Visiting Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet stand as they are introduced at the Mass celebrating the 75th anniversary of the order in Hawaii. Standing from left, Sister Anna Bridget Kearns, Sister Helen Janssen and Sister Karen Kennelly. (HCH photo | Patrick Downes)
“Yes, we are getting old,” smiled Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet Francine Costello addressing several hundred gathered in the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa Aug. 24 for the Mass celebrating the 75th anniversary of the arrival of her religious order to Hawaii.
But she had preceded that admission with the affirmation: “We are undaunted by the limitation of age and physical condition.”
Indeed, one cannot contribute three quarters of a century of service without earning a few marks of maturity.
“It is truly a jubilee day for all of us,” she said.
Bishop Larry Silva, who celebrated the Mass, compared the sisters’ 75 years of educational and social ministry in Hawaii to a “wonderful patchwork quilt that has wrapped our community with the love of Christ.”
“They have become the slaves of Christ so that they could release others from ignorance, poverty and hopelessness,” he said.
“We honor these Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet with all our hearts,” he said.
In addition to the 25 local Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet filling the front pews of the co-cathedral were about 15 others from the Mainland with ties to Hawaii, including Sister Francine, a local sister now on the congregation’s general leadership council.
The rest of the church was filled with friends, associates, family members and former students bearing leis, gifts and well-wishes.
On Aug. 24, 1938, nine Sisters of St. Joseph arrived in Honolulu on the S.S. Lurline to serve as the faculty of St. Theresa School in Kalihi. Over the years, 200 more would follow, including a healthy number of local women, to staff schools and parish catechetical efforts and work in social ministries on Oahu, Kauai and Maui.