Sacred Hearts Father Richard McNally, pastor of St. Ann Parish, Kaneohe, left, helps Bishop Larry Silva untie the maile lei at the blessing of the first Catholic parish columbarium in Hawaii, Oct. 1. (Photo courtesy of Dann Ebina)
Twelve of the first 60 wall niches at St. Ann in Kaneohe are already taken
By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
The parish cemetery is making a comeback in Hawaii. But instead of an overgrown plot of ancient headstones there is a polished, granite-faced collection of urn niches built into a church’s exterior wall.
Bishop Larry Silva blessed the diocese’s first such columbaria Oct. 1 at St. Ann Church in Kaneohe.
The blessing followed presentations at diocesan Stewardship Day at St. Ann Parish about the Hawaii’s new columbarium project by two of its administrators — Duane Pavao, Director of Cemeteries for the Diocese of Honolulu, and his boss, Jim Peterson, Director of Mission Services for Catholic Funeral and Cemetery Services (CFCS). (Columbaria is the plural of columbarium.)
CFCS is a non-profit company of the Diocese of Oakland, California. Pavao was hired two years ago as the Hawaii representative.
Peterson said the Hawaii project started seven and a half years ago with a phone call from the diocesan finance officer Lisa Sakamoto. She told him that Bishop Larry Silva, who was familiar with CFCS from his years as a priest for the Diocese of Oakland, was interested in building columbaria for Hawaii parishes.
Peterson, who has worked with some 30 dioceses around the country, met with Sakamoto and Bishop Silva and found a handful of interested parishes. However, three to four years into the project, parishes were struggling to come up with the money to pay for a columbarium. So CFCS set up an investment fund financed by Catholic contributors to pay for the building of the Hawaii’s parish columbaria.
The first Catholic parish columbarium in Hawaii at St. Ann Church, Kaneohe, Oct. 1. (Photo courtesy of Dann Ebina)
That financial hurdle jumped, the project still faced a legal one — amending Hawaii state law to ease up on the strict permitting process for cemeteries to allow non-profit church inurnment sites.
After much lobbying by the Catholic Church, on Sept. 15, 2020, Gov. David Ige signed into law Act 022 (20), which allows religious institutions in Hawaii to build and maintain on their property columbaria, structures such as a wall, room or building for the keeping of cremated remains.
“It wasn’t a slam dunk,” said Msgr. Gary Secor of the bill’s passage.
“Catholic churches have been honoring the dead for centuries” with parish cemeteries, he explained at one of the stewardship conference’s sessions. The columbarium project provides an opportunity to return to the work of mercy of burying the dead and “to do it the right way.”
Not too many people know that the common practice of scattering ashes is against church law, he said.
Columbaria serves the very important need of offering “perpetual care,” the monsignor said. Having an independent operation like CFCS also avoids a parish columbarium being at the whims of changing parish leadership, or falling into neglect, he said.
According to Peterson, the first pastor to express interest in constructing a columbarium was Sacred Hearts Father Herman Gomes, then pastor of St. Ann. After suggesting the project one day at Mass, two people approached him and said they would write him a check today if they could be guaranteed first placement in the columbarium.
That early feedback gave an indication of how such a project would be received in Hawaii where cremation is the choice of 76% of the people. It’s been very positive, said Peterson.
After discussions with the pastor and parish council, a parish survey is conducted to determine interest. “If we see high numbers of parishioners responding positively, we start drawing plans,” said Peterson.
Duane Pavao, diocesan Director of Cemeteries, speaks at Stewardship Day, Oct. 1, at St. Ann Church, Kaneohe, about the diocese’s columbarium project. (Photo courtesy of Dann Ebina)
Casey Peterson (no relation), 35, business office coordinator for St. Ann Parish, is a believer. Speaking at one of the stewardship day presentations, she described her family as having strong-multigenerational connections to her parish. She was attracted to the idea of those ties continuing after death, of “having a forever home” at the parish. She and her husband purchased a niche. “It’s a beautiful thing … a full circle thing,” she said.
The next parish to construct a columbarium will most likely be Resurrection of the Lord in Waipio. There are others on Oahu, Maui and Kauai waiting in the wings.
St. Ann’s columbarium has 60 niches on the outside left wall of the church. Over the next 30-40 years, it is possible that up to 900 niches could be added, Peterson said.
Each niche has a 12-inch square granite slab covering it. The interior space, a cube with 11 7/8-inch dimensions, lined in stainless steel, can hold, at most, two moderately-sized urns.
The six-foot plus Peterson and the robust Pavao would probably need their own individual niches, joked Peterson.
The structures are built to last. CFCS columbaria in Puerto Rico have survived hurricanes, he said.
Pavao was reluctant to name prices. He said the cost depends upon the parish and other things, including placement on the wall, the central and eye-level spots costing the most. Pavao said base prices could range from $6,400 to $10,200, to which would be added engraving fees, installation of a vase and taxes. Inflation would also be a factor. Payment-in-full earns a 5% discount. Otherwise, a normal payment plan would be 20% down and 30 interest-free monthly payments.
Parishes may also offer financial assistance.
Of the payment, 10% goes to the parish, 10% to the diocese, and 5% to a trust ensuring the perpetual upkeep of the columbarium.
When someone dies, normal mortuary and funeral services such as transport of the body and cremation, must be acquired separately, Pavao said. Catholic Funeral and Cemetery Services is working “on making a list of preferred (mortuary service) providers that could work well with columbarium system right now,” he said.
Pavao has an office at St. Stephen Diocesan Center but mostly works from home.
“If you want to be interred in the columbarium, call your parish office,” who will contact him, Pavao said.
Placement in the parish columbarium is reserved for the members of the parish and their families.
At the blessing of the wall, St. Ann’s pastor, Sacred Hearts Father Richard McNally, called it a “significant day.”
“It is a great thing to be given the opportunity to keep these mortal remains at the church,” he said, adding that 12 of the first 60 niches have already been reserved by parishioners who are very active members of the parish.
“It is a blessing for us to make this possible for the people of the parish,” he said.
Bishop Silva, in his prayer over the new columbarium, asked that it be a place of hope and comfort for the living, and the source of prayers offered continually for the dead.
Peterson said that it is his hope that the presence of a parish columbarium would be a constant opportunity for evangelization.
For any further information regarding columbarium units, contact Duane Pavao, Director of Cemeteries, at dpavao@cfcsmission.org or 808-783-6778.
