Long-time island pastor saw the building of St. Ann Church
By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
Sacred Hearts Father Clarence Guerreiro, long-time island pastor and builder of the distinctive St. Ann Church in Kaneohe, former provincial superior of his order, and a priest for 50 years, died on Feb. 4 in Honolulu surrounded by family, friends and members of his congregation. He was 76.
His funeral services are Feb. 24 at St. Patrick Church in Kaimuki beginning with a 9 a.m. visitation, a 10:30 a.m. eulogy and an 11 a.m. Mass, followed by a 1 p.m. committal service at Mililani Memorial Park, Mililani.
Father Herman Gomes, provincial of the U.S. province of the Sacred Hearts Congregation, described Father Clarence Guerreiro, as a “happy priest and member of the Sacred Hearts family.”
“He was a caring, involved, intelligent priest with a great vision,” he said. He was “a hard worker and responsible organizer.”
He had the ability “to delegate responsibilities, whereby people sense ownership of the parish,” Father Gomes said.
“The one valuable thing he taught me is to always follow the law of the church,” the provincial said. “He told me, ‘If a priest doesn’t follow the laws of the church, how can we expect the people of God to do this.’”
Sister Ann Clare DeCosta, who worked with Father Guerreiro for nearly 40 years as his parish director of education at both St. Ann and St. Patrick, saw him as simple yet multifaceted, someone who enjoyed a strawberry shake from McDonald’s but also explored Japanese culture while convalescing in his later years.
When both arrived at St. Ann Parish in the early 1980s, Sister Ann Clare said, Father Guerreiro would lead tours of the geographic areas around the parish to get to know his people on the street level.
“Father Clarence spent time trying to understand what they really wanted from him,” she said.
When he determined that his parishioners wanted a new church, he did not let a negative feasibility study stop him from pursuing it, Sister Ann Clare said.
He made a cardboard model of what he envisioned “and the people just loved it,” she said. “It was full steam ahead. He could have been an architect.” He was “hands-on” in every aspect of its construction.
The 16,000-square-foot amphitheater-like church, which can hold more than 1,000 people, was dedicated on Oct. 27, 2001.
At St. Patrick Church, he was planning a parish gathering center, Sister Ann Clare said, something he knew he would not be around to see finished. He fought illness for many of his final years.
Sacred Hearts Brother Richard Kupo who knew Father Guerreiro for more than 50 years, said he was “very sad to hear of his passing.”
“Father Guerreiro had a profound sense of responsibility for the brothers and sisters of our Sacred Hearts community and for the parish communities where he had been assigned,” he said.
“He was a man of integrity and perseverance,” Brother Kupo said. “It was important to him that things were done with excellence, even if it took a long time. He paid attention to details, especially the financial details.”
“It was common for Father Guerreiro to offer assistance to the poor,” he said. “He was a wise and generous man, and I will miss him.”
Sacred Hearts Father Bertram Lock, Father Guerreiro’s first cousin, said Father Guerreiro “nurtured” him during his first years as a priest assigned to St. Ann. “He taught me how to relate to people.”
“He was a caring person. I always kept him in prayer, and he kept me in prayer,” he said.
A young Clarence Guerreiro (HCH file photo)
Father Guerreiro was born on Dec. 16, 1943, to Clarence and Cecilia Vincent Guerreiro in Waialua, Oahu. He entered Sacred Hearts Seminary, Hauula, in 1957 and made his temporary vows in 1964.
Bishop John J. Scanlan ordained him to the priesthood on June 12, 1970, at St. Patrick Church, Kaimuki. Father Gomes was one of the altar boys at the ordination Mass. This year marks Father Guerreiro’s 50th anniversary of priesthood.
His first priestly assignment was as a teacher for three years at Bishop Alemany High School in Mission Hills, California. In August 1973, he was appointed as associate pastor of St. Patrick Church in Kaimuki.
Subsequent associate pastor assignments included seven years at Sacred Heart Parish, Waianae, and four years at St. Ann, Kaneohe.
He became pastor of St. Ann on Aug. 1, 1986, serving for 16 years, during which time he built the new parish church.
Father Guerreiro was elected provincial of his order in 2002, serving at that post until 2005.
In 2006 he was named pastor of St. Patrick Church, his last assignment.
