The original pioneers: The first Maryknoll Sisters in Hawaii gather outside of Sacred Heart Church, Punahou, for a photo. From left, Sisters Immaculata, Matthias, Adrienne, Gregory, Alphonsa, Berchmans, Veronica, Piety, Tarcisius and Robert.
By Patrick Downes Hawaii Catholic Herald
The Maryknoll Sisters this month mark their 90th anniversary in Hawaii. In their near century of labor in the Islands, their pioneering contributions in the areas of education, social work and peace and justice have been incalculable. The sisters will celebrate their milestone at a thanksgiving Eucharist liturgy, 10:30 a.m., Oct. 7, in the Maryknoll School Community Hall in Honolulu.
The first Maryknoll Sisters, a group of 10, came to Hawaii on Sept. 5, 1927, at the invitation of Bishop Stephen Alencastre to teach in the Islands’ parochial schools.
The Hawaii mission already had “private” Catholic schools run by the Sacred Hearts Sisters and the Marianist Brothers, but the bishop wanted parish schools.
Six of the new arrivals opened Maryknoll School, the parish school for Sacred Heart Church, Punahou, which earlier that year had been given to the Maryknoll Fathers to run. The remaining four went to St. Ann Parish School in Heeia, then a lay run grade school on Oahu’s windward side.
Almost immediately, requests for Maryknoll Sisters multiplied. By 1930, they were working at St. Anthony School in Kalihi, St. Anthony School and children’s home on Maui, and assisting at the hospital stations for leprosy patients in Pearl City and Kalihi.
Before long they were running seven elementary schools — Maryknoll School; St. Ann, Kaneohe; St. Anthony, Kalihi; St. Anthony, Maui; St. Michael, Waialua; St. Augustine, Waikiki; and St. John the Baptist in Kalihi — and three high schools, Maryknoll, St. Ann and St. Anthony, Maui.
With missionary temperaments not content to be confined to the classroom, the Maryknoll Sisters expanded their ministries to family home visits and other forms of extra-curricular outreach.
After the establishment of the Diocese of Honolulu in 1941, Bishop Alencastre’s successor, Bishop James J. Sweeney, had a new job for the sisters. He wanted a diocesan department of social services and in 1944 turned to Maryknoll to establish one.
From New York, Maryknoll sent three sisters to establish Catholic Social Services, now Catholic Charities Hawaii. Their leader was Sister Victoria Francis Larmour, a pioneer in modern social work in New York and New England.
It was the first time women religious in the United States had worked as professional case workers. And to do so required a master’s degree in social work. At one time, the Maryknoll Sisters had 18 degreed social workers living in one convent in Hawaii.
The Maryknoll Sisters introduced adoption, social action, parish outreach, group homes, Project Rachel for women who had abortions, foster care and other programs Catholic Charities maintains today.
In 1945, Bishop Sweeney needed another position filled and again called on Maryknoll. Two sisters came to Hawaii to open an office for the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, or CCD, the precursor of today’s diocesan religious education department.
In the 1950s, Sister Mary Clotilde, a survivor of a Japanese World War II internment camp in the Philippines, brought her 25 years of missionary catechetical experience to the new department. She set up an inter-island program to train parish catechists, and wrote her own nationally-acclaimed instruction booklets, “Lay Catechist Training Program” and “Manual for Training Catechists.”
At their peak in the early 1960s, Maryknoll had 165 sisters in Hawaii staffing seven elementary schools, three high schools and Catholic Social Services and working in the Catholic School Department, the office for the Confraternity for Christian Doctrine, and other ministries. During this time they also reaped the benefits of around 15 local vocations.
Later they could be found working for the Catholic Youth Organization, the diocesan business office, the diocesan Tribunal, the Chancellor’s office, the Hawaii Catholic Herald, the Office of Clergy and a number of parishes.
Because of Hawaii’s cultural and geographical position, the large Maryknoll presence served as a boost and a bridge to other Maryknoll missions. Hawaii became a Maryknoll training ground, an ethnic studies resource center, and a school for interfaith relations.
The decade of the 1960s ushered in changing times for the church and for the Maryknoll Sisters in Hawaii. As the number of sisters decreased and they gave more attention to core aspirations of peace and justice and an “option for the poor,” their numbers in the classrooms declined.
In addition to their occupations as educators and social workers, the Maryknoll Sisters made other distinctive contributions to Hawaii.
Maryknoll Sister Mary St. Lawrence Demanche, a member of the Hawaiian Academy of Science, spent two years writing the popular 1955 book series “Exploring Nature in Hawaii” to supplement the Mainland science texts featuring apple trees and snow rabbits being used in Hawaii schools.
Three Maryknoll Sisters served here as medical doctors. Sister Irene Solzbacher practiced psychiatry in Waianae. Sister Maria Rieckelman integrated psychiatry and spirituality in her work as a psychiatrist. Sister Mary Lou Townsend served as an emergency physician in Hilo.
On Molokai, Sister Ardis Kremer has worked for years as a public health nurse and veterinarian.
Sister Grace Dorothy Lim served the administration of Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo as chancellor, tribunal official, director of the Office for Ethnic Ministries and director for Catholic Relief Services in Hawaii.
Former principal Sister Katherine Theiler’s interest in spirituality and houses of prayer in the 1970s led to the establishment of the ecumenical Spiritual Life Center, which provided opportunities for live-in retreats, spiritual direction and contemplative prayer.
Sister Joan Chatfield’s post-classroom work has included the executive directorship for the Institute for Religion and Social Change.
By the end of the 1990s, the ministries of the Maryknoll Sisters in Hawaii were diverse and imaginative. They volunteered in hospitals, parishes, prisons and women’s shelters, worked with children, abused women, immigrants and the elderly. They had a presence at Maryknoll School, their original Hawaii assignment, until 2006.
Since 1927, close to 400 Maryknoll Sisters have served in Hawaii at one time or another. Today there are 12.
Vision Statement
- “We Maryknoll Sisters, envision One Earth Community where the co- creative energy of Divine Love flows freely, nurturing wholeness of being in expanding and evolving Universe”
Mission Statement
- We Maryknoll Sisters have been engaged in God’s mission and nurtured by the spirit of Mother Mary Joseph for over a century. In this time of global awareness and accelerating change, we have been called to reflect on evolutionary consciousness and its impact on our understanding of our charism and our response in mission. Recent insights have enabled us to recognize that we are One Earth Community where the energy of God’s love flows freely, nurturing the wholeness of being. Wholemaking is the overarching mission task for our time. This mission imperative requires partnering, collaborating and networking which will enable us to respond effectively to emerging and urgent needs, particularly on the margins of society.
thanksgiving Mass
- Celebrating the 90th anniversary of Maryknoll Sisters mission presence in Hawaii
- Oct. 7, 10:30 a.m.
- Maryknoll School Community Hall, 1402 Punahou Street
- Msgr. Gary Secor, celebrant
Asia East World Section meeting
- In conjunction with their 90th anniversary in the Islands, The Maryknoll Sisters in Hawaii are hosting 17 Maryknoll Sisters from the order’s Asia East World Section (Japan, Korea, China and Philippines) for a special world section meeting Oct. 4-10 at St. Stephen Diocesan Center. Along with other important topics for the community, the sisters will explore Hawaiian culture and spirituality with leaders from the Hawaiian community.
- The younger Maryknoll Sisters will be meeting on Oct. 2-3 at St. Stephen Diocesan Center.
- Four Sisters will publicly renew their profession of vows: Sister Cecilia Santos, 70 years; Sister Elizabeth Kato, 60 years; Sister Ardis Kremer, 60 years; Sister Lourdes Fernandez, 50 years.
