A view of the Kalaupapa peninsula from the top of the switchback trail that leads down the cliff to the settlement. (HCH file photo)
Shortly after St. Damien made his historic first step onto the shore of Kalaupapa on May 10, 1873, and assessed the situation, he informed his superior, Bishop Louis Maigret, that the banished community of Hawaii’s Hansen’s disease patients to which he had been temporarily assigned needed a permanent resident priest. There has been one ever since.
Today, as the settlement anticipates a future without patients, Bishop Larry Silva fully expects a Catholic priest will remain there “into the foreseeable future.”
St. Elizabeth Chapel stands on the grounds of Bishop Home, the former residence of Kalaupapa female residents and St. Marianne Cope. The chapel is used by the Sisters of St. Francis who reside there today. (HCH file photo)
He expressed that thought and others in a June 3 letter to the National Park Service which is drafting a management plan for the future of Kalaupapa National Historical Park. The park encompasses the isolated community created for and by the patients with Hansen’s disease, or leprosy, at a time when the once dreaded illness meant compulsory quarantine for life.
Still home for fewer than 20 patients, most in their 80s, it is also an historic place, a spiritual pilgrimage destination, an archeological site, a nature preserve and a graveyard for 8,000 previous residents. It is also where St. Damien and St. Marianne Cope, a Sister of St. Francis from Syracuse, N.Y., labored and died.
Anticipating a time when there will be no more patients, the National Park Service, which has managed the Kalaupapa peninsula since 1980, started a planning process in 2009, asking for suggestions and ideas from special interest groups and the public at large through meetings, workshops and other means.
According to the park service, the purpose of the project “is to articulate a vision and overall management philosophy” as a guide for park managers for the next 15-20 years.
The result is a 444-page General Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement which offers strategies for “resource protection and preservation, education and interpretation, visitor use and facilities, land protection and boundaries, and long-term operations and management.”
The park service hopes to approve and implement the plan next year.
The document offers a choice of four alternatives for the future management of the historical park.
The alternatives range from keeping the place operating as it is now, with limited access and resources for outsiders and visitors, to arrangements with looser restrictions on visitor numbers and overnight stays, and more educational opportunities and freedom to explore parts of the peninsula.
The bishop’s letter was a response to the park service’s request for public comment on the plan.
“It is a massive document, and I appreciate all the work that has gone into it, all the information it provides, and all the analyses of the issues,” Bishop Silva wrote.
“I especially appreciate the frequent and forthright references to the sacredness of the place, its mana, its spirit and, as the law provides, the need to preserve and interpret it for the education and inspiration of present and future generations,” he said.
The bishop preferred “Alternative C,” which is also the National Park Service’s favored option. Alternative C relaxes some visitor restrictions, including the following recommendations:
- Allowing visitors under the age of 16, with the approval of resident patients and the Department of Health.
- Establishing an entry pass system and visitor orientation.
- Allowing visitors to go unescorted to Kalawao and other places.
- Raising the 100-per-day visitor limit.
- Allowing overnight use by visiting groups, specifically those on retreat.
Alternative C would also offer more “stewardship activities and hands-on learning opportunities” that contribute to the preservation, rehabilitation and selective restoration of park resources.
The bishop also suggested that the management plan “specifically provide that the existing rectories for the Catholic, Protestant and Mormon Churches continue to be made available to the respective churches so that ministers of religion, whether full or part-time, will have housing from which to serve residents and visitors alike.”
“We fully expect to have a resident priest there into the foreseeable future,” the bishop added.
Even after the patients have gone, the park service would have 40-60 resident workers. St. Francis Parish would continue to serve Catholic federal and state workers and the flow of pilgrims who come to see where St. Damien and St. Marianne served. It would remain the smallest, most isolated, most distinctive and most famous parish in the diocese.
The Catholic Church owns Kalaupapa’s St. Francis Church, its parish hall and its mission, St. Philomena in Kalawao, and St. Elizabeth Chapel used by the Sisters of St. Francis. But it does not own the land under these structures. The rectory is owned by the State Department of Health.
The church does have a cooperative agreement with the National Park Service which “agrees to assist with the maintenance and operation” of the church, mission and chapel.
Kalaupapa National Historical Park encompasses 8,725 acres of land and 2,000 acres of water. It has been designated as a National Historic Landmark and National Natural Landmark containing about 250 historic buildings and structures. It is also a State of Hawaii natural area reserve, forest reserve and seabird sanctuary.
In 1866, until 1969, it served as a place of segregation for those with Hansen’s disease, giving it its primary identity today. Before that, Hawaiians lived there for more than 900 years, leaving a rich archeological legacy.
Created by the outflow of lava from a now-dead volcano at the base of Molokai’s rugged northern sea cliffs, the peninsula is also a place of stunning natural beauty.
The National Park Service owns only 23 acres of the park’s land, a tiny fraction, an unusual arrangement compared to most other national parks. Most of the land is owned by the State of Hawaii and Hawaiian Home Lands. The park also maintains 20-year cooperative agreements with the Catholic Church and the United Church of Christ.
Kalaupapa is not a part of Maui County like the rest of Molokai, but is its own Kalawao County, a jurisdiction designed specifically for the management of the place as a residential medical facility. It is governed by the director of the State Department of Health.
