Sacred Hearts Father James C.P. Anguay, whose service to his religious community included parish work, the formation of novices and the pioneering of a mission in the Cook Islands, died unexpectedly on Sept. 20 in Honolulu. He was a priest for 42 years and 70 years old.
Father Anguay’s final assignment was as chaplain of Malia O Ka Malu, a senior residence for Sacred Hearts Sisters in Kaimuki where he celebrated daily Mass and heard confessions, said Sacred Hearts Sister Helene Wood, superior of the Malia O Ka Malu community. “He was always very accommodating,” she said.
“Father James was really a gentle person,” she said. “He was a compassionate confessor and a very devoted priest. He was really a gift to us.”
Father Anguay’s funeral is Oct. 15 at St. Patrick Church in Kaimuki. Visitation is 9:30-10:15 a.m., followed by Mass at 10:30 a.m. celebrated by Bishop Larry Silva. Burial is at 1 p.m. at Valley of the Temples Memorial Park.
Father Anguay was born of Filipino, Chinese and Spanish ethnicity to James and Rosalie Augustin Anguay, on July 19, 1944, at Camp Cooke, now called Vandenberg Air Force Base, near the city of Lompoc, California.
Raised in Hawaii, he attended high school at Sacred Hearts Seminary in Hauula, graduating in 1962. He continued on to St. Mary’s College in Minnesota and Washington Theological Coalition in Silver Springs, Maryland.
He also earned advanced degrees from Catholic University in Washington and Chicago Theological Seminary in Chicago.
Honolulu Bishop John J. Scanlan ordained Father Anguay on June 9, 1972, at St. Joseph Church in Waipahu.
His first assignment was as associate pastor of Christ the King Parish in Kahului, Maui, from 1973 to 1977.
Father Anguay then served as formation director for the Sacred Hearts Community at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago until 1982 when he was appointed pastor of Immaculate Conception Church in Lihue.
Sharon Chiarucci, the former director of the Diocesan Office for Parish Resources, was in the pews when the young Father Anguay was first introduced to the Lihue congregation.
“Within a year, he really mobilized that parish,” Chiarucci said in a recent interview. “He had over a hundred people involved in ministry.”
The new pastor introduced a “renewal” program designed to rejuvenate parish life. “It set that parish on fire,” she said.
While in Chicago, Father Anguay was also the cross-cultural communication supervisor for Shalom Ministries from 1980 to 1982.
The Sacred Hearts priest also served as vicar of the Kauai Vicariate and spiritual director for the Filipino Catholic Club and Engaged Encounter.
In 1987, at age 42, Father Anguay was sent with Sacred Hearts Father Lane Akiona to a newly established mission in the Cook Islands, an archipelago of 15 small islands approximately 2,800 miles south of Hawaii. He served there for about 10 years.
Following the Cook Islands assignment, Father Anguay served his Sacred Hearts Congregation as novice master in the Philippines.
Upon his return to Hawaii, he worked at Christ the King Parish in Kahului and Immaculate Conception in Lihue.
Several years ago he suffered a serious auto accident which required many months of recovery at Sacred Hearts Center in Kaneohe.
In 2012, Father Anguay was assigned as chaplain of Malia O Ka Malu while residing at nearby St. Patrick Monastery.
According to Sister Helene, the auto accident had left Father Anguay blind in one eye and using a cane, but otherwise fine.
Sister Helene praised the priest’s homilies. “He did his homework” when it came to preaching, “he did his research and give us the best interpretation of the Scripture he could,” she said.
On the morning of Sept 20, Father Anguay called Sister Helene Wood to say that he had had a sleepless night and was not feeling well and asked to be excused from celebrating morning Mass. Sister Helene agreed. Later that day she got a call from the monastery that Father Anguay had died.
In addition to his Sacred Hearts congregational family, Father Anguay is survived by brothers John, Francisco and Haz, sisters Riri Samson and Marilyn Lazear, and nieces and nephews.