Kaneohe base chapel is a fitting tribute to late bishop’s impact

The Chaplain Joseph W. Estabrook Chapel is the only U.S. military house of worship named after a bishop

By Anna Weaver
Hawaii Catholic Herald

When David Hammond was a college student on the path to priesthood, he began to think about being a military chaplain. To that end, he contacted the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services for more information.

Not long after he reached out, he got an email back from Bishop Joseph Estabrook, a former Navy chaplain and new auxiliary bishop for the archdiocese. Bishop Estabrook had been ordained for the Diocese of Albany, which was also Hammond’s home diocese.

The bishop gave Hammond his cell number and the two soon met for a dinner discussion about being a military chaplain. Giving out his cell and making himself available in this manner was something for which the auxiliary bishop was known.

Bishop Estabrook shared Navy “sea stories” and “a lot of stories of ministry of what he had been able to do as a priest and as a chaplain to reach people during difficult times in their lives,” Father Hammond said. “He was also just very polished, very well-spoken and he understood where I was coming from.”

“I was asking God for a sign for if he wanted me to pursue this, and then my first Q-and-A was with the bishop over dinner!” Father Hammond laughed. “I was thinking the door was opened a little bit further.”

The meeting left an impact, which helped guide Hammond to the priesthood and becoming a Navy chaplain. He is currently serving as the chaplain for the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe.

And when Chaplain Hammond came to Hawaii about four years ago for training, he was excited to see over the MCBH chapel’s main doors in bold letters the words “CHAPLAIN JOSEPH W. ESTABROOK CHAPEL.”

“I know this man! He’s a big reason why I’m here!” he remembered thinking. “So I thought it was very providential.”

Hawaii connections

Joseph Estabrook had an affinity for Hawaii dating back many years. Ordained as a priest in 1969, he became a Navy chaplain in 1977.

While he had previously served aboard the Pacific-based USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier in the 1980s, his specific Hawaii assignments began in 1997, the same year he was named a monsignor. Father Estabrook was the U.S. Pacific Fleet chaplain and a U.S. Pacific Unified Command senior chaplain from 1997-2000.

He became the command chaplain at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe, Oahu, in September 2000.

At the time the chapel on base was hard to find, tucked into a nondescript building that was a converted “chow hall.”

But thanks to a push for funding from the late U.S. Senator Daniel Akaka, the 22,755-square-foot chapel complex building project went ahead in 2002 and was finished in 2005. It has a main chapel that can seat between 500-750 people, a smaller day chapel, a sacristy, a crying room, a child care room, a kitchen, five chaplain offices, and many other smaller offices and multipurpose rooms.

Now you can’t miss seeing the chapel and its large, freestanding bell tower, which sit prominently on a main street on base near McDonalds, the post office, the commissary and exchange stores.

You won’t see Bishop Estabrook’s name on the front of the chapel right from the road. But once you approach the main entrance, which faces in toward a side street, you can’t miss it.

Chaplain Estabrook had extended in his MCBH command chapel job to finish seeing through the construction of the new base chapel. Then he planned to retire. But he was unexpectedly “called up” to be an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese for the Military Services in 2004.

Bishop Estabrook chose as his episcopal motto “Duc In Altum” or “Set out into the deep” after Jesus’ call to the disciples to go fish, literally and figuratively. Fitting for a Navy man and one who inspired many priestly vocations in his work for the military archdiocese.

Even after Chaplain Estabrook became a bishop, “he was known to slip away from time to time to his condo on Oahu to spend some time scuba diving and walking the beach with his favorite canine ‘Ginger,’” wrote his fellow archdiocesan auxiliary Bishop Richard Higgins in his remembrance of Bishop Estabrook in the Salute Summer 2012 issue, the publications for the Archdiocese of Military Services, USA. “I’m told old sailors need a little salt every now and then!”

Chaplain Hammond said some military retirees who attend Mass on base still remember “Bishop Joe.” In various written accounts he’s described as energetic, a good conversationalist, a voracious reader, and a big fan of dessert.

‘Bearer of Christ’

But not even this energetic bishop who worked out daily and kept up a fast-paced schedule could beat pancreatic cancer. He was diagnosed in 2011 and died from the fast-progressing disease in February 2012.

In a column he wrote in the months before he passed away, Bishop Estabrook talked about accepting his cancer.

“With all the great gifts God has given to me in my life, almost too embarrassing in His generosity to mention, among the greatest gifts has been the honor to serve these young men and women of our military,” he said in the article, which appeared in the Spring 2012 Salute magazine.

“How pathetic would it be for any among us to feel any remorse at all over the conditions and challenges handed to us after witnessing what they have been called to do and how courageously most of them have done it. Rather, these men and women, besides my faith, are my inspiration and ongoing strength.”

Chaplains can sometimes seem to be nonessential to the military cause, but Bishop Estabrook certainly didn’t see it that way. Neither does Father Hammond or the current Kaneohe base chaplain.

“The chaplain is a bearer of God’s presence,” said MCBH command chaplain Bruce Crouterfield, whether that’s during a time of war or not.

Chaplain Hammond said he takes his mission to reach out to all military service members seriously.

“Yes, I’m a Catholic priest but regardless of whether someone is Catholic or Christian or even whether they explicitly know what they are religiously, I have a role in caring for them,” he said. “And if they are of a different faith or a different denomination, then I facilitate for whatever religious need that they have.”

The chapel was formally named the Chaplain Joseph W. Estabrook Chapel in 2013 in memory of the late bishop. According to the military services archdiocese, it’s the only U.S. base chapel to be named after a bishop.

Today it has three Sunday services, two Masses attended by about 150 people total and one contemporary Christian service that garners about 100 people. There are religious education classes, a women’s evangelical group, Mothers of Preschoolers (MOP) meetings and other Christian-affiliated events.

The building is also a community gathering space well-beyond worship services. Boy and Girl Scout groups meet there. Marines have briefings in the chapel space, and families gather for deployment meetings.

“There’s somebody in here almost every night,” Chaplain Crouterfield said.

Something Bishop Estabrook would likely be very pleased to see.