those checks into cash and immediately gave it to those local families in need. No committees, no paperwork. He just gave. So simple."

For an old-time kind of priest, the type not given to guitar Mass or websites, he navigated contemporary issues with great compassion. He never tsk-tsked at things like unwed parents or divorce, and would tell people, "God loves you. Be happy."

A memorial Mass is being planned for Father Felix at St. Raphael's Church in Koloa on Friday, Oct. 29, at 6:30 p.m. Vandebroek composed a simple prayer that he liked to share with people, a blessing that personified the idea of God:

May the eyes of the Lord watch over you,
May the feet of the Lord walk beside you,
And may the arms of the Lord encircle you in His everlasting love. Amen.

By Lee Cataluna
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Kalaupapa pastor was well-loved

2010-09-03T11:54:00.005+01:00

HAWAII CATHOLIC HERALD: Sept. 2nd:

The Rev. Felix Vandebroek, pastor of a church in Kalaupapa, where a dozen of his parishioners have leprosy, died Friday at the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts Center in Kaneohe. He was 82.
Vandebroek had just returned from a monthlong visit with his family in Belgium, and wasn't feeling well during the week he stayed at the center before returning to Molokai, said the Rev. Chris Keahi, provincial superior of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Vandebroek didn't answer Keahi's knock on the door Friday evening and was found on the floor on Saturday morning, Keahi said. The priest had heart problems and diabetes, he added.

Vandebroek was born n Belgium and came to Hawaii in 1956 as one of the country's last missionaries. His longest ministry was at St. Raphael parish in Koloa, Kauai, for 24 years, Keahi said. He was transferred to St. Francis of Assisi Church on Molokai in 2007, the latest in a line of priests to follow in the footsteps of Father Damien De Veuster, who was declared a saint in 2009 for his work with leprosy patients.

Meli Watanuki is among a dozen patients who still live on Kalaupapa. She and husband Randall assisted Vandebroek with church matters. She cried as she talked about the priest, describing him as a strong man and a private person who had a sense of humor. They often bantered over who really ran things, she said. "If I no like something, I tell Father straight. He say, 'You not da boss, I da boss.' But if something broken, I go office and get work order to fix. ... Father say, 'You and me, we are boss together,'" she said. Watanuki said she and others would always laugh when Vandebroek would say at the end of a service, "OK; we pau." "I miss him a lot," she said. "He was a really smart man. He understands everything." Like the priests before him, Vandebroek "take care of us like their children," Watanuki said.

Vandebroek "was always kind and well-loved by people no matter where he went, especially on Kauai, where he was for 24 years," Keahi said. "They would always send him care packages after he left. Most of all, he enjoyed children wherever he went. He was sad there were no children on Kalaupapa, but I told him his children were adults." Keahi said until another priest is found for Kalaupapa, he will send whoever is available on a weekly basis.

The funeral is next Thursday at St. Patrick Church, 1124 7th Ave. in Kaimuki. Visitation is at 5:30 p.m., followed by Mass. Tentatively, the burial is set for Sept. 10 at 9 a.m. at the Valley of the Temples in Kaneohe.
By Pat Gee
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Kalaupapa Access on the Edge

2010-08-25T21:43:00.003+01:00

A weathered sign for Molokai Mule Ride stands in front of the now-empty stables on topside Molokai.
A poignant history is contained on a tiny peninsula off Molokai, guarded by the world’s highest sea cliffs – a history of pain and exile, saintliness and triumph. Access to Kalaupapa, the remote home of Saint Damien, has always been difficult. Since April, however, it has been nearly impossible.

The settlement’s lifeline, the pali trail, was closed after a landslide washed away one of the trail’s bridges. The closure has left some local businesses on the brink of survival, and many tourists and pilgrims without access to the famed peninsula.

Gloria Marks, Kalaupapa resident, patient and owner of Damien Tours, said there has been a significant decrease in visitors since the trail closure. She said her business, which offers guided bus tours of the peninsula, usually has 500 to 600 customers per month. Last month, there were only about 200. Access to Kalaupapa is now available only by plane.“The trail is significant in the sense that you are spiritually walking the journey that Father Damien walked and even more significantly in the steps of Christ,” said Father Clyde Guerreiro of the Saint Damien Parish on Molokai. “You need to do it once or twice in your life,” he added.

The National Park Service (NPS), which maintains the trail, constructed a temporary wooden bridge to allow employees to hike to work. But the trail is closed to all other hikers, visitors and the famous Molokai Mule Rides. NPS is working to install a permanent 65-foot prefabricated aluminum bridge to span the gap. It likely will not be complete until late September or early October. NPS first estimated the completion date to be just weeks after the washout. “It’s sad; I wish they would hurry up,” said Marks. “First they tell us in July, then August, now October. I just keep hanging on.”

Damien Tours is not the only business feeling the harsh effects of fewer customers from the closed trail. “We’re slowly dying,” Molokai Mule Ride owner Roy Horner said of his business. “It’s going to take creativity, some good fortune, and a little magic to make it until fall.” Molokai Mule Ride, a well-known and bumpy experience that guides visitors on the narrow trail winding down 1,700 feet of cliff on mule back, has been closed since the trail shut down in April. They normally offer daily treks to the settlement. Horner said he hopes to continue on a reduced scale after trail repairs are complete.

Steve Prokop, NPS Kalaupapa superintendent, said he has employed the ‘muleskinners” – as mule drivers and guides are known – to help with the bridge repairs whenever possible. But the business is still struggling for survival. “We’re hoping and praying we can find some money,” said Horner. The options left for pilgrims and tourists hoping to visit Kalaupapa are few and expensive. The only commercial air carrier that flies into the settlement, Pacific Wings, charges $250 one-way for the 10-minute flight from topside Molokai.

Molokai Mule Ride has adapted to provide air charter packages with Makani Kai Air Charters, offering a package deal that includes a round trip air ticket as well as a spot on the guided Damien Tours. Charter packages from Oahu are also available. “Not having the trail has hurt the whole island, not just Kalaupapa,” said Clare Mawae, owner of Molokai Outdoors. Her business offers Molokai tour packages, outdoor equipment rentals and activity bookings.

Molokai Outdoors offers day hikes for those coming from Maui on the ferry, hike-in and fly-out packages, and also special pilgrimage hikes for those who want a more slow-paced spiritual and historical focus. Charter flights to Kalaupapa are also available through Molokai Outdoors. Molokai Fish & Dive offers similar options. “We’ve had people cancel because they can’t hike or do the mule ride,” said Mawae. Marks said the bridge failure not only affects visitors, but Hansen’s disease patients who still live in Kalaupapa as well. She said family and friends who used to hike down to visit cannot afford the air fares. In addition, she said she believes it is important that people continue to visit Kalaupapa to learn about the patients and the rich history of the peninsula. “They take it back home and talk about it,” Marks explained.

Trail or no trail, no one is allowed in Kalaupapa without a permit from Damien Tours or by special invitation of a patient or employee, per patients’ request. Prokop said three bridges have given out in the past 15 years in the same location – switchback No. 2 toward the top of the 2.9 mile trail. The soil is unstable in this section, he explained, prone to washing out with heavy rain.

The new bridge will be built to last. Prokop said eight holes have been bored in the cliff side 23 feet deep to hold steel pins that will secure the bridge. Next, concrete anchors will be installed at either end. The actual bridge will be flown in in sections, scheduled to take place in another few weeks, Prokop said. Bridge repairs are estimated at $200,000 to $500,000, paid for by the NPS. Walking in the footsteps of Saint Damien and the exiled Hansen’s disease patients he served, and gazing at breathtaking valleys populated by ancient Hawaiians is an experience coveted by people around the world. Until bridge repairs are complete, even fewer can have this privilege.

Posted on August 22, 2010 by Catherine Cluett [Appeared in the Aug. 20, 2010 issue of the Hawaii Catholic Herald]
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2010-06-06T16:21:00.008+01:00

HCH photo by Patrick Downes

HCH photo by Anna Weaver

Saintly celebrations

Left, Sacred Hearts Sister Julie Louise Thevenin kisses the relic of St. Damien after a Mass on his feast day, May 10, at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa celebrated by Bishop Larry Silva and a dozen priests. The church was about 75 percent filled for the evening liturgy, Father Damien’s first feast day celebration since his canonization last October.

Right, Bishop Silva processes past Sisters of St. Francis during a Mass celebrating the fifth anniversary of the beatification of their fellow Franciscan, Mother Marianne Cope, on May 14 in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace. Blessed Marianne, Hawaii’s second candidate for sainthood, was beatified in Rome in 2005.
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2010-06-05T14:41:00.002+01:00

(Polynesian Cultural Center President Von D. Orgill, Elder Scott D. Whiting, Bishop "Larry" Silva and Father Marc Alexander with a certificate of appreciation from the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu. The certificate is "in gratitude for the collaboration" between Catholic Saint Damien and Mormon convert Jonathan Napela, who worked together to serve patients at the leprosy quarantine settlement on the isolated Kalaupapa Peninsula in the 19th century.)

LAIE, Hawaii — Soon after the Catholic Church canonized Saint Damien of Molokai in October 2009, largely for his 19th century work at the leprosy or Hansen's Disease quarantine settlement on the isolated Kalaupapa Peninsula, senior service missionaries in the Polynesian Cultural Center's Hawaii Mission Settlement began wondering how they might add that information to the exhibit in the small, thatched-roof chapel that tells how Christianity came to the islands.

They had no idea, however, that the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Honolulu would respond by presenting the PCC and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with a unique certificate "in gratitude for the collaboration" of St. Damien and Jonathan Napela, a traditional Hawaiian ali'i or chief who was among the earliest converts and leaders in the Sandwich Islands Mission. The lives and stories of the two men became inseparably entwined at Kalaupapa in the 1870s.

The Most Rev. Clarence "Larry" Silva presented the certificate to Von D. Orgill, president and CEO of the Cultural Center, and Area Seventy Elder Scott D. Whiting, during a meeting on May 7, 2010, that began with flower lei greetings and a Hawaiian chant. Also participating in the presentation were Father Marc Alexander, Vicar General for the Honolulu Diocese; Steven C. Wheelwright, president, Brigham Young University-Hawaii; R. Eric Beaver, president and CEO of Hawaii Reserves Inc., and his assistant, Steve Keali'iwahamana Hoag; John A. "Jack" Hoag, Hawaii public affairs director for the church; and Elder Marshall and Sister Jolene Ogden, the service missionaries, as well as several other PCC officers and leaders.

Bishop Silva said that though the two men belonged to different churches, they worked closely together at Kalaupapa in selfless service to the patients; and that each eventually contracted the dreaded disease, died from it and were buried there. St. Damien once described Napela as his "yoke-mate" in the work.

Josef de Veuster left his native Belgium and was ordained Father Damien, SS.CC., soon after arriving in Honolulu in 1864. Following nine years of ministering on the island of Hawaii, he volunteered to serve at Kalaupapa, which the Kingdom of Hawaii had established as a confinement colony for Hansen's Disease patients in 1865. By early 1885 it was confirmed that Father Damien was a patient as well as a priest. He died from the ravages of the disease in 1889 at age 49.

Napela, who was among the first Hawaiian chiefly children educated at Lahainaluna by Protestant New England missionaries, helped Elder George Q. Cannon translate the Book of Mormon into Hawaiian soon after joining the church. He also served as a missionary and helped establish a short-lived church settlement on the island of Lanai as well as the Laie Plantation in 1865. In 1869 he traveled to Utah where he became the first known Hawaiian to receive temple endowments and be ordained a seventy. When his wife, Kitty — once described as the most beautiful woman in Hawaii — was diagnosed with Hansen's Disease in 1873, Napela chose to leave his leadership responsibilities behind and accompany her to Kalaupapa as a non-patient kokua, or helper. He soon began working with Father Damien, but he, too, became a patient within one year and died on Aug. 6, 1879. His wife died a short time later.

Orgill thanked Bishop Silva for "allowing us the opportunity to share this message with the people who come here from everywhere in the world." Then, following Polynesian custom, he presented the Catholic bishop with a gift: a hand-carved Hawaiian koa wood paddle, which represents that "we're all on a journey, and hopefully, we're much more often paddling together, trying to make good things happen, to preserve in the world the things that are worth preserving, and to share those things with everyone that we know, love, care about and associate with."

In addition to the new certificate, Jonathan Napela also continues to be remembered in Laie, where a heroic-sized statue outside the BYU-Hawaii Cannon Activities Center recognizes him and George Q. Cannon for their work in translating the Book of Mormon into Hawaiian. The school's Hawaiian Studies program is also named in Napela's honor.
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Damien's Body arrives in Belgium

2010-05-24T15:27:00.005+01:00

In 1936 Damien's body was transported from Molokai aboard the Mercator via San Francisco to Belgium. The video is a clip on the arrival of the Mercator and the procession which followed.
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Damien of Molokai

2010-05-11T09:04:00.003+01:00

Sr. Mary Peter

On my first flight to Hawaii where I lived for three years, I was impressed to hear the attendant tell in brief the story of Father Damian. Our plane had lots of people headed for an island vacation. I was amazed that Hawaiians had adopted Damian as one of their own, and were very proud of what he did for them.
Today the Catholic church celebrates the feast of St. Damian of Molokai. Damian was born in Belgium and joined the Missionary order of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. He volunteered for the Hawaiian missions and was ordained in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu. He served on Hawaii--the Big Island--and on Oahu. At that time there seemed to be an epidemic of leprosy or Hansen's Disease. Since it was thought to be highly contagious, lepers were sent to a smaller island, Molokai to a settlement called Kalaupapa. The Hawaiian government assumed that the people could farm the land and support themselves, despite their disease. When Damian volunteered to be their pastor, he found sickness of body and rampant sickness of soul. Due in part to their illness, people found it close to impossible to farm the land. Many lived in rundown shacks because they did not have the energy to build houses. Fresh water was hard to come by. Morale and morality were at a low ebb.
Damian set to work to cure illness, build houses, schools, and a church.
He used his imagination and strength to fashion water pipes from bamboo to bring fresh water to the colony. His enthusiasm and energy set an example for people who until his arrival had little or no hope. Robert Louis Stevenson, the famous author, was not a Catholic, but he defended Damian who was criticized by a Protestant minister who referred to him as a sort of unwashed peasant. Stevenson's defence helped to spread the good news about the missionary priest's heroic efforts to do all he could for the people on Molokai. Mother Marianne of the Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse came and brought Sisters who would staff a hospital. Joseph Dutton, a native of Vermont and a Civil War veteran, came and offered his services full time. He became known as Brother Dutton. Doing what he could to bring hope to lepers, Father Damian made his life a sort of torch shining on a remote Hawaiian island. That torch beckoned people far and wide to come and help. Many did come and now Kalaupapa still has the leper colony which is much smaller. People in Hawaii never forgot the priest who became a leper with the lepers to bring Christ to them. May St. Damian pray for all of us, especially for all our Hawaiian people.
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Three priests and a Sister are honored in the US National Statuary Hall?

2010-05-07T00:27:00.005+01:00

Immediately south of the Rotunda in the United States Capitol is the National Statuary Hall, where each of the 50 states gets to honor and immortalize two famous people with a larger-than-life sized statue. But did you know three four states have honored a Catholic priest?(Apparently these states don’t buy the ACLU’s argument that you establish a state religion simply because you decide to honor a clergy member.) So can you name any of the four priests honored in the National Statuary Hall? The answers are after the jump.

Wisconsin honors the missionary priest Father Jacques Marquette, a French Jesuit missionary priest who brought the teachings of Jesus to Native Americans living in what we now call Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota.

Blessed Junipero Serra was another great priest who established missions up and down California. His first mission was established in 1769 in what we now call San Diego. Father Serra was beatified by Pope John Paul II on September 25, 1988.

Fr. Eusebio Kino SJ was born on August 10, 1645, in Segno, Italy. He became a missionary to Mexico. Fr. Kino built missions extending from Sonora 150 miles northeast to San Xavier del Bac, a building which still stands outside of Tucson. He built 19 rancheras, which supplied cattle to new settlements. He was also instrumental in the return of the Jesuits to California in 1697. Father Kino remained in southern Arizona until his death in 1711. [***Special thanks to our reader Mark for reminding us of the Fr. Kino statue.]

Saint Damien of Molokai was born Joseph de Veuster in Belgium in 1840. The Kingdom of Hawaii placed lepers on the island of Molokai. Father Damien ministered to the lepers for 16 years before eventually contracting the disease himself. His statue depicts the scars that the disease caused on his face. Last October, Pope Benedict XVI canonized Father Damien, making him the first Catholic saint to be honored with a statue in our United States Capitol.

This upcoming Monday, May 10, is a special day for those who love Saint Damien. It marks the first time we’ll celebrate his feast day as a saint.

Saint Damien, pray for us

We also wanted to note that a Catholic nun is also honored in the National Statuary Hall. A bronze likeness of Mother Joseph rests in the Capitol courtesy of the State of Washington. (Which is ironic, given their state’s Blaine Amendment.) Mother Joseph was born in 1823. She entered the Sisters of Charity of Providence in Montreal. She lead a group of five missionaries to the Pacific Northwest Territories of the United States. She was responsible for the completion of eleven hospitals, seven academies, five Indian schools, and two orphanages throughout an area that today encompasses Washington, northern Oregon, Idaho, and Montana.
by CatholicVoteAction on May 5th, 2010
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Statue ceremony, Mass to mark Hawaii saint’s first feast day

2010-05-06T12:34:00.003+01:00

Detail from the statue of St. Damien at the Hawaii state capitol
The first feast day of Hawaii’s first saint will be celebrated modestly. May 10 will be the first observance of St. Damien’s feast since his Oct. 11 canonization. That morning at the state capitol, the outdoor bronze statue of Father Damien will be the site of the now familiar ceremony of songs, prayers and lei presentations. That evening, the bishop will celebrate a feast day Mass at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa. The ceremony at the state capitol starts at 10 a.m. and will last about 45 minutes.

It will begin with a welcome by Sacred Hearts Father Lane Akiona, a performance of Hawaii Ponoi performed by Maryknoll School students, and an invocation by vicar general Father Marc Alexander. The program will include a Scripture reading, a reflection by Sacred Hearts Father Herman Gomes, a hula by students from Sacred Hearts Academy, the draping of the statue with leis, the singing of E Kamiano and Hawaii Aloha, and a benediction by Sacred Hearts Father Christopher Keahi. The ceremony is being organized by the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts.

Bishop Larry Silva will celebrate the feast day Mass at 6 p.m. at the co-cathedral. The relic of St. Damien, now on display at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, will be brought to the Kapalama church for veneration that evening. Many of the members of the choir created for the Hawaii pilgrimage to the October canonization in Rome will reassemble for the co-cathedral Mass. Light refreshments will be served after the Mass.

Pope Benedict XVI canonized Father Damien on Oct. 11 in the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Basilica. Prior to his official feast day designation, “Damien Day” had long been celebrated in Hawaii on April 15, the date of his death, the traditional choice for a saint’s feast day. After his beatification in 1995 made him eligible for a spot on the liturgical calendar as an “optional memorial,” the May 10 date was picked because April 15 fell during Lent when optional and obligatory memorials are not celebrated. May 10 is the date he first stepped onto Molokai to care for the leprosy patients quarantined there. But his feast has actually switched back and forth from April 15 to May 10 a few times.

In November 1999, Honolulu Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo asked the U.S. bishops to place Father Damien’s feast on the American Catholic calendar on May 10 as an “optional memorial.” The bishops voted overwhelmingly in favor of the request. However, on Dec. 20, 1999, when the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments approved the U.S. bishops’ decision, it changed the date back to April 15.

In April 2000, Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston, president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, wrote back to the Vatican congregation asking that the observance be returned to May 10 as originally requested. In a letter dated April 24, 2001, the congregation approved the request. The bishops were informed of the change in early May. Last Oct. 25, another Vatican degree elevated the feast from an “optional” memorial to an “obligatory” memorial in Hawaii. That change, made by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments at the request of Bishop Larry Silva, means that all Masses celebrated in Hawaii on that day — unless it falls on a Sunday — must be for St. Damien. It is not a holy day of obligation.

The Mass prayers will be specific to Father Damien. They are essentially the same ones used since Father Damien’s beatification except that the title “Saint” replaces the title “Blessed.” The Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship also changed the day’s Gospel reading from the verses about the Good Shepherd in John, chapter 10, to the account of the washing of the feet in John 13. According to Sacred Hearts Sister Helene Wood of the Office of Worship, this is because the Good Shepherd narrative is also the reading for the Third Sunday of Easter which falls near to St. Damien’s feast. Everywhere else in the United States, the feast of St. Damien is an optional memorial.
By Patrick Downes | Hawaii Catholic Herald
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VIETNAM - Diocese vows to defeat poverty among lepers

2010-05-05T20:44:00.002+01:00

A sister talks to former leprosy patients.
PLEIKU, Vietnam (UCAN) May 5th: — A diocese which has Vietnam’s highest number of leprosy cases has pledged to eliminate poverty among sufferers by providing education and health care for their children. “Local people with leprosy will not escape from poverty and integrate with society unless their children are given formal education,” said Father Pierre Nguyen Van Dong.

The head of caritas in Kon Tum diocese was speaking to 120 leprosy sufferers and church workers at an annual gathering in Pleiku city, in central Vietnam on May 3. He said this year; his first priority is to provide health care and education for children from families affected by leprosy. “We will provide children with milk and vaccines against polio, measles, tetanus and diphtheria — which are the most common diseases among them,” he pledged. The local Church will also provide health care for pregnant women, he added.

Father Dong, 67, pastor of Thang Thien parish, said he will also provide scholarships and accommodation for students whose parents suffer from leprosy, so that they can receive further education. He noted that most children suffer malnutrition and few get an education as a result of poverty and many develop a complex about their situation. He said 70 students are currently staying at hostels run by local Saint Paul de Chartres nuns and 10 others have recently graduated from local colleges or universities. Father Dong said the diocese, covering Gia Lai and Kon Tum provinces, serves 3,570 patients out of a diocesan total of 7,000 leprosy sufferers. Most of them are from ethnic minority groups, he added.

The priest said 150 caritas workers, Religious and lay volunteers take patients to state-run hospitals for treatment, build houses for them and provide clothes, clean water and food for them. The sufferers and their families are also given money to cultivate crops and raise pigs, cows and poultry, he added. He said the diocese spent 3.5 billion dong (US$184,892) on those activities in 2009.

Ama Pua, a former sufferer, told UCA News that he is grateful to Church workers who helped cure him of his disease and covered his three children’s school fees. The ethnic Jarai man now works with local Franciscans taking sufferers to hospitals.
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An Uncommon Kindness

2010-05-03T09:22:00.001+01:00

Simple Courage

2010-04-29T08:55:00.001+01:00

THE LAST DAYS OF FATHER DAMIEN, THE HERO MARTYR'..

2010-04-22T09:17:00.007+01:00

The Brisbane Courier June 17th 1889

In reference to tho death of Father Damien, the Hawaiian Gazette of 23rd April says: - By the steamer Mercoli that arrived from Molokai on Saturday morning, news was brought of the death of Father Joseph DeVeuster Damien, the Roman Catholic priest, who had gained worldwide fame for devoting his life to ministrations among the inmates of the Molokai leper settlement. He died on Monday morning, l0th April. Father Damien had been sixteen years in that living tomb, and three years ago contracted the terrible disease that has ended his days. Upon his death he was dressed in priest's vestments and the following day the body was laid in a coffin that the Sisters had lined with white silk. A requiem high mass was said on Tuesday by Father Wondelin, who preached to a crowded church from the words, "The Good Shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep." The body was borne to the tomb by white lepers. There had been a vault prepared under the lauhala tree, beneath which the departed Father was wont to sleep when he first arrived at the settlement. This last resting-place had been chosen by himself.

The following sketch of Father Damien's early life and instalment at the settlement was written by Charles Wan-en Stoddard, after getting the story from the priest's own lips at Kalawao. It is reprinted from a little work, " The Lepers of Molokai," by that well-known author, and the copy used for this purpose was mailed by the late priest to the local editor of this paper only a few weeks ago, for use in writing a sketch of Father Damien and the leper settlement to the order of an Australian newspaper editor. An autograph letter from the then dying Father, pathetic in its statement of the writer's weak condition, was re-mailed to the gentleman soliciting tho article. Mr. Stoddard, who wrote the book four or five years ago, said: "Born in Louvain, Belgium, 3rd January, 18-10. When he was but four-and twenty, his brother, who had just entered the priesthood, was ordered to embark for Honolulu, but at the moment fell sick with typhoid fever. Young Damien, who was a theological student at the university, having received minor orders and belonging to the same order - the Society of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (commonly called Society of Picpus) -at once wrote to his superior and begged that he mighty be sent upon the mission in his brother's stead. In one week he was on his way to that far country. He was ordained upon his arrival in Honolulu, and for a few years led tho life of toil and privation which invariably falls to the lot of the Catholic missionary.

"In 1873 he, in common with others of the clergy, was invited to be present at the dedication of a beautiful chapel, just completed by Father Loonor, at Wailuku, on the island of Mam. There he met the Bishop, who expressed regret that he was still unable to bind a priest to Molokai, for the demand was far in excess of the supply. Father Damien at once said : ' My Lord, I hear that a small vessel will next week take cattle from Kawaihae to Kalaupapa ; if you will permit mo I will go there to help the lepers make their Easter duties.'

"His request was granted and in company with the Bishop and the French Consul, he landed at the settlement, where he found a colony of 800 lepers, of whom between 400 and 500 were Catholics. A public meeting was immediately called, at which the Bishop and the consul presided. His Grace arose to address the singular gathering, and said : “Since you have written to me often that you have no priest, I leave you one for a little time” and imparting the benediction, he returned immediately to the vessel, which was to sail that very hour. Father Damien added: “As there is much to be done here, by your leave I will not accompany you to the shore.” Thus the good work was at once begun. It was high time; tho lepers were dying at the rate of from eight to twelve per week. Tho priest had not time to build himself a hut - he had not even tho material with which to build it - and for a season he slept in tho open air, under a tree, exposed to the wind and the rain.

"Soon after, he received a letter of congratulation from the white residents of Honolulu chiefly Protestants - together with some lumber and a purse of $120. Then he put up his little house, and began to feel at homo. After remaining some weeks at Kalawao, he was obliged to go to Honolulu, there being no more convenient priest to whom he could make his confession.'''

Tho sketch proceeds to relate the cool reception Father Damien received from the President of the Board of Health, who in the course of an interview said, “the priest might go to Molokai, but, if so must remain there for good. It was in vain that the father urged the necessity of one priest having to make confession at stated intervals, to another. "An eminent physician," one of the board, pleaded the cause of the priest and aided by the French Consul, a special permit was obtained, on which Father Damien returned to Kalawao. Mr. Stoddard continues : "Shortly after his return he received official notice that he must remain where he was; and that on any attempt to leave the island, or even to visit other portions of Molokai, he would be immediately put under arrest. Tho notice was sharply worded. This roused the indignation of the priest and he notified tho Board of Health that if they would attend strictly to their duties he would attend to his. When it became necessary for him to visit a priest on a neighbouring island he did so, asking no odds of any man. He also visited his scattered flock on the circuit of Molokai, attending faithfully and fearlessly to the wants of his people.

"Often on these rounds he was the welcome guest of a gentleman, tho son of a Protestant missionary and on one occasion the host said to him playfully: “I suppose you are aware that I have orders to place you under immediate arrest if you presume to leave your leper settlement” And this was the Sheriff of Molokai. “Six months later a permit came, granting Father Damien leave to come and go as he pleased; but in eleven years how seldom has he cared to use it!"

"Office of the Board of Health, Honolulu, April 22, 1889. - The Very Rev the Bishop of Olba, Honolulu.
Sir, - It is with feelings of pain that the board received by mail last week from Molokai the sad intelligence of the death of the lamented Father Damien, Catholic priest at Kalawao, Molokai, who passed away on Monday last, 19th April, 1889. 'On behalf of the Board of Health, permit me to express to you as his spiritual adviser our condolence and sincere feeling of sympathy; with you in view of the sad event and our high appreciation of his long and faithful service to the Board of Health and to humanity. I am, rev. sir, very sincerely yours, N. B. EJÍBUSOIÍ, President Boaid of Health."

"Honolulu, 23rd April, 1889. - Dr. N. B. Emerson, President of the Board of Health.
Dear Sir, - Please accept for yourself and for the other members of the Board of Health, my sincere thanks for the kind expression of your condolence and feeling of sympathy in view of the Rev. Father Damien's death. I highly value your appreciation of his long and faithful service to the board and humanity. Allow me to add that the members of the Catholic

Mission will always be happy to co-operate with the Board of Health in the work of humanity and Christian charity after the example of the late Father Damien, as far as it may be desirable-Very respectfully, you, obedient servant, HERMAN, Bishop of Olbar V. Ap."

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Another Molokai Church Damaged

2010-04-20T09:31:00.003+01:00

The high winds of Holy Week took a toll on St. Joseph Church in Kamalo, on Molokai, tearing a gaping hole in its fragile steeple and blowing the cross off. The damage to this historic church, one of several St. Damien built, is the second calamity to strike the island’s St. Damien Parish in recent months. On Feb. 11, the parish’s main church in Kaunakakai, St. Sophia, was destroyed in a fire.

Sacred Hearts Sister Jessie Kai called Sacred Hearts Father Clyde Guerreiro, pastor of St. Damien, early on Holy Thursday, April 1, to tell him that someone reported the steeple cross missing. The cross had adorned the church since Father Damien built it in 1876.

“I immediately went out to check on it and found the cross lying directly at Father Damien’s feet,” said Father Guerreiro, referring to the life-sized statue of Father Damien standing in the graveyard next to the church.

Tiny St. Joseph is significant among the three Molokai churches built by Father Damien because it remains in the most original condition. The 40-seat chapel is a regular stop for pilgrims. It was one of the places Bishop Silva and 12 mainland bishops visited while accompanying St. Damien’s relic on an island tour last October following his canonization.

Father Guerreiro had already started to raise money this past fall and winter to repair, re-roof and repaint St. Joseph. “The church has not been re-roofed since the late 1960s,” he said. “Last year I began a letter-writing campaign to 563 visitors to raise funds to repair St. Joseph Church.”

The pastor’s effort led to one benefactor agreeing to re-roof the church, plus $6,000 donated for window restoration, painting and fumigation. However, the steeple damage has raised the price beyond what the parish has available. “The repair projects are critical to the preservation of this Damien church,” Father Guerreiro said, “because now when it rains, it rains inside the church.” Father Guerreiro says the church had so far survived on “borrowed time,” but the time is now up.

The new damage has added yet another strain to the 300-plus family parish which has two other churches and stretches across topside Molokai. Other priorities, including building St. Sophia’s replacement, have challenged the parish’s limited budget. With the island’s unemployment chronically in the double digits, the parish has relied on donations from friends and supporters throughout Hawaii and the mainland.

But Father Guerreiro is optimistic. “When I saw the cross lying at Father Damien’s feet I thought, ‘Well, I’m a Sacred Hearts priest and my challenges are minor, compared to those that faced my predecessor Father Damien.’ However, I am at the point that I need to ‘Let go, and let God,’ and trust that our benefactors will come forward to help us. We need to preserve this Damien Church before it disappears.”

How you can help: Send your check payable to “St Damien Parish — St. Joseph Church Fund” to: Father Clyde Guerreiro, SS.CC., St. Damien Parish — St. Joseph Church Fund, P.O. Box 1948, Kaunakakai, HI 96748. For more information contact St. Damien parishioner, Maria Sullivan at mjs@aloha.net, or (808) 553-5181.
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FATHER DAMIEN'S PROTESTANT CHAMPION

2010-04-14T22:32:00.003+01:00

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVIII, Issue 8, 20 June 1890, Page 5

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Fr Damien Documentary

2010-04-13T10:05:00.000+01:00

Church to celebrate feast of newly canonized St. Damien

2010-04-12T08:30:00.001+01:00

This Thursday is the feast day of St. Damien de Veuster, better known as St. Damien of Molokai.

This year, the feast takes on new significance as it is marks the first celebration of the former blessed’s feast since his October 11, 2009 canonization.

Damien de Veuster was born in Belgium to a poor farming family. Answering God’s call, he joined the Fathers of the Sacred Heart, and spent the rest of his life as a missionary in Hawaii. After being ordained in 1864, Fr. Damien was sent to the peninsula of Kalawao on Molokai, an isolated area of the Hawaiian island where the panicked government of the time quarantined people suspected of having leprosy. Arriving in 1873, he lived on the island for the rest of his life, dying in 1889 of the very disease whose suffering he sought to alleviate in others.

Fr. Damien dedicated his life to the native Hawaiians he found suffering in exile on Molokai. When he arrived, there were very few structures in the area. Many people slept on mats, covered by only a thin blanket as protection against the rain. Though there was a small, preexisting chapel, dedicated to St. Philomena, Fr. Damien set up his first rectory in the shade of a tree. However, he was a skilled carpenter and a hard worker. Quickly, he worked to build coffins, a rectory, houses, a school, and eventually a new chapel for the community.

Fr. Damien ministered to Catholics and non-Catholics alike. His primary aim was to restore dignity to the people who had been robbed of everything through no fault of their own. Thus, one of his first accomplishments was to build a fence around, and clean up, the cemetery. Then, by building coffins and encouraging the creation of a Christian Burial Society, Fr. Damien gave dignity to the leprosy victims.

Children were especially close to the Belgian missionary’s heart. As was the law of the time, families were split up, and often children with leprosy were sent to Molokai while their parents were forced to remain at home. Fr. Damien set up a dormitory for boys, and eventually one for girls as well. He worked hard to keep the children away from the depravity that had become commonplace in the rather lawless society that had sprung up on Molokai. The children became so devoted to him that they wrote a song in their native Hawaiian, calling him their father, which they used to stand outside his house and sing.

Fr. Damien also worked tirelessly to bring in outside supplies and funding. The Hawaiian government considered him to be a stubborn nuisance as he sent letter after letter petitioning for food and building materials. He also wrote to his superiors and the local bishop to increase awareness of the conditions, sufferings, and needs of the people to whom he ministered.

Ultimately, Fr. Damien contracted leprosy himself. However, he did not allow it to put an end to his ministry. As frustrating as the situation may have been at times, he never lost hope and continued to think of the people, who he made his own. He died on March 28, 1889 and was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 11, 2009.
Every schoolchild in Hawaii is familiar with his story.
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New Damien Documentary

2010-04-12T08:16:00.006+01:00

Hawaii: April 2nd. - The Honolulu Film Festival will screen a new California-produced documentary about St. Damien at 1:15 p.m., April 25, in the Coral Ballroom Theater of the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Tickets are $7.

The film, “Damien making a Difference, God making a Saint,” is directed and written by Jennifer Hoge. It was produced by her San Dimas, Calif., company, Premier Image Productions. The executive producer is the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts, USA West, Secular Branch.

The film tells the story of St. Damien through his own words recorded in letters and journals, and through narration and commentary. Members of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts, of which Damien was a member, provide reflections on Father Damien’s life.

St. Damien’s words were taken from the book, “Damien of Molokai: Through His Letters,” by Osvaldo Aparicio. Sacred Hearts Congregation archives in Hawaii, California, Belgium and Rome provided images for the film.

The Secular Branch of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts USA West gave the funds to produce this film. The voice of Father Damien is provided by Tom Wilson, an actor and standup comedian who has appeared in about 25 films. Mike Laponis, a voice actor and video producer, is the narrator. Commentary is provided by Sacred Hearts Fathers Michael Barry and Martin O’Loghlen of their congregation’s west coast province. Shane Rodrigues, who was born and raised on Maui, was the director of photography. The film was made at the request of Father Barry and completed in six weeks before Father Damien’s canonization in October 2009. It is the winner of an Accolade Film Award of Merit.

Trailers of the film may be viewed at www.premierimageprod.com which also has a link to the Honolulu Film Festival, that lists the schedule of films and how to buy tickets.

To buy a copy of the documentary, send a suggested donation of $30 to: SSCC USA West, Provincial Office, PO BOX 668, San Dimas, CA 91773, (909) 593-5441, ssccwest@cpl.net. Proceeds go to the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary USA West Secular Branch.
By Patrick Downes |Hawaii Catholic Herald
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Some Excellent Damien Photos

2010-04-10T15:39:00.006+01:00

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Damien Shrine

2010-04-05T12:21:00.002+01:00

The Colony - Book Review

2010-03-20T13:39:00.001Z

THE COLONY: New York : Scribner, c 2006 John Tayman Leprosy , Hawaii , Molokai , History Hardcover. 1st ed., later printing. vi, 421 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. 387-396) and index. Clean, tight and strong binding with clean dust jacket. No highlighting, underlining or marginalia in text. VG/VG

In 1866, twelve men and women and one small child were forced aboard a leaky schooner and cast away to a natural prison on the Hawaiian island of Molokai. Two weeks later, a dozen others were exiled, and then forty more, and then a hundred more. Tracked by bounty hunters and torn screaming from their families, the luckless were loaded into shipboard cattle stalls and abandoned in a lawless place where brutality held sway. Many did not have leprosy, and most of those who did were not contagious, yet all were caught in a shared nightmare. The colony had little food, little medicine, and very little hope. Exile continued for more than a century, the longest and deadliest instance of medical segregation in American history. Nearly nine thousand people were banished to the colony, trapped by pounding surf and armed guards and the highest sea cliffs in the world. Twenty-eight live there still.

John Tayman tells the fantastic saga of this horrible and hopeful place — at one time the most famous community in the world — and of the individuals involved. From the very first exile — a gentle part-time lawyer trapped in an unjust ordeal beyond his imagination — to the last remaining residents, the narrative is peopled by presidents and kings, cruel lawmen and pioneering doctors, and brave souls who literally gave their lives to help. A stunning cast includes the martyred Father Damien, Robert Louis Stevenson, Jack London, Mark Twain, Teddy Roosevelt, John Wayne, and more. The result is a searing tale of survival and bravery, and a testament to the power of faith, compassion, and heroism.
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St. Damien Church of Molokai

2010-03-17T02:54:00.004Z

The St. Damien Catholic Community held a fundraiser on Saturday, March 13th. In attendance were Bishop Larry Silva, Fr. Javier Álvarez-Ossorio, SS.CC., the order's Superior General, and Fr. Felipe Lazcano Hamilton, SS.CC., one of the order's General Councillars.

Pictured on right are are event organizer Maria Sullivan, Fr. Clyde and chair of the Diocesan Road Map Implementation Commission Colleen Sathre:
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St. Damien of Molokai

2010-03-07T13:01:00.001Z

St. Damien of Molokai by David Hart

2010-03-07T12:53:00.000Z

A Leper with the Lepers

2010-02-25T13:18:00.001Z

During this Year of the Priest, I have taken advantage of opportunities to write about priests outstanding in their life and ministry whom the church has honored with canonization and/or beatification. On my recent trip to Belgium, I was privileged to celebrate the Eucharist at the tomb of one of these great men, Jozef de Veuster, who received the name of Damien in the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Damien was canonized during this Year of the Priest by Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009. Celebrating his canonization and visiting his tomb within less than four months prompted me to write about him and showcase his pastoral zeal as an inspiration for the rest of us during these early days of Lent.

In his homily at the Mass of canonization last October, Pope Benedict had this to say about St. Damien: “When he was 23 years old, in 1863, he left Flanders, the land of his birth, to proclaim the Gospel on the other side of the world in the Hawaiian Islands. His missionary activity, which gave him such joy, reached its peak in charity. Not without fear and repugnance, he chose to go to the Island of Molokai to serve the lepers who lived there, abandoned by all. Thus he was exposed to the disease from which they suffered. He felt at home with them. The servant of the Word consequently became a suffering servant, a leper with the lepers, for the last four years of his life.”

All good disciples of Jesus eventually come to the realization that the more self-serving their lives seem to become, the less can they consider themselves friends of Jesus Christ. Young Jozef was born in Belgium back in 1840, the seventh child of his family. His dad was a grain trader and wanted Jozef to take over the business on their farm. But Jozef’s dreams lay elsewhere. His older brother was a priest, and at age 18 St. Damien wanted to be a priest, too. He became a member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts, also described as the Picpus Fathers. He was sent off as a missionary. On the way he came down with typhus but eventually reached the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii) in March of 1864. He became acquainted with the language and the customs of the Hawaiian people and was ordained a priest there in May of the same year.

Damien was no great scholar but he was truly a man of action. In embarking upon his mission to the Hawaiian people he initially regarded them as immoral, uncivilized and overly superstitious people. He traveled extensively in his efforts to convert many of them to Christianity and when asked where he lived, he would point to his horse’s saddle and say “That’s where I live.” St. Damien had a special concern for those who were experiencing great suffering. He was concerned about the mistreatment of the dead, the extensive drinking and gambling among the natives, the abuse of young orphans as well as the extreme prices in the shops. He also felt that lepers deserved better medical care. It was his dream that an ideal Christian community would eventually be established where he would be the father. His concern about the lepers continued to grow. He knew they lived in exile on the volcanic island of Molokai. He told the bishop he wanted to stay among them permanently because he thought this would be the only way he could win the lepers’ trust.
The leper colony was located at Kalawao on Molokai. This location was chosen deliberately because the village was very hard to reach. Because the lepers were placed in quarantine, the village was a kind of natural prison. When the quarantine laws were strengthened, St. Damien himself became an exile and a prisoner of his missionary calling. He was excluded from the outside world just like those whom he served. By January of 1885 Damien wrote, “I am still in good health… except my left foot, which has lost almost all sensation for three years now. It is a hidden poison which threatens my whole body.” He hoped he could get over his sickness or keep it under control, but more and more he would address his parishioners with these words, “We lepers.”

In concluding his reflections on the day of St. Damien’s canonization, Pope Benedict stated, “He invites us to open our eyes to the forms of leprosy that disfigure the humanity of our brethren and still today call for the charity of our presence as servants, beyond that of our generosity.” Every Lent we are called to embrace the Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting and good works. Many Catholics are generous, but the example of priests like St. Damien challenges us to take to heart the words of our Holy Father which invite us to move beyond the “comfort zones” of our own practical generosity. Certainly we can place some limits on the sharing of our time, treasure and talents, but the season of Lent asks us to re-examine those limits and to see if it might be possible to extend them somewhat, even to the point where they are less than comfortable, maybe even where they hurt.

It was the miraculous healing of a Hawaiian woman with cancer that led to the canonization of St. Damien. He himself died of leprosy at the age of 49. The fame of his life lived among the lepers led to an intensive study of Hansen’s disease (leprosy), which eventually led to a cure. In speaking to the International Theological Commission last December, the Holy Father reminded this learned assembly that, in the history of the church, many men and women who may not have been so scholarly were, on the other hand, capable of the humility that led them to reach the truth about the great mysteries of our faith. He mentioned St. Damien and described him as one of those “little people who are also wise,” from whom we draw inspiration because “they were touched in the depths of their hearts.” Small people like Father Damien often become great saints.

The priests who serve you in our parishes across western Oregon typically attract headlines or prompt letters to the bishop only for their misdeeds, not for their faithful service. They may be “little people” in the eyes of the world, and perhaps in your eyes, too, but every time they touch the depths of any person’s heart, they become great in the eyes of God. As Damien was a leper among lepers, we priests today are sinners among sinners. Please pray for all of us this Lent that, in spite of ourselves, we too will always want to be there for others, not just for ourselves, confident in the mercy of a loving God.
By Archbishop John Vlazny
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Trailer - The Story of Fr. Damien

2010-02-20T13:27:00.002Z

MOLOKAI: THE STORY OF FATHER DAMIEN: Movie Trailer - Click here for funny video clips

Fire Damages St Sophia Church on Molokai

2010-02-12T08:49:00.004Z

Feb. 11th: Late Wednesday a fire broke out at St. Sophia Catholic church in Kaunakakai, charring the entire inside and much of the outside.

The fire alarm sounded at 10:42 p.m. Wednesday with all three Molokai engine companies responding. Engine 4 was first on the scene and was quickly followed by engines 9 and 12. It took about two hours to get the fire under control with mop up operations continuing through the night. Emergency crews shut down the town last night for safety. Yesterday morning fire crews could still be seen spraying water and foam in the smoldering ruins.

An investigator came in from Maui yesterday to help determine the cause of the fire. Molokai Fire Inspector Rick Schoneley began the preliminary investigation and took photos but no cause has yet been determined. While some speculated, including Father Clyde Guerrero, that the devotional candles may have set the blaze, this is still speculation at this time.

Father Clyde, pastor of the Saint Damien Parish, said that St. Sophia has held its last service. With the entire insides blackened it cannot be saved. Father Clyde said an insurance company inspector will come to Molokai Tuesday to determine the extent of the damage but he believes the building will most likely be demolished.

The church, built in 1937, has been in need of replacement for some time. Since 1995, the Molokai Catholic Community has been working to raise the $3 million needed to rebuild Saint Sophia as Blessed Damien Church in honor of Saint Damien who was canonized in October.

On January 5, the Maui County’s Urban Design Review Board recommended a special management area permit for approval by the Molokai Planning Commission.

The church serves about 300 families on Molokai. Other churches in the area have already offered their worship space to the Catholic community until a new church is built.
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REINFORCE STRATEGIES IN THE STRUGGLE AGAINST LEPROSY

2010-02-02T08:18:00.001Z

VATICAN CITY, 29 JAN 2010 ( VIS ) - The Message for the fifty-seventh World Day of Leprosy was published today. It bears the signature of Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, president of the Pontifical Council for Healthcare Ministry. The Day itself is due to be celebrated on Sunday 31 January.

According to the most recent data from the World Health Organisation (WHO), "in 2009, 210,000 new cases of the disease were recorded. ... The countries most affected are in Asia, South America and Africa . India has the greatest number of sufferers, followed by Brazil ".

Archbishop Zimowski makes a call "to the international community and to the authorities of each individual State, inviting them to develop and reinforce the strategies necessary to combat leprosy, making them more effective and far-reaching especially in places where the number of new cases remains high. This", he continues, "must be done without overlooking educational and awareness-raising campaigns capable of helping those affected, and their families, to emerge from isolation and obtain the necessary treatment".

At the end of his message, the president of the Pontifical Council for Healthcare Ministry expresses his thanks to the WHO, and to religious, missionaries, non-governmental associations and organisations, and many volunteers for their commitment "to eradicate this and other 'forgotten' diseases".
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Pope: Charity is "the badge of a Christian"

2010-02-01T01:02:00.003Z

Angelus, Benedict XVI invites prayers for peace in the Holy Land and thoughts for those who have lost their jobs in the economic crisis. World Day of Leprosy Suffers.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) Jan 31st: - An invitation to join in prayer for peace in the Holy Land and some thoughts on how many are losing their jobs because of the economic crisis, in the words of Benedict XVI to twenty thousand people present in St Peter's Square, despite the rainy day, after the midday Angelus prayer, before the recital of which the pope spoke of charity, as "the badge of Christianity."

Taking a cue from the passage of St Paul in this Sunday’s liturgy, the so-called "hymn of charity”, the Pope stressed that "Paul shows us the 'path' to perfection. This - he says - does not consist in possessing exceptional qualities: speaking new languages, knowing all mysteries, having wonderful faith or carrying out heroic gestures. Rather it consists in charity - agape - that is in true love, what God has revealed to us in Jesus Christ. Charity is the ‘greatest gift’, which gives value to everything else, but it 'does not boast, it is not swollen with pride,' indeed, it 'rejoices in the truth' and the good of others. Who really loves 'does not seek his own interests', he 'takes no account of evil received', he 'bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things' (cf. 1 Cor 13:4-7). Eventually, when we meet face to face with God, all the other gifts will be less; the only one that will remain forever is charity, because God is love and we shall be like Him, in perfect communion with Him. "

"For now - he continued - while we are in this world, charity is the badge of a Christian. It is the synthesis of his whole life for what he believes and what he does. For this reason, at the beginning of my pontificate, I wanted to dedicate my first Encyclical to the theme of love: Deus Caritas Est. As you recall, this encyclical is composed of two parts, which correspond to the two aspects of love: its meaning, and therefore its implementation. Love is the essence of God himself, it is the sense of creation and history, it is the light that gives goodness and beauty to every human existence. At the same time, love is, so to speak, the 'style' of God and he who believes, it is the behaviour of those who, responding to the love of God, lays down his own life as a gift of self to God and to neighbour. In Jesus Christ these two aspects form a perfect unity: He is Love Incarnate. This love is revealed to us fully in Christ crucified. "

Many themes were touched upon by Benedict XVI, after the Marian prayer. The Holy Land as well as those suffering from leprosy. "The last Sunday of January - he said - is the World Day of Leprosy Suffers. One thinks immediately of Father Damien de Veuster, who gave his life for these brothers and sisters, and who last October, I declared a saint. To his celestial protection I commend all the people who unfortunately are still suffering from this disease, as well as health workers and volunteers who devote themselves so there might be a world without leprosy. I greet in particular the Italian Association Amici di Raoul Follereau”.

"Today - he said then - it also celebrates the second day of intercession for peace in the Holy Land. In communion with the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and the Custody of the Holy Land, I unite myself spiritually in prayer with the many Christians from all over the world, while I warmly greet those who are gathered here for this occasion. "A message of peace - added the Pope – is also brought to us by the boys and girls of Catholic Action Rome." Traditionally, they conclude the month of January with the "Peace Caravan" and the end of the audience two of them are invited to the Papal apartments from where they release two doves from the window, a symbol of peace.

A thought, finally, for those who are losing their jobs, with the statement that "this situation requires a great sense of responsibility on the part of all: employers, workers, governments".
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New Book about Damien

2010-01-30T11:06:00.003Z

Anwei and Henry Law's recent book, Father Damien ... 'A Bit of Taro, A Piece of Fish, and A Glass of Water,' is more than a book about St. Damien de Veuster of Molokai. It's a book about leprosy and the disease's effect on the people of Hawaii, and especially those who lived in Kalaupapa on the island of Molokai. "Father Damien has always been regarded as the center of their history. If you read other books on Kalaupapa and their history, it's all about Father Damien," explained Anwei Law, who with her husband, Henry, resides in Seneca Falls.

Father Damien de Veuster, a Belgian missionary, was ordained in Honolulu in 1864 and in 1873 arrived in Kalaupapa, which at the time was a settlement for Hawaiians with leprosy. Men, women and children who were diagnosed with leprosy were taken from their families and sent by boat to the island and were not allowed to return to their own homes and communities. The Belgian priest ministered to people there for 16 years before dying of leprosy himself in 1889 at the age of 49.

Pope Benedict XVI canonized the priest Oct. 11, 2009, and called St. Damien a "shining example" of Christian love, according to Catholic News Service. "He invites us to open our eyes towards the 'leprosies' that disfigure the humanity of our brothers and sisters and that today still call, more than for our generosity, for the charity of our serving presence," the pope said during the canonization Mass, which more than 40,000 people attended, according to CNS. "You really see the impact that this man has had on people," Anwei Law said. "He stood up for what was right. He knew what he needed to do. He just loved the Hawaiian people."

The Laws' book is not the first to be written about St. Damien, and it's not likely to be the last. It is, however, the only book the Laws know of that focuses on the viewpoints of the people with leprosy St. Damien lived amongst, Anwei Law said. The Laws' book presents the story of St. Damien as told through the letters and testimonies -- passed down through oral histories -- of the people who knew him. "We were trying to bring the voices of the people who had leprosy back into the story of Father Damien," Anwei Law said.

Although much has been written about St. Damien and about leprosy, which is now called Hansen's disease, the voices of the people affected by this disease have been conspicuously missing in written history, Bishop Clarence Silva, bishop of the Diocese of Honolulu, noted in the forward to the Laws' book. "Even though they wrote hundreds of letters and petitions and provided eye-witness testimony to the historical events of the 19th and 20th centuries, their perspective simply hasn't been included in the traditional histories," Bishop Silva wrote in the foreword.

Throughout history, the voices of those with leprosy have been discounted as unimportant, Anwei Law said. This discrimination continued even after the 1940s, when the first cure for leprosy was developed, she said. Even well-respected doctors and lawyers have faced discrimination after contracting the disease, she noted. "People thought when you got this disease you no longer had any credibility ... as a human being ... and you're worth nothing anymore. People are people, no matter if you have leprosy or not," Henry Law said. "In every religion and culture, men, women and children have been discriminated against," Anwei Law added.

This discrimination still exists today, but she and her husband hope their new book will be a weapon against such discrimination. Their inclusion of the voices of people who've actually lived with the disease leaves less room for misinterpretation, she said. "When people's voices are included, they are able to define themselves rather than be limited by the imagination and perceptions of others who did not know them," she said. The Laws have long advocated for people who've dealt with leprosy. Anwei Law's father was a leprosy researcher, and she became interested in the disease at a young age. In 1977 she moved to Kalaupapa to continue her own research, and there she met Henry Law, who was working as an architect for the National Park Service. The couple lived in Kalaupapa for several decades before moving to Seneca Falls several years ago.

The couple still visits Hawaii several times a year and is active within the International Association for Integration, Dignity and Economic Advancement, which is the largest international advocacy organization by and for individuals who've faced the challenges of leprosy. Proceeds from the sale of Father Damien will be donated to IDEA, Henry Law said. "We're just saying that the discrimination and the labeling of people really has to stop," Henry Law said.

The Laws' book may be ordered online for $25 at www.fatherdamienmolokai.org, or by sending a check payable to IDEA to PO Box 651, Seneca Falls, NY 13148.
By Jennifer Burke
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The Management of Kalaupapa

2010-01-29T08:13:00.001Z

Jan. 28th: - The Associated Press reported yesterday that State Senator J. Kalani English, who represents Molokai, has proposed legislation that would transfer management of the Kalaupapa settlement form the state Department of Health to the Department of Hawaiian Homelands.

The transfer would not happen until there are no more patients receiving care in Kalaupapa. At this time there are 19 patients living in Kalaupapa, all are over the age of 65. Senator English said the state should prepare for more visitors interested in the historical, cultural and religious significance of Kalaupapa.

Because there are some Hawaiian homesteads on the north shore of Molokai in Kalawao County, English believes it makes more sense for the DHHL to manage this area once the patients are gone.
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Blessed Statue - Mother Marianne Cope

2010-01-24T01:13:00.004Z

The statue of Mother Marianne Cope, who served Hansen's disease patients in Hawaii for 35 years, is to be dedicated today at Kewalo Basin Park commemorating her role in Hawaii history. CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM

Hawaii Star Bulletin: Jan. 23rd: - The 6-foot bronze statue of Mother Marianne Cope at Kewalo Basin was crafted by Sister Rosaire Kopczenski of Pittsburgh and depicts Cope striding forward, veil swept by the wind. The Sisters of St. Francis installed the bronze image of Cope, who brought the first Franciscan nuns to Hawaii in 1883 in response to King Kalakaua's call for help in caring for leprosy victims. The image of a religious woman swathed in full-length habit and veil seems an anomaly in the location frequented by pleasure seekers, lightly clad swimmers, surfers, joggers and fishermen.

Sister William Marie Eleniki said the site is a perfect fit not only because the nuns landed nearby when they arrived on the ship Mariposa, but because Kakaako was the location of the first government hospital opened for leprosy patients when the disease reached epidemic proportions in the late 19th century. "When people see this statue, we hope they will understand the unconditional love that Mother Marianne had for those who were shunned from society simply for the misfortune of having Hansen's disease," said Eleniki, chief administrator of the St. Francis Healthcare Foundation. Near the shoreline, the figure faces toward Molokai. Cope and other sisters went to Molokai in 1888 to continue the work of Father Damien De Veuster at the Kalaupapa peninsula settlement, where more than 8,000 patients were isolated during a century of quarantine. She died there in 1918.

The installation needed approval from the Hawaii Community Development Authority. The state board, which regulates all Kakaako development, has approved other memorials in public parks, requiring that they have a link with the area and that the sponsors commit to maintaining them. "We thought there was a clear nexus since she served at the Kakaako branch receiving hospital," said Executive Director Anthony Ching. "She was also known to be an avid fisherman and likely fished in the harbor area." Ching added, "We all recognize that Mother Marianne is a heroic figure with little notoriety who did a great service to the people of Hawaii." There was a delay in the approval process last year after the Citizens Planning Advisory Council for Kakaako objected to the initial site, an area overlooking the Point Panic surfing area. "The objection was not to the memorial," Ching said. "They objected to the placement," which would reduce space in a shady area where surfers gather.

Sister Rosaire Kopczenski of Pittsburgh depicted Cope striding forward, veil swept by the wind, and a foot taller than her 5-foot height. "She never stood still. Her energy and determination reached out beyond her size," said the sculptor, who taught art at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., and in Pennsylvania. Kopczenski said she crafted the statue's hands in "hula movements, one reaching out and the other touching her heart in empathy," based on consultation with a kumu hula during a five-week stay in Hawaii in 2008. "Working on the statue was a labor of prayer, a spiritual experience," she said. "I took a lot of contemplative time," seeking to capture the depth of the subject and make it "a spiritual expression of serving God through what a human being can do." She visited the site Wednesday as workmen completed the installation while homeless men, outcasts of modern society, watched from nearby shade. A plaque on the base says, "This statue serves as an inspiration to never give up caring for those whom society has abandoned." It quotes Cope's letter to island officials: "I am hungry for the work. I am not afraid of any disease, hence it would be my greatest delight even to minister to the abandoned."

The Catholic Church is considering a cause for sainthood for the nun because of her 35 years of service to outcasts. Cope was declared "blessed" in May 2005, the second step in the canonization process. Pope John Paul II set Jan. 23, her birthday, as her feast day in the Catholic liturgical calendar.
By Mary Adamski
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Award for Damien Film

2010-01-19T09:41:00.004Z

La Verne, Ca, January 17, 2010: Jennifer Hoge, of Premier Image Productions, has won a prestigious Award of Merit from The Accolade Competition. The award was given for Jennifer Hoge's feature documentary, Damien Making a Difference, God Making a Saint, which tells the story of Damien of Molokai through his own words, commentary, and narration. Fr. Damien de Veuster was named a saint by the Catholic Church on October 11, 2009. Damien Making a Difference, God Making a Saint features exceptional use of Damien's letters and journal writings, as if Damien is telling his own story. Damien's voice is portrayed by Tom Wilson, well-known comedian and best known as Biff from Back to the Future. Mike Laponis, University of La Verne Professor, lends his voice as the narrator. Commentary is provided by Fr. Micahel Barry, ss.cc., Fr. Martin O'Laughin, ss.cc., and Fr. John Roche, ss.cc.

"This film was a collaboration of efforts by many people and it was a pleasure to be a part of it," Jennifer Hoge said. "I am proud of the film and am honored that it has been recognized by the Accolade Competition. Damien Making a Difference, God Making a Saint, touches everyone who watches this film in so many different ways. When I started this production, I had no idea what we were setting out to achieve. It was going to be about Damien, but it became so much more than that. Damien's life was an example of how the touch of God influences each and every one of us. This film became an extension of that."

The Accolade recognizes film, television, and videography professionals who demonstrate exceptional achievement in craft and creativity, and those who produce standout entertainment or contribute to profound social change. Entries are judged by highly qualified professionals in the film and television industry. Information about the Accolade and a list of recent winners can be found at www.theaccolade.net.

In winning an Accolade, Premier Image Productions joins the ranks of other high-profile winners of this internationally respected award. Thomas Baker, Ph.D, who chairs The Accolade, had this to say about the latest winners, "The Accolade is not an easy award to win. Entries are received from around the world. The Accolade helps set the standard for craft and creativity. The judges were pleased with the exceptionally high quality of entries. The goal of The Accolade is to help winners achieve the recognition they deserve."

Premier Image Productions produced Damien Making a Difference, God Making a Saint in association with the Secular Branch of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary USA West.

Copies of Damien Making a Difference, God Making a Saint can be obtained for a suggested donation of $30 by writing SSCC USA West PO BOX 668 San Dimas, Ca 91773 or e-mailing ssccwest@cpl.net

For more information or to request a pdf file of the film's press kit with production stills, screen shots, cast bios and photos, director's statements, and film notes, please contact Jennifer Hoge at jenniferhoge@premierimageprod.com
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This story rings true: St. Damien's Big Island church bell discovered

2010-01-02T10:47:00.008Z

(Left) The former Waiapuka bell in St. Stephen Church, Nuuanu. Its plaque reads, “The original St. Stephens Catholic Church Bell.” (Right) This undated Sacred Hearts Congregation photo had the caption “Church of Waiapuka Kohala built by F.D. dismantled by F. Servitius its bell in St. Stephen’s Church Nuuanu Honolulu”

When researching the Catholic Church’s history in Hawaii, I have always taken an interest in old church bells. This a story of one such bell.

On Nov. 6, 1932, Bishop Stephen Alencastre blessed the church of St. Stephen in Nuuanu, Honolulu. During the construction of the church, an old abandoned bell from a dismantled church in Waiapuka on the Big Island was installed in the tower. One can only imagine how faithfully it had served the Hawaiian Catholics of Kohala in those early mission days. Now, once more, it was called upon to do the same for the faithful of Nuuanu.

In 1968, the parishioners with their pastor, Father Joseph Turk, built the present-day St. Stephen’s and, in its modernistic tower, new bells were inserted. The old bell, no longer needed, was put to rest in some inconspicuous area on the church grounds. Abandoned again, it would remain quietly there through the passing years. In the 1990s, a thoughtful parishioner, the late Robert Dong (everyone called him “Uncle Bob”) provided a stock — the harness-mount — for the bell. Some time later, someone decided to bring the venerable object out of the cold into the warmth of the church building. And here, in the back corner of St. Stephen Church, the old bell sits today.

On the morning of Oct. 11, the day Pope Benedict XVI canonized Father Damien in Rome, St. Stephen’s pastor, Father Khanh Pham-Nguyen, asked me to celebrate the parish Mass and talk about Hawaii’s new saint. A few days earlier, I was suddenly struck by this thought: Could there be a connection between our honored saint and the old Kohala bell?

Before going to Molokai, the young Belgian priest had devoted many years of his early ministry in the Kohala-Hamakua region. Could this be the bell that once served Father Damien’s Waiapuka mission in Kohala? A letter written home by Father Damien makes this notion plausible. Writing to his parents on Oct. 12, 1869, while he was serving in Kohala, he mentioned a bell. “At present I have three churches to serve at fifteen miles distance one from another,” he wrote. “The last church I built is a fine-looking building with a nice little tower. I am still waiting for the bell that Auguste (his older brother, Father Pamphile) has so often promised me, but it never comes … As there is no bell yet, we call our people together with a horn.”

This indeed is a “letter of interest,” but it was not a convincing proof for the notion I had in mind. I had to look at the old bell itself for an answer. Old church bells can reveal a lot of things. Years ago I had climbed the rickety wooden stairs in the tower of Our Lady of Peace Cathedral in Honolulu to see what one of Hawaii’s oldest church bells would tell me. On its bronze surface were inscribed in French the words: “My name is Marie Louis Maigret, Bishop of Arathia … 1853.” Since then, I have always referred to this century-and-a-half-year-old metal hulk as the “MAIGRET BELL.” (Louis Maigret was the missionary bishop in Honolulu when the cathedral was built. Since Honolulu was not a diocese at the time, he was named to the titular diocese of “Arathia.”) Now, I made a hurried visit to the Nuuanu parish to examine closely the Kohala bell. The inscription I found was brief. It gave the name of the Paris foundry where the bell was made. But what followed was a most happy revelation! It was the date: “1872” The date 1872 definitely indicated that the bell had served one of Father Damien’s mission churches in Kohala. But more than that, I am convinced that this is the bell mentioned in Damien’s 1869 letter to his parents; the bell he anxiously had expected from his brother Auguste; the bell he planned to install in the “nice little tower” of a church he had built.

The bell must have arrived in Hawaii that year of 1872, much to the joy and satisfaction of the priest and people of Kohala. The following year, God had other plans for Father Damien. On May 10, 1873, he began his new ministry on the island of Molokai. After my discovery, Father Christopher Keahi, superior of the Sacred Hearts Fathers in Hawaii located an old undated picture in an archives photo album of a church with a small bell tower and this caption: “Church of Waiapuka Kohala built by F.D. dismantled by F. Servitius its bell in St. Stephen’s Church Nuuanu, Honolulu.” Father Keahi’s explanatory note said that “F.D.” is Father Damien and “F. Servatius” is Father Servatius Thys, who took down the Waiapuka church in 1932 (the year St. Stephen was built) after it congregation “apparently moved to other sites.”

On the Sunday I offered the Mass at St. Stephen’s, the day Benedict XVI declared Damien a saint, I spoke to the parishioners about their prized possession — St. Damien’s old mission bell. Perhaps no one was happier and more proud than the pastor himself, Father Pham-Nguyen. He assured me that the bell would not remain silent. This “DAMIEN BELL” will continue to ring out in God’s service as it did in the mission days of old.

By Father Louis H. Yim
Island-born Father Yim is a retired pastor, diocesan archivist and historian.

Feeding the Poor is Priest's Mission

2010-01-01T10:44:00.006Z

JOHN SLADEWSKI/The Standard-Times The Rev. Gabriel Healy, SS.CC. of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, founder of Damien's Place food pantry, is the Wareham Man of the Year.
Wareham, Mass: - His dream was to become a missionary serving in foreign lands, but instead he made SouthCoast his mission field and feeding its poor his life's work. For his compassion and devotion to the poor, the Rev. Gabriel Healy, SS.CC. of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, is the 2009 Wareham Man of the Year. Nominations for the award came from the community and members of the newspaper staff. Recipients were selected by a newsroom committee.
Healy said he was born with a "missionary heart." The Dorchester native became aware of his special calling in elementary school when a missionary spoke to his class about foreign missions.
"I was so excited and that feeling has never left me," he said. "Even now as I reflect on 52 years, my heart still beats with the desire to serve God."
In high school, Healy read about the life of Father Damien de Veuster, the Roman Catholic missionary who ministered to lepers on the Hawaiian island of Molokai. "It gave content and depth to that sense of mission and nurtured in me the desire to belong to the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts," he said. "To this congregation I was called, and from this congregation I was almost separated."
In seminary, Healy's studies were interrupted by illness and he went home for surgery. The superior wrote to him urging him to stay home and recover; however, the letter he actually received told him to return. When he arrived, the superior conceded; and he continued his studies. "There was never any doubt in my mind that God's will was reflected in the letter I received, and here I am," Healy said. "This was a deciding point in my vocation, and it made me feel deeply then, as I do now, that there are never any accidents with God."
Following ordination, he was filled with anticipation as he waited for his first missionary assignment, which could take him anywhere in the world. A fellow priest was sent to Japan, and Healy longed to go there. But he learned he was going to teach in California because of his frail health.
Over the years, Healy would serve locally as the congregation's vocation director, assistant novice master, novice master, treasurer, director of development and mission animator, as well as pastor of St. Anthony's Church in Mattapoisett and of Holy Trinity Church in Harwich.
At Holy Trinity, Healy, with the help of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, established The Family Pantry to serve the poor on Cape Cod. It has since been renamed Gabriel's Place in his honor.
In 1992, he opened a second food pantry, Damien's Place, in Wareham, as an outreach of the Sacred Hearts Retreat Center. "The pantries now serve thousands of hungry families," said Father Thomas McElroy, SS.CC., who serves as co-director. "Father Gabe is the person behind the scenes, buying food, begging food, improving the pantry's outreach. ... No one would suspect that this quiet, joy-filled man was the reason for so many hungry people having their needs fulfilled."
An octogenarian, Healy can still be found on Saturday mornings at Damien's Place.
"I love the poor. They need to be loved," he said. "If you believe that what you are doing is God's will, life becomes a series of opportunities — of trying to be or become what God has found in you. Only God looks deep enough, long enough and hard enough to see who we are, then with patience, love and forgiveness guides those who keep his covenant to the promise of a life fulfilled."
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What Causes Leprosy

2009-12-30T22:43:00.000Z

Leprosy is a chronic skin disease caused by bacteria known as “leprae”. Leprosy is also known as Hansen’s Disease, which is named after Dr. Hansen, the person who discovered the leprae bacteria in 1783 but tracing back to the medicinal journal, leprosy has been around since 600B.C. The external symptom of leprosy such as skin lesion is the most common symptom of leprosy. If leprosy is left untreated, it can be very progressive and can cause permanent damage to the skin, nerves, limbs and eyes. However, contrary to urban myth, leprosy does not actually cause body parts to simply fall off.

The main cause of leprosy is when bacteria leprae enter your body through the nose or through the broken skin others who have leprosy. Once the leprae bacteria enters your body, it goes straight to your epidermis because of the high amount of blood, which contains oxygen and nutrients. The leprae bacteria will start breeding and infecting your skin causing leprosy. However, that is not the only cause of leprosy as an untreated syphilis disease could cause leprosy. When untreated, the syphilis virus will be mutated causing the same skin condition as leprosy.

The few symptoms of leprosy consists of redness, darker or lighter spot than skin that look very odd. That part of skin usually have no sensation and when you pinch or touch it, you will not feel anything as the leprae bacteria has killed the nerves beneath the skin. You will also suffer from chronically stuffy nose and many other skin lesions and nodules on the sides of your body.

With modern medical technology, diagnosis and treatment of leprosy is easy and most endemic countries are striving to fully integrate leprosy services into existing general health services. leprosy treatment has been made available by WHO free of charge to all patients worldwide since 1995, and provides a simple yet highly effective cure for all types of leprosy.
Information campaigns about leprosy in high risk areas are crucial so that patients and their families, who were historically ostracized from their communities, are encouraged to come forward and receive treatment. The most effective way of preventing disabilities in leprosy, as well as preventing further transmission of the disease, lies in early diagnosis and treatment with leprosy.
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Bihar priest named man of the year

2009-12-23T21:22:00.004Z

Catholic News, India Dec. 23rd: - A national weekly has named a Catholic priest as its “man of the year,” in recognition of his efforts to restore the life of some 50,000 leprosy patients in Bihar. The Kerala-based “The Week” selected Father Christudas of Bettiah diocese for its 2009 recognition and ran the cover of its December last week edition with his photograph. The announcement “is a great way to celebrate the year for the priests,” Bishop Victor Henry Thakur of Bettiah told UCA News on Dec. 21, reacting to the news.

The 71-year-old priest’s Little Flower Centre is in Sunderpur village in Raxaul town on the India-Nepal border, an area known for large number of colonies for this socially segregated people. The priest began the center in 1981 with about 100 people suffering from leprosy. “He is a one-man army who gave 50,000 lepers and their families a fresh start in life. He gave them treatment, dignity and more importantly the will to live and smile again,” The Week’s cover story said.

The center spread over 8 hectares of land grows wheat and runs a poultry farm that meets 40 percent of its needs. The complex includes a school, hostel, hospital, work center and a village of 200 families — all cured patients. The Week article explains how the son of a liquor vender from Kerala’s Edamaruku village traveled to different places in India in his quest to become a missionary priest before settling in Raxaul. He first joined St. Paul’s Society to become a priest but returned after failing exams. He spent some time in Yercard, Tamil Nadu, with a Brother’s congregation and later joined the Bothers of Missionaries of Charity, before becoming a priest and incardinated in the diocese.

The integration of the leprosy patients and their families in mainstream society is “the sole purpose of my work,” says the priest, who once noticed a leprous patch on his angle but got it cured. The priest expressed people reading reports about his work would change their mindset about “our people.” Bishop Thakur said the recognition has gladdened him because the whole India would come to know about the priest’s “commitment, dedication to the healing ministry to the most disadvantaged.” The prelate also said that Father Christudas is locally known as “Baba” or a revered elder, but “the honor has made him known nationally and internally.”

“The Week” said Bihar’s northern region now has 22 leper colonies, 10 less than when Father Christudas began his center 28 year ago. “And only patients are the older generation,” it said. The priest wants his rehabilitation center to flourish, but is also looking forward to a time when the hospital will have no patients. “Then I will know that my life has been a worthy one,” he told the weekly.
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Leprosy in the Philippines

2009-12-18T14:55:00.000Z

When the National Leprosy Control Program (NLCP) was established in 1986, there were 38,570 registered leprosy patients in the country. That number translated into a Prevalence Rate (PR) of 7.2 per 10,000 Filipinos.
By the end of 1998, with 7,005 registered patients and a PR of 0.90 per 10,000 population, leprosy was no longer considered as a public health problem by both the Department of Health (DOH) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
In 2004, the number was further reduced to 3,149 registered cases and a PR of 0.38 per 10,000 population.
From January 1 to December 31, 2004, a total of 2,120 new cases of leprosy were diagnosed and all were put under treatment with MDT.
The NLCP is under the supervision of the National Center for Disease Prevention and Control (NCDPC) of the DOH headed by Dr. Yolanda Oliveros; and the Infectious Disease Office headed by Dr. Jaime Lagahid. Dr. Leda Hernandez is Chief of the Division that handles leprosy while Dr. Francesca Gajete is the National Program Manager. - DOH Philippines
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Temple-Era DNA Reveals Oldest Case of Leprosy

2009-12-17T15:11:00.000Z

Israel National News: (IsraelNN.com) The DNA of a man buried near Jerusalem's Old City in the first century Common Era reveals the earliest identifiable case of leprosy, according to researchers from Israel and North America. The burial shroud may also disprove the claim that the Shroud of Turin is from first-century Jerusalem.
The burial cave in which the remains were found, which is known as the Tomb of the Shroud, is located in the lower Hinnom Valley and is part of a first-century C.E. cemetery. The shrouded man, whose bones were dated by radiocarbon methods to 1-50 C.E., did not receive the customary secondary burial in an ossuary (small stone container for bones) common at the time. The entrance to the part of the tomb where this individual was buried was completely sealed with plaster.
The Hebrew University's Prof. Mark Spigelman, one of the leading researchers who studied the molecular evidence from the tomb, believes the isolation was due to the fact that the shrouded man suffered from leprosy and died of tuberculosis. The DNA of both diseases was found in his bones.
The excavation also found a clump of the shrouded man's hair, which had been ritually cut prior to his burial. These are both unique discoveries, as explained by Hebrew University spokespeople, because organic remains are hardly ever preserved in the Jerusalem area owing to high humidity levels in the ground.The evidence revealed by the remains indicate that tuberculosis and leprosy may have crossed social boundaries in the first-century C.E. Jerusalem. A number of clues - the size of the tomb, its location alongside a High Priest, the type of textiles used as shroud wrappings, and the clean state of the man's hair - suggest that the shrouded individual was a fairly affluent member of society in Jerusalem or a priest himself. Furthermore, according to Prof. Shimon Gibson of Hebrew University, the tomb would have faced directly toward the Jewish Temple of the time.
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
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Actor Terence Knapp will Present 'Life and Legacy of Father Damien'

2009-12-10T10:10:00.003Z

Maui News: Dec. 9th: - In commemoration of the recent canonization of Father Damien De Veuster to sainthood, award-winning actor and scholar Terence Knapp will present "The Life and Legacy of Father Damien" at Kaimuki Public Library on Sunday, December 20 at 2 p.m. The free program will be conducted in the Adult Reading Room.

Of all the parts the veteran actor has played, Knapp identifies most with Father Damien. His role in "Damien," a dramatic monologue by Aldyth Morris, has defined the actor ever since he first presented it at Kennedy Theatre in 1976. Knapp will share information and his insights about Father Damien of Molokai, who was acknowledged by Pope Benedict XVI on October 11, 2009 at the Vatican as Hawaii's first saint.

The one-hour program is suitable for all ages. Contact the library two weeks in advance if a sign language interpreter or other special accommodation is needed. Kaimuki Public Library is located at 1041 Koko Head Avenue, corner of Koko Head and Harding Avenues. For more information, please call the Library at 733-8422.
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Newly Named Saint Celebrated in Park

2009-12-02T08:22:00.001Z

National Parks Gallery Tuesday, Dec 1, 2009: - Saturday, November 7th, marked the formal close of months of celebratory activities surrounding the sainthood of Joseph Damien de Veuster at the Vatican in Rome on October 11th. In stunning contrast to the regal setting of the holy city, filled with ancient architectural and artistic wonders, Kalaupapa’s November 7th celebration was nestled within a backdrop of Molokai’s unparalleled natural splendor and steeped in a profound sense of place, history and aloha, bringing this long-awaited commemoration full circle back to the place where it all began.

“Today is about the Kalaupapa patient residents, and about helping our kupuna [elders] and their invited guests honor Saint Damien’s legacy as a ‘Servant of God and Servant of Humanity,’” explained superintendent Steve Prokop. Arriving by charter plane and via the historic Kalaupapa Pali (cliff) Trail, visitors began their descent onto Moloka`i’s renowned north shore peninsula with the rising sun. This remote Kalaupapa Peninsula is the place where Damien’s work first began attracting world-wide attention to the plight of local islanders forced into exile after having contracting leprosy (Hansen’s disease).

Prior to an outdoor mass on the historic St. Philomena Church grounds, visitors enjoyed refreshments and interpretive displays on recent preservation work completed on St. Philomena Church. Bishop Larry Silva and clergy presided over the service, which included contributions from residents Pauline Chow and Gloria Marks, St. John’s Vianney Choir and prominent leaders of Kalaupapa’s other religious and secular organizations.

Na Wahine o Kalawao delivered a moving hula performance to the piece entitled “Saint Damien” while the winds stirred suddenly and the crowd was showered with a gentle “Hawaiian blessing”. Mass was followed by a good old fashioned lu`au feast, live music and educational exhibits on Saint Damien and resident life at Kalaupapa. Sharing words on this joyful commemoration, Kalaupapa resident Kay Costales recited, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad.”
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PAPAL MASS WITH INTERNATIONAL THEOLOGICAL COMMISSION

2009-12-01T23:29:00.002Z

VATICAN CITY, 1 DEC 2009 (VIS) - Early this morning Benedict XVI celebrated Mass in the Pauline Chapel of the Vatican Apostolic Palace, with members of the International Theological Commission. In his homily the Pope described the figure of the true theologian, who does not succumb to the temptation of using the measure of his own intelligence to fathom the mystery of God. In the study of Holy Scripture over the last two hundred years, he said, "there have been great specialists and ... masters of the faith who have penetrated into the details ... of the history of salvation. But they were unable to see the mystery in itself, the central nucleus: that Christ truly was the Son of God". Yet the history of the Church, the Holy Father went on, contains a long list of men and women who were capable of humility and of reaching the truth. Among these he mentioned St. Therese of Lisieux and St. Damian de Veuster, "little people who were also wise", models from which to draw inspiration because "they were touched in the depths of their heart". "Following His Resurrection the Lord touched the heart of Saul on the road to Damascus", the Pope concluded, "Saul, who was one of the wise who could not see. ... He became blind and thus truly came to see. The great man becomes a small man and so sees the ... wisdom of God, ... which is greater than all human wisdom".
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New Coin Wows Hawaii

2009-12-01T00:24:00.003Z

World Coin News Nov. 24th: It is unusual to see a coin show with lines at the door where coin collectors are in the minority. Yet over the course of three days from Oct. 30-Nov. 1 at the Hawaii State Numismatic Association’s annual convention, this was sometimes the norm, according to a report from The Coin & Currency Institute, Inc. To the surprise of many in attendance, the hubbub was caused by a silver 20-euro coin from Belgium with such a uniquely Hawaiian twist that it made headlines in newspaper, television, radio and online reports.

The coin was issued by Belgium to commemorate the canonization of Father Damien, now known as St. Damien of Molokai, by Pope Benedict XVI on Oct. 11. Although he was born in Belgium, St. Damien, also known as the “leper priest,” is as revered in Hawaii as in his native land. His work of caring for thousands of sick people at the Kalawao settlement on Molokai made him a Hawaiian legend. He died in 1889 of Hansen’s disease (leprosy) while giving this care.

The coin, which was to arrive in Honolulu in time for the show, was not delivered until Nov. 2 due to a delay in Customs processing. While that caused some disappointment, buyers were undeterred, according to the report. When Hawaii’s largest newspaper, the Honolulu Advertiser ran a headline saying “Coin Show, No Show,” in its Nov. 1 issue, it made the point that, “St. Damien’s foot is fleeter than international mail service” – a reference to the fact that this was “nearly three weeks after Bishop Larry Silva hand-delivered a relic of Damien’s heel back to Hawaii.”

The result of the story was that it “attracted even more folks,” said Vince Vento of Alii Coin & Currency, LLC, who is distributing the coin in Hawaii for the Royal Belgian Mint, By the close of the show Sunday, Vento had pages of reservations for the coins – so many that even after limiting buyers to just one coin per person, the initial shipment of several hundred was oversold and the Royal Belgian Mint was preparing a second shipment. Coin and paper money dealer Jim Simek said of the crowds that, “there were times where 20 to 30 people were lined up at Vento’s table,” and that it was “unlike anything I’ve seen at a coin show in a long time for a non-American coin.”

Todd Kuwaye, a local collector of Morgan dollars and U.S. gold coins, would have gone to the Honolulu show anyway but said that he went early, “just to get the coin.” He said it was “the first European coin I ever bought.” The coin is 37 mm in diameter and contains 22.85 grams of sterling silver. It is struck in mirror-finish proof quality. Mintage is limited to just 15,000 coins worldwide and 10 percent of the coins available for export have already been sold in Hawaii. Issue price is U.S. $75, or 49 euros. The Finance Ministry of Belgium is donating the net profits from the sale of the coin to the Damien Actie (Action), a non-governmental organization established in 1964 that is mainly concerned with people suffering from Hansen’s disease and tuberculosis.

For more information, contact North American distributor The Coin & Currency Institute, Inc. by mail at P.O. Box 1057, Clifton, NJ 07014; by phone at (800) 421-1866; by fax at (973) 471-1441; or by e-mail at mail@coin-currency.com. Shipping and handling is $5.50 per order. Coins are available in Hawaii from Alii Coin & Currency. The company can be reached by phone at (808) 236-2646. The Royal Belgian Mint may be contacted by e-mail at mrb.kmb@minfin.fed.be
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No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Mozlink’ for any or all of the articles/images placed here. The placing of an article does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
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Over 134,000 infected with leprosy in 2008-09

2009-11-25T23:31:00.004Z

New Delhi, India: Nov. 24th: There were over 134,000 new leprosy infections in 2008-09 but the number is slowly decreasing in India, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said in the Rajya Sabha Tuesday.

"Leprosy related cases are not rising in the country. On the contrary, the reported cases are declining over the years," Azad said adding that his ministry has taken several steps to reduce the burden of this ailment. According to health ministry data, 260,000 leprosy cases were reported in the country during 2004-05. The year after the cases sharply dropped to 161,457 but there after the decline is relatively slow. While 139,252 cases were reported in 2006-07, in 2007-08, the number of new infections was 137,685.

In the last financial year (2008-09), 134,181 new people were infected by the disease which causes deformity in limbs and renders one handicapped. The minister said that under the National Leprosy Eradication Programme, several steps have been taken to treat and rehabilitate these patients. He said all primary health care centres and government dispensaries have been asked to provide medicine free of cost to them.

"(Government is) providing funds for non-constructive surgery services to leprosy affected persons free of cost for disability correction," Azad added.

Medical Blog: December 1st: - On 25 January 2010, an appeal will be made to the world to end the stigma which blights the lives of millions of people affected by leprosy. Launching from Mumbai in India, a country where the leprosy burden is the largest in the world and where 134,000 new cases of the disease were detected last year, the Global Appeal 2010 will be endorsed by figures from the corporate world willing to demonstrate their concern for this denial of human rights.
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Oct. 10th - Basilica sopra Minerva

2009-11-23T01:18:00.005Z

On Oct 10th, the evening before the Canosation of Fr. Damien, his religious family and the pilgrims who had travelled to Rome, came together for a Prayer/Adoraton Service. The video shows highlights of the service. For the best Internet Blog on St. Damien see www.leperpriest.blogspot.com

Oct. 12th - Damien Canonisation - Basilica of St John Lateran

2009-11-08T20:32:00.007Z

On Monday Oct. 12th. the day following the Canonisation of Fr. Damien de Veuster in Rome, the Damien pilgrims gathered at the Bascilica of St. John Lateran for a Mass of Thanksgiving led by Cardinal Danniels of Malines/Brussells.

Inspirational Video

2009-11-05T08:44:00.009Z

Two clips from this new inspiritional video using the words of Damien and reflecting on what motivated Damien in giving of himself for the sake of his lepers.

The 46 min video is available at a cost of $30/€21 from eamonmoz@gmail.com

Louvain Celebrations

2009-11-04T22:37:00.008Z

Louvain, Belgium October 17th. - With the announcement of the date of Damien's canonization we began to organize the celebration of this great event in the city of Louvain. At the beginning, the idea began to circulate of the Damien Today project. The announcement of the Damien Year was one of the first initiatives. Elsewhere, the dean’s office in Louvain and the City council, also started talking about it. Along the way the government of the Flemish province of Brabant joined in as well. There were different dates and ideas, but in a joint meeting between the three parties, it was agreed that there would be a single celebration on October 17th. For the Congregation this date was ideal because brothers and sisters who were in Europe on the occasion of the canonization could be present. Meetings were arranged, everything was arrnged to the last detail, e-mails from the dean’s office did not stop arriving. Plan B was talked about in case of rain. The city government was fully at the disposal of the organizers of the celebration. The preparation was so thorough that nothing could go wrong.
The city was decked out in the days before the celebration with flags and banners with the phrase: DAMIAN INSPIRES. Photos of Damian, particularly those relating to his remains being brought to Belgium were exhibited at strategic points. Louvain became DAMIAN CITY.
The 17th arrived. Movement was already felt from days before in the Damien Centre with the arrival of vestments for the celebrants, about 80 including 30 Picpus Fathers and international guests. Sometimes we looked with some concern at the sky. A little rain and a cloud make us consider Plan B. But in the end the weather was nice, then came the event.
With everything ready at half past four in the afternoon the procession started to take us from the Damien Center to the church of San Pedro, in the heart of Louvain. A large photo of Damian was carried on the shoulders of a group of scouts, two brass bands, a group carried the Tremolo flags, a group from French Polynesia, and a long line of priests, among others, formed the procession that was intended to recall the journey that the remains of Damian took in Louvain in 1936. The Vicar General of Malines-Brussels Archdiocese presided over the celebration, accompanied by the Superior General of the Congregation and the Dean of Louvain.
Once in the church of St. Peter, full to the brim, the first part of the celebration began, a liturgy of the word and the explanation of why we were there: in 1936, Damien's body spent the night in that church, where tribute was made before being transferred to the Church of the Picpus Fathers. The procession resumed its journey, going through the streets of Brussels, towards the church of St. James, where there is a statue dedicated to Fr. Damian, the first in Belgium. There the mayor of the city paid tribute to Damien, apologizing because maybe it was not Damian's will to be away from his brothers and sisters in Molokai, but the fact of having Damian in the city, reminded the mayor, is a wakeup call for us to remember and live the values that he lived, especially tolerance and giving to the marginalized. Some children also read their stories and impressions about Damian.
After the wreath was placed, the procession moved on again, in the direction of Damien Square, opposite the chapel of San Antonio, Church of the Picpus Fathers in Louvain, where Damien's tomb is. Along the way, perhaps it was not the same crowd as in 1936, but the faces present in the audience were very diverse and also their reactions. At the entrance to the Square, the priests went to a nearby parking lot to make way for the people who came behind the group, far more than expected.
At seven o'clock in the afternoon the third part of the celebration began. A word of welcome by Father Francis Gorissen, provincial of the Picpus Fathers in Flanders, put the celebration in context: the church in this square witnessed the entry of young Joseph De Veuster to the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts in 1859. He must have prayed in it many times. And from this place brother Damian left for the missions in the Sandwich Islands in 1863, stopping in Paris and Bremen. At the celebration, excerpts of letters from Damien were read in French, Netherlands and English, languages in which he communicated with his superiors, his family and friends. A trumpet, a hammer, a bottle of medicine, a cross and a coat reminded us how Damien gave back lost joy, built houses and coffins, healed the sick, spoke of God's love for the small and unprotected and was a sign of welcome for the lepers of Molokai. As a gesture of solidarity, the collection of the celebration was given for a project of the SS.CC. sisters in Mozambique that targets vulnerable people affected by AIDS. Despite the intense cold, more than 2000 people stayed until the final conclusion. The Superior-General thanked the city and the local church for the celebration; He did this in Spanish with the efficient translation of Frits Gorissen. Subsequently, the Superior General, gave her thanks as well. A word from them in Flemish would not have been a bad thing.
Then everyone was invited to go to visit the final resting place of St. Joseph Damien De Veuster, the official name of Father Damien for us all. A small reception at City Hall ended the day.
Juan Carlos Tinjaca, ss.cc.
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