A handful of surviving members of the St. Francis Xavier Club gathered over the summer for a small reunion. Front, left to right: Winnie Lau, Terry Noto and Carmen Kiyabu. Back, left to right: Jean Leong, Walter Lau, Ronald Choo, Carl Arakaki, Joyce Arakaki and Eloise Yano. (Courtesy Eloise Yano)
By Lisa Dahm
Hawaii Catholic Herald
Almost a century ago, Japanese American Catholics in Hawaii formed a social and religious club where they could meet their peers and join in fellowship, prayer and fun.
This past July, surviving members of the St. Francis Xavier Club — including the daughter of one of its founders and those who joined in later decades — gathered for a small reunion where they reminisced about times and friends past.
Eloise Yano, whose father Francis Uyeda was one of five men who in 1927 founded what was then known as the Japanese Catholic Club, arranged the July 20 gathering. Among those in attendance were Carmen (Silva) Kiyabu, who joined in 1960; Walter and Winnie Lau, whose membership goes back to the 1940s; and the Laus’ daughter, Tina Lau.
“That was really nice that Eloise organized that reunion,” said Walter Lau, who is in his 90s. “At one point we used to have a luncheon get-together at St. Stephen’s Church (in Nuuanu), and we would invite all club members. But after COVID, everything died down. So, when we were invited to this luncheon, that was the first get together for a very long time.”
Historical treasure
When Yano was going through the belongings of her father, she found the original financial book and some press clippings from the club. She realized that she had found a historical treasure not only from her childhood, but from the lives of families around the diocese who got their start through their fruitful membership.
The other founders of the Japanese Catholic Club were Eddie Tanaka, Raymond Suzuki, Samuel K. Murakami and Francis Uyeda’s brother, Alfred.
“I remember running around as a child when they had functions,” said Yano, who attended Maryknoll School. “I grew up knowing most of these people who were named in the article.”
Many of the first club members and their siblings attended one of the local Catholic schools — Sacred Hearts Academy, Saint Louis College (now Saint Louis School), Damien High School and Maryknoll. Yano’s father attended Saint Louis.
The club grew to hundreds of members across the state who enjoyed countless hours of bowling and other social activities in addition to faith-based gatherings. Young members were part of its junior club.
“I think initially they’re looking at it socially, because they did not know too many Japanese Catholics,” Yano said. “My father told me that they went to parishes and jotted (down) Japanese names from baptism lists, and that got them started to contact people with Japanese backgrounds.”
Yano’s mother, Lillian Uyeda, was not Catholic, but she converted after their marriage.
According to Yano’s press clippings, the organization slowed down until it revived in the early 1940s. Vocations began to flourish and included the ordination of Father Thomas Masao Miyashiro, who became the first ordained Japanese American Catholic priest in Hawaii and served as club president prior to his ordination, then as moderator afterward.
The club held regular, yearly conventions where everyone gathered. Meetings were held across the state, and branches of the club were established on Kauai, Maui and Hawaii island.
The annual conventions were held until 1966, not including the World War II years. The club’s name was changed to the St. Francis Xavier Club after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
(Francis Xavier, a Spaniard who was a founding member of the Society of Jesus, started the first Christian mission in Japan in 1549.)
Recently, the Laus found a small booklet from the club’s 70-year anniversary celebration in 1997. That year, the club established an endowed scholarship at Chaminade University of Honolulu to celebrate the anniversary that still provides scholarships today.
Growing in faith and love
“There were so many couples who met through the Xavier Club — so many good, strong Catholic marriages that came from it,” Kiyabu said.
In 1960, Carmen Silva joined the St. Francis Xavier Club with a group of friends. At a meeting, she ran into an old classmate from Maryknoll High School — Franklin Kiyabu.
They fell in love and married two years later. The young couple moved from Honolulu to Kaneohe and raised four daughters, becoming parishioners at St. Ann Church.
Despite the distance, they stayed connected to many friends they met in the club in those early years. To them, the club provided a perfect mix of socializing and spirituality to form a strong Catholic glue that brought family and friends together.
“They were very important in Frank’s and my married life,” Kiyabu said. “We always felt that there was someone out there that was ready to help if there was a problem. It was just like a family, and it was wonderful.”
“It was a strong lifestyle based on Catholic trends and even non-Catholic trends that people brought over,” she added. “It was a social thing — getting together and praying together.”
Yano said she and her sister, Jean, were part of the junior club.
Yano, then Eloise Uyeda, met her husband, Brian Yano, while bowling with the club. He wasn’t a member at the time, but he was a high school student at Saint Louis.
Walter and Winnie Lau are another example of the many couples who met through the St. Francis Xavier Club.
Though Walter Lau was not Japanese, he was a Saint Louis graduate and a faithful member of the club.
“We met with members, and they instilled in us the Catholic faith deeper than what we knew about,” Walter Lau said. “Because of that, we got married and we had children because it was a family.”
Winnie was from Maui and met Walter at a convention on Oahu in September 1948. Winnie eventually moved to Oahu and the two married at St. Augustine Church in Waikiki on Jan. 22, 1949.
“St. Francis Xavier Club was really active,” Winnie Lau said. “We went on picnics. We had a lot of things to do because of the Xavier club.”
Their daughter, Tina Lau, recalled the get-togethers at different members’ homes.
“In fact, my dad’s birthday is Jan. 1, so on New Year’s Eve, they would all come over for a big party to celebrate my dad’s birthday,” Tina Lau said. “We have pictures of them dancing in the living room. They were a very lively group.”
Tina Lau said she remembers visiting the homes of St. Francis Xavier Club members when she was growing up.
“My mom and dad and many of their friends were from the Japanese Club. I mean, it was for a lifetime,” Tina Lau said.
Walter and Winnie Lau, center, gathered with fellow St. Francis Xavier Club members for a photo. (Courtesy Walter and Winnie Lau)