By Anna Weaver
Hawaii Catholic Herald
During this “Year of St. Joseph,” why not try and visit one of the St. Joseph churches in Hawaii. You’ll find one on Oahu, Hawaii Island and Molokai, and two on Maui. There have also been St. Joseph churches in the islands’ past that have closed.
Over the next several issues, we’ll introduce you to these St. Joseph’s. First up: St. Joseph Mission in Kaupo on Maui.
St. Joseph, Kaupo, Maui
St. Joseph Church in Kaupo was blessed again in 1938 after repairs. The original rectory is seen in the foreground. Today, just the stone walls remain. (Public domain via kaupomaui.com)
The fifth Sunday of the month
On the backside of Haleakala facing the ocean, is St. Joseph Church in Kaupo, Maui. Today this small church is a mission of St. Mary Parish in Hana. Catholicism took hold in the Hana and Kaupo area in the 1840s with the arrival of Sacred Heart missionaries.
In 1846, on Pentecost Sunday, Sacred Hearts Father Modestus Favens baptized 171 people and presided at 22 weddings. One mountain and one village school were also built and well-attended. Starting in 1850, Hana’s first permanent priest was Sacred Hearts Father Gregory Archambaux.
St. Joseph Church was made from local wood, stone and “melted”-coral cement. Bishop Louis Maigret blessed the new church in 1862. The original, single-lane, gravel Hana Highway was widened by 1937, which let the parish priest switch from horseback to car. A year later, Sacred Hearts Father Cyril Eraly repaired St. Joseph Church and Bishop Stephen Alencastre blessed it.
By the 1970s, Kaupo’s population was so low the church closed. But in the next two decades, repairs were made to the old building and it was rededicated in 1991. Bishop Larry Silva celebrated the church’s 150th anniversary in 2012. In 2013, the upper section of the roof was replaced with new cedar shingles. The church once again is falling into disrepair accelerated by the tropical climate. The stone walls of what used to be the rectory remain near the church, and there is an old cemetery as well.
Because of its remoteness, Masses are only celebrated on the fifth Sunday of any given month, a day which falls about four times in a calendar year. But you can still visit at any time and take in the view of the Kaupo Gap where lava once streamed out from Haleakala and through the area where St. Joseph sits today.
“Church and rectory now stand all alone on a stretch of flat land, high above sea level,” as the 1978 “Pioneers of the Faith” book describes St. Joseph. “To one side there is a wide ocean, with the crest of Hawaii’s Mauna Kea piercing through grey clouds far on the horizon on a clear day. On the other side, looming high and basking in the sun, the summit of Haleakala is seen. Now nothing moves; everything stands still. There is silence, a silence as deep and wide and ominous as the mysterious ocean and the dreaming green mountain slopes.”
“Yet once upon a time this was a beehive of activity.”
Sourcing for this story came in part from “Pioneers of Faith” by Sacred Hearts Father Robert Schoofs, the Hawaii Catholic Herald’s editor from 1936-1943, and “A Pilgrimage Through Time” edited by Dominican Sister Malia Dominica Wong.
Postcard from Kaupo
Greetings from one of the most remote churches in Hawaii
St. Joseph Church in Kaupo, Maui, a mission of St. Mary in Hana, celebrated the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity on Sunday, May 30. Because Mass is celebrated only when there is a fifth Sunday in any given month, this was our second Mass of 2021.
It is truly a blessing when Mass attendees gather here, one of the most remote church locations in all of Hawaii nei! The Maui faithful came from parishes throughout the island: St. Mary in Hana, St. Rita in Haiku, Holy Ghost in Kula, and St. Anthony in Wailuku.
We were also very happy to have a California couple join us. They found the Mass schedule on our website and planned their Maui vacation around being able to attend Sunday Mass in Kaupo!
Following Mass, we gathered at the church cemetery which St. Mary’s pastor Father Jun Postrano blessed as a tribute to our departed faithful in observance of Memorial Day.
Enjoyed by all was our traditional after-Mass fellowship and luncheon, which included “Grab & Go” lunch bags provided by The Friends of St. Joseph – Kaupo.
It was then time to return to our home parishes with an “a hui hou” and a promise to “see you at our next Mass” — Sunday, Aug. 29, 2021!
— Marvy Marciel Gibbs, Friends of St. Joseph – Kaupo
