Sister of St. Francis Florence Remata
If the Japanese haiku poet Matsuo Basho were alive, he might write that even the waterfalls of Kauai — of Hanakapiai along the Na Pali Coast; to Wailua, north of Lihue; to the Kalalau Valley in Waimea — might be crying. They had witnessed the birth of five Kauai girls who became Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities. Following seasons of island growth, one of the sisters returned to Kauai in ministry and others followed.
But now it’s time to give thanks as the first Franciscan to go home is the last one to say farewell.
In 1995, Sister Florence Remata asked to return to the Garden Island to care for her 86-year-old mother. While there, she served for 17 years at Immaculate Conception Church in Lihue as the director of religious education and later as a pastoral associate.
“I love ministry on Kauai,” she said.
“To be back on my home island and serving the people of Hawaii is close to my heart,” Sister Florence said. “The people of Kauai are church-oriented and value priests and religious.”
Friends nicknamed her “The Mayor of Kauai” for her friendliness and outreach. She was loved and supported by the lay Franciscan Associates, parishioners, townspeople and her family.
The Sisters of St. Francis expanded their presence on Kauai in 1997 when they opened the island’s first Catholic high school. Fellow Franciscan Sisters Lina Pagdilao and Frances Cabrini Morishige joined Sister Florence in this new endeavor, a satellite of the long-established St. Francis School in Manoa on Oahu. Unfortunately, St. Francis School, Lihue, only lasted four years.
Sister Florence continued her catechetical and pastoral work, much of the time with a companion Franciscan. But for the past few years she has been on her own.
“It is a challenge living alone outside of the support of a religious community,” she said.
Although she felt very much supported by the Franciscan Associates, parishioners and her family, it’s different from living a regular community life with other religious.
Her original reason for going to Kauai ended last June when her mother died at the age of 103.
Sister Florence left the island on Jan. 8. She will spend the first half of this year on Oahu making the transition back into community living. She has requested to then move to the motherhouse, St. Anthony’s Convent in Syracuse, for a year to reconnect with her order and explore her next ministerial options.
But she does not leave Kauai void of the spirit of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities. It continues with the Franciscan Associates and St. Francis Healthcare System’s home care program which began in Lihue in 1977.
Since St. Marianne Cope’s arrival in the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1883, 71 island women have followed her footsteps into the religious life. They number 14 from the Big Island, eight from Maui, two from Molokai, 42 from Oahu and five from Kauai. On all these islands they have served unreservedly, meeting the mission with vision and greatness of charity.
In the words of Franciscan Sister Mother Carmela Prandoni in the 1960 chronicle “Greater Love”: “If one would seek to know why such signal blessings accompanied the Sisters in their work in Hawaii through the years, the answer unreservedly would be — the complete sacrifice of the first group of Sisters who in love and charity for their stricken brethren, left homeland and kindred that they might minister to the physical and spiritual needs of [those with leprosy].”
This work has extended well and continues even far beyond the waterfalls of Hawaii.
Dominican Sister Malia Dominica Wong reports on the activities of religious orders in Hawaii for the Hawaii Catholic Herald.
