Sacred Hearts Father Pat Fanning celebrated Mass Aug. 2 at St. Damien of Molokai Church in Kaunakakai, Molokai, with the relics of St. Damien and St. Marianne displayed before the altar. (Courtesy Mark Jechura)
Hawaii Catholic Herald
Nearly three months after their nationwide tour began, the Diocese of Honolulu’s
first-class relics of St. Damien de Veuster and St. Marianne Cope were returned home by the Arkansas man whose story of healing inspired the journey.
The conclusion of the Tree of Hope Tour earlier this month brought “a mix of deep gratitude, quiet awe and a bit of holy exhaustion,” Mark Jechura told the Hawaii Catholic Herald. “This tour began with no roadmap, no budget — just a fragile hope and a small ‘yes.’
“Now, after crossing the country, I (have returned) with peace in my heart,” he said. “We did what we were called to do — carry hope, one soul at a time. And it feels like something sacred has been fulfilled.”
The Tree of Hope Tour began on Molokai on the feast day of St. Damien, May 10. Jechura then traveled with the relics, plus a fragment of a tree planted by St. Damien, to the mainland, where the tour proceeded with visits to states including Arkansas, Oklahoma and Minnesota.
The relics and tree fragment also made a notable stop in June in Washington, D.C., at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
At the beginning of August, Jechura brought the relics back to Hawaii. Before returning them to the Diocese of Honolulu’s downtown Honolulu chancery, he went back to Molokai for one of the final stops on the tour — Mass at St. Damien of Molokai Church in Kaunakakai.
During the Aug. 2 liturgy, the relics were displayed for reflection and veneration, and the intentions collected at each location visited on the Tree of Hope Tour were offered during the prayer of the faithful.
While he was in Hawaii preparing to return the relics, Jechura stayed at St. Patrick Monastery in Kaimuki — one of the residences for clergy of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, St. Damien’s religious order.
Among the Sacred Hearts clergy who joined the tour’s final venerations were two church leaders from the Pacific islands — Archbishop Jean-Pierre Cottanceau of the Archdiocese of Papeete, French Polynesia, and Bishop Pascal Chang-Soi of the Diocese of Taiohae o Tefenuaenata, Marquesas Islands.
Over the 2.5-month tour, Jechura said there were more emotionally moving moments than he could count. Some people shared their own encounters with Hansen’s disease patients, while others described the way that they felt the saints’ presence in their lives.
Reflecting on the impact the tour had on communities across the country, Jechura said: “I hope people left (viewing the relics) feeling seen, accompanied and reminded that holiness is close — not far off in history books or stained glass, but alive in the courage and compassion of real people like (Sts.) Damien and Marianne.
“If someone walked away with even a spark of renewed faith or the courage to take one more step, then this entire journey was worth it.”