Holy Ghost Church, Maui

We have seen how, in the latter part of the 19th century, grand edifices for Catholic worship were being erected in New York. But, at the same time, on “the far side of the world” in Hawaii much more modest but equally impressive churches were being built. For Hawaii, like the Canadian maritime provinces, is a small treasury of church architecture – executed primarily in wood.

The Church of Maria Lanakila (= “Our Lady of Victory”) is the main church of Lahaina, Maui. The parish was founded in 1846 but the present church dates to 1873. It has been restored several times since then but the airy open architecture of the interior has been preserved.

(Above) It may interest our readers to know that the Traditional Mass is regularly celebrated at Maria Lanakila and at Paia also on Maui (see below) – alas, not during the week we visited! SEE the website of the Maui Latin Mass organization. (the organization’s Facebook page, however, seems to indicate they are currently – hopefully temporarily – down to one mass at Maria Lanakila on the first Sunday of the month.)

The stations of the cross have local scenes in the background—here the highest mountain on Maui, Mt. Haleakala.

(Above) Cemetery of Maria Lanakila Church, Lahaina. This atmospheric cemetery is perhaps more impressive than the church today. (Below) The grave of a daughter of a Hawaiian chief.

Above: the most unusual octagonal Holy Ghost Church, Waiakola, Maui. It was built in 1894-95 by a German missionary priest, Fr. James Beissel, for his Portuguese congregation. Father Beissel was both architect and contractor. The altar and stations of the cross – also from the 1890’s – are the work of the famous artist and woodcarver Ferdinand Stuflesser of the Tirol (then in Austria). His firm is still in existence! They were brought around the coast of Africa to Hawaii by ship and to the church by oxcart.

Holy Ghost Church, Maui

(Above) The centralized plan of this church is most unusual in the Western Church.

(Above and Below) This altar would seem more at home in Germany than Hawaii! Today it is a revered local treasure.

(Above) The Portuguese inscriptions on the Stations of the Cross. At this time large numbers of Portuguese immigrants from Madeira and the Azores were coming to Hawaii. Along with other Catholic immigrants they greatly increased the presence of the Church in the islands.

Below are two simple churches built by St. Damien on the island of Molokai. The leper colony, where St. Damien was assigned, was on a peninsula isolated from the rest of the island by a steep cliff. Aside from his demanding work with lepers, Fr. Damien found time to leave the colony to minister to Catholics on the rest of the island, where he built four churches. And he literally built them – he was skilled as a carpenter.

(Above and below), St. Joseph Church, built by St. Damien in 1876

(Above and below), Our Lady of Sorrows Church, built by St. Damien in 1874, rebuilt in 1966.

(Above and below) although the damaged church had to be rebuilt in the 1960’s, much of the original interior and its decorations remain. A plaster statue (such as Catholics of the 20th century were taught to despise) was in 1874 a very welcome guest if it had to be transported from Europe halfway around the globe. Here the Madonna of Lourdes is adorned with a lei and St Joseph with a necklace of shells.

(Below) The Stations of the cross – a series of prints we were told were donated to this church around Fr. Damien’s time by admirers of his work.

On the “Big Island” of Hawaii, Father John Berchmans Velghe, who, like Father Damien, was Belgian and a priest of the “Picpus Fathers” (the Society of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary), built in 1899 the tiny Victorian church of St.Benedict. He himself painted an extraordinary cycle of paintings in the years 1900-04 covering the entire church. For his congregation – at that time Hawaiian – Father Velghe transformed the ceiling of the nave into a forest and the sanctuary into a vast cathedral ambulatory. Yet his most interesting works are the paintings on the walls of the nave. For there, in stark contrast to today’s “soft” pastoral approach, Father Velghe created unusual, dramatic or ecstatic images: Belshazzar’s feast, St. Francis receiving the Stigmata, Eve weeping over the dead Abel, the soul at the moment of death and, finally, a horrifying if sadly damaged rendering of hell. The Hawaiian inscriptions on the columns accord well with the striking pictures.

St Benedict’s Church enjoys a location of unmatched splendor high above Kealakekua bay.

A Lourdes Madonna bedecked with leis before the church.

(above) The soul at the moment of death; (below) Belshazzar, Daniel and the handwriting on the wall.

Great care has been taken in recent years to restore these churches. I hear that even the cathedral of Honolulu, subject of disastrous renovations after the Council – and not very professional ones before it – is also the object of grand renovation plan; one of the objectives being to restore it to how it would have looked in the 19th century – Fr. Damien’s time. It seems quite a change for a diocese which had a distinctly progressive reputation! And quite a contrast to New York where the artistic and historical legacy continues to be obliterated.

(Above) Lourdes Grotto made of coral – Kona, island of Hawaii.

On Saturday, September 12, 2015 at 6:00 PM, there will be a Traditional Latin Sung Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite at St. John the Baptist Church (210 West 31st Street and 7th avenue). This Mass will be the Votive Mass of the Holy Cross, for the Holy Cross is the new Co -Patron of the newly merged parish, two churches (St. John the Baptist and Holy Cross) jointly administered by the Capuchin Franciscan Friars. This is the third annual Mass in honor of the Holy Cross sponsored by The Third Friday Reparation to the Most Precious Blood prayer group and other Benefactors. A reception follows this Mass.

Saint Mary Church in Greenwich, CT will celebrate a Low Mass on Saturday, Aug 22 at 11 am in the Lower Church for the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Parishioners packed St. Mary’s Church, Norwalk for a Solemn Mass and benediction yesterday evening for the Feast of the Assumption.  Afterwards at an Italian Festa on the lawn and in the church hall, diners were entertained by Father Cipolla singing “That’s Amore.”

This Saturday, August 15, is the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  The following churches will be offering the traditional Mass.

Connecticut

St. Mary Church, Norwalk, CT, Solemn Mass, 5 pm.

St. Stanislaus Church, New Haven, CT, 9 am.

New York

Church of the Holy Innocents, New York,   Solemn Mass at 1:00 PM celebrated by Msgr. Joseph Ambrosio (from Newark, NJ).  “This year, the Feast of the Assumption marks our parish’s Fifth Anniversary of the uninterrupted daily celebration of the Latin Mass at the same High Altar that was solemnly and triumphantly consecrated in 1901. At the end of the Mass, there will be Benediction of the Bl. Sacrament and the solemn Te Deum will be festively chanted.  Holy cards with the image of Our Lady being assumed into Heaven will also be distributed to the faithful.  After Mass and Benediction, there will be a reception in the parish hall.”

Holy Name of Jesus Church, Brooklyn,  12 noon class about the traditional Mass, 1 pm low mass with organ

Immaculate Conception, Sleepy Hollow, NY, low mass, 12 noon.

New Jersey

St Anthony, Jersey City, 11 am

St. Catherine Laboure, 110 Bray Avenue, Middletown NJ,  9:15AM

Our Lady of Fatima, Pequannock, NJ, 7 am, 9 am, 11 am

St. Anthony Oratory, West Orange, NJ, 7:30 am and 9 am.

The stained glass window of Our Lady appears in the Basilica of St. John the Evangelist in Stamford, CT

St. Fidelis Catholic Church, 123-06 14th Avenue, College Point, NY, offers the traditional Mass every 1st and 3rd Friday of the month at 7:15 am.  The next Masses are August 21, September 4 and 18.

Saint Mary in Greenwich will celebrate a Solemn High Mass on Wednesday, Aug 5th at 7:30 PM for the Feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome.

The Celebration of the Traditional Latin Votive Sung Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (Missale Romanum 1962 of Pope St. John XXIII) at Midnight in honor of the Patron of the Parish, Our Lady of Peace.

Celebrant and Homilist: Rev. Christopher Salvatori SAC

Ordinary: Missa de Angelis VIII
Propers: Missa Salve Sancte Parens
Processional: SICILIAN MARINERS
Offertory: SALVE REGINA COELITUM
Communion: SALVE MATER MISERICORDIAE
Meditation: PASSION CHORALE
Marian Antiphon: Salve Regina
Recessional: LOURDES HYMN

With thanks to the Pastor, Fr. Daly, the Parishioners, the Coordinators, the Choir, the Ushers, the Seminarians, Altar Servers and all Volunteers.

Thanks to Teddy Barboza Thongratnachat for this report. Photographs courtesy of Ms. Michelle Palmieri.

There will be a Traditional Latin Sung Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite at Our Lady of Peace Church in Manhattan on Thursday, July 30 at 11:30 P.M.