COMMENTARY
The relics of St. Marianne, left, and St. Damien are displayed in Holy Family Church in Kirkland. (Photo courtesy of Sister Cheryl Wint, OSF)
By Sherry Hayes-Peirce
In May we celebrate our Blessed Mother and our earthly mother. But it is also a time to celebrate our beloved St. Damien de Veuster, whose feast day is May 10. This year marks the 155th anniversary of the arrival of this great saint to Hawaii.
Since the canonization in Rome of St. Damien 10 years ago, many have been drawn to Molokai to walk in his footsteps. One young man in particular first learned about the work of this devoted priest while attending Mass on Maui when visiting his grandparents some 15 years ago.
Fast forward to a year ago when that young man returned to Molokai as Father Chad Green.
On his first visit, Father Chad wasn’t even thinking about a vocation to the priesthood, but in a recent appearance as a guest on the Sound Insight Podcast, he explained: “I sensed that Father Damien had really been with me even when I wasn’t even thinking about becoming a priest. And all these years later, 15, 16 years later, as I was reading about his life and being at the same place he was, I just felt like he had been with me this whole time. He was inspiring me to be a priest.”
Father Chad now serves as a diocesan priest for the Archdiocese of Seattle. During his last Molokai visit, Kalaupapa resident Sister Alicia Damien Lau, a Sister of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities, mentioned to him that relics of Molokai’s two saints — the other being St. Marianne Cope — were available for veneration in churches outside Hawaii. She suggested that he invite the relics to his parish and other parishes in his archdiocese.
The relics of both saints are bone fragments, but particularly of note is the bone from the foot of St. Damien, the talus bone. This is relevant because he walked so much in his ministry to the people of Kalaupapa. Historians have noted the athleticism that enabled him to scale mountains in North Kohala when serving the people of the Big Island, before he went to Molokai. In a letter to his parents he asked for prayers, “Ah! do not forget this poor priest running night and day over the volcanoes of the islands in search of strayed sheep. Pray night and day for me.” (“Holy Man,” Gavan Daws)
In celebration of St. Damien’s feast day, a week-long tour of the relics wound through the Pacific Northwest. It is the hope of Father Chad that people who hear their stories while in the presence of the holy relics of our beloved priest and revered mother of Molokai will see them as friends, prayer partners, who inspire them to serve the outcasts of modern day society.
Sister Cheryl Wint, a Sister of Saint Francis of the Neumann Communities, traveled with the relics to “talk story” about the saints at each stop. As a member of the same order as St. Marianne, she is charged with continuing the work of serving those who are on the margins of our society. Visit www.sosf.org to learn more about the community.
Sister Cheryl serves on the boards of St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawaii, a Catholic health care system committed to creating healthy communities in the spirit of Christ’s healing ministry (www.stfrancishawaii.org), and the Damien and Marianne Catholic Conference, an organization seeking to bring Christ’s message of understanding the dignity and reverence of life modeled by these saints to the world. To learn more, visit www.dmcchawaii.org.
Sister Cheryl is also a member of St. Augustine Parish in Waikiki, the future home of the Damien and Marianne of Molokai Education Center. To learn more about supporting the center, visit www.staugustinebythesea.com.
Traveling relics schedule
Here are the parishes in the Archdiocese of Seattle that the relics of St. Damien and St. Marianne visited May 10-18:
—Holy Family Church and School, Kirkland—St. Thomas Church, Camas
—St. Joseph Church and School, Vancouver—St. Mary Church, Anacortes
—St. Andrew Church, Summer
