Painted rocks in Kalaupapa, Molokai (HCH Photo: Anna Weaver)
By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
Next month, January, will be the first to be observed as Kalaupapa Month in the State of Hawaii. In Kalaupapa itself, the community brought together the National Park Service, the Department of Health and Catholic church staff to plan a month of remembrances of significant Kalaupapa January dates with events casual, educational and solemn.
St. Damien’s birthday, Jan. 3, will be commemorated with ice cream and all the trimmings hosted by Sacred Hearts Father Patrick Killilea, pastor of Kalaupapa’s St. Francis Parish, in St. Francis Parish Hall, said Kalaupapa volunteer Sister Alicia Damien Lau, a Sister of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities.
On Jan. 6, the community will conduct a prayer service at the settlement’s pier, said Sister Lau, to mark the day in 1840 that the first 12 citizens arrived for quarantine. The service will be followed by the three-mile walk to St. Philomena Church in Kalawao on the peninsula’s east side where the first Hansen’s disease community was established.
“We invite everyone to walk three miles on this day (wherever you are) and remember the 8,000 patients who were exiled to Kalaupapa,” said Sister Lau.
In mid-January, Sister Lau hopes to screen the Paul Cox film “Kalaupapa Heaven” which features in-depth interviews with Kalaupapa residents.
On Jan. 22, Fred Woods, an elder in the church of the Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints will present a webinar on the history of the Mormon Church in Kalaupapa and two of its leaders, Jack and Mary Sing.
St. Marianne’s birthday and feast day will be celebrated on Jan. 23 with a brunch provided by the Sisters of St. Francis.
Sister Lau said the National Park Service, which administers Kalaupapa as a historical site, will host a “scavenger hunt” the whole month of January.
Ka Ohana O Kalaupapa is also planning an activity for every week, she said, which will be posted on their website.
Gov. David Ige signed the bill designating January as Kalaupapa Month in Hawaii in June.
The month was so assigned, the new law states, “to serve as an annual reminder to people all over of the importance of Kalaupapa and the significant sacrifices and contributions made by its residents throughout the history of Hawaii.”
It was Ka Ohana O Kalaupapa, an organization made up of Kalaupapa residents, their relatives and friends, that first proposed designating January as a month to celebrate and honor Kalaupapa’s important history.
Ka Ohana member Valerie Monson said at the time of the bill’s signing that the organization “hopes that teachers will include Kalaupapa in their classrooms, that church leaders will pay tribute to the people of Kalaupapa who shared their faith in God, and that family members will remember their ancestors in various ways.”
The Ohana selected January because of the number of significant dates that took place that month connected to Kalaupapa’s history.
“The people of Kalaupapa have always been about resiliency, faith and community,” Monson said. “For the most part, they have not let adversity stop them, and are role models for the rest of us who face difficulties in life.”
Here are some of Kalaupapa’s January dates being commemorated.
- Jan. 3, 1840: St. Damien’s birthday.
- Jan. 5, 1879: Ambrose Kanewalii Hutchison arrived at Kalaupapa where he lived for the next 53 years, serving as resident superintendent for 10 years.
- Jan. 6, 1866: Twelve citizens of Hawaii arrived at Kalaupapa, the first of an estimated 8,000 people.
- Jan. 23, 1838: St. Marianne’s birthday and church feast day.
- Jan. 24, 1931: The wedding of Jack and Mary Sing, two important leaders of the Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at Kalaupapa, who in 1981 celebrated their 50th anniversary, one of only three Kalaupapa couples to do so.
- Jan. 26, 1978: Eight residents of Hale Mohalu in Pearl City (a second home for many Kalaupapa patients) are relocated to Leahi Hospital against their wishes.
- Fourth Sunday of January: Kalaupapa Sunday established by the Hawaii Conference for the United Church of Christ to remember the people of Kalaupapa, particularly the 35 who founded Siloama Church there.
- January 1895: The last of the original (pre-leprosy) inhabitants of Kalaupapa are evicted as the settlement became overcrowded. They played a crucial role in caring for the settlement’s first patients.
