Workers reinstall a stained glass window of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the sanctuary of the cathedral basilica June 18. (HCH photo by Anna Weaver)
By Anna Weaver
Hawaii Catholic Herald
Four stained glass windows were reinstalled in the sanctuary of the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace on June 18 after being sent to Omaha, Nebraska, for repairs and refurbishment. Mark Lambrecht of Lambrecht Studios, who did the stained glass restoration, was on hand to oversee the windows’ installations.
The windows date to the 1920s and were made in Germany and installed to celebrate 100 years since the first Catholic missionary priests arrived in Hawaii in 1827. The plan is to restore all 14 of the 1920s-era pictorial windows plus the geometric windows on the cathedral’s upper gallery level that date to the 1870s.
As part of this portion of the cathedral renovation project, the cathedral’s walls were stripped down to their original coral structure and special plaster applied to them this past spring. Other updates in this phase will include a new bishops’ crypt and burial chamber, electrical upgrades, enhanced lighting, an extended altar platform and more access for persons with disabilities.
The sanctuary end of the cathedral has been closed off by a temporary partition since January. Daily Masses are still being celebrated in the remaining portion of the church throughout the renovations.
The current project, the second of a planned six-phase cathedral renovation project, is set to be finished in time for the 175th anniversary of the cathedral’s dedication, which will be celebrated on Aug. 16. So far $7.7 million has been spent out of an anticipated $22 million overall projected cost. This includes money raised during a previous cathedral campaign launched 2008. The project was relaunched in 2015.
