The Holy Family Church building on 830 Main St., shown here in a photo taken Nov. 25, lies in a neighborhood of Naval housing and other facilities near the Honolulu International Airport. (HCH photo | Darlene Dela Cruz)
Holy Family Parish on Nov. 19 purchased from the U.S. Navy for $1.6 million the 4.444-acre property where its church and school are located. The land, which has been used as a diocesan parish site since 1950, is at 830 Main Street near Honolulu International Airport and naval housing.
The deal ended any uncertainty of what might have happened if the parish had lost its Navy lease.
The purchase concluded about 10 years of negotiations, assisted by Hawaii’s late U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, that included other Main Street tenants, including Assets School and St. George’s Episcopal Church, who also sought to buy their land.
The tenant group, formed in 2004 and calling itself Ohana Nui, wrote joint letters to the Navy, asking for first right of refusal to purchase their land.
In early 2009, Ohana Nui asked Sen. Inouye’s office for assistance. That same year, the senator helped write and pass legislation giving the Navy the authority to convey the Main Street property to its tenants, provided the land was used for the same purpose and sold at market value.
The church’s main negotiator for the purchase, diocesan director of real estate Marlene De Costa, said the Navy was easy to work with.
“The Navy has been great landlords,” she said. “Throughout the entire process, the Navy has always been very fair and open in their communications with us. We will forever be grateful to them.”
Christina Malins, principal of Holy Family Catholic Academy for the past 10 years, gives much of the credit to Sen. Inou ye.
“For many years, there was always this underlying fear as to what would happen if the land under our buildings were sold to another entity,” she said. “Would we need to move? Would we be able to afford a new lease agreement; and if the land were offered to us for purchase, would we be able to come up with the funds to purchase it?”
On March 23, 2010, Malins received a letter from the Navy, informing her that Section 2856 of Public Law 111-84 “provided the authority for the Navy to convey the property currently leased to the Roman Catholic Church in the State of Hawaii directly to the church for the purpose of continuing the same functions as are being conducted on property as of the date of enactment of the legislation on Oct. 28, 2009.”
Holy Family’s pastor, Father Sebastian Chacko, said the parish and school together had the money to purchase the land.
“It’s all paid for, by the grace of God,” Father Chacko said. “The parish managed to save half a million, the school saved one million and the early learning center $500,000.”
The pastor, who has been at the parish for five years, praised Malins for her decade of “wise stewardship” of the school, which allowed it to put aside $1 million for this purpose.
Father Chacko said that now that the land is secured, the parish is looking into “renovating the school building, relocating the administrative offices and exploring the possibility of a high school.” He said the parish has also considered building a gymnasium.
The present property contains the church, rectory, preschool and grade school.
During World War II, the land was the site of Navy Building 852, part of which had been converted into a Catholic chapel, named for St. Joseph and served by Navy chaplains, for the residents of the Civilian Housing Area 3 and nearby Hickam Air Force Base and Pearl Harbor.
The massive building was turned over to the Diocese of Honolulu in 1950 for use as a parish church, and also a rectory and parish offices. Bishop James J. Sweeney put the Marianist Fathers in charge of the new parish, which was renamed Holy Family. A temporary school was opened in another part of the building in 1955 and the Sisters of Notre Dame were its first administrators.
The first unit of a new school was built in 1960 and a second unit added two years later. The present circular church was dedicated on Feb. 26, 1967.
Today, about 800 attend Mass at Holy Family every weekend. The parish school has close to 600 students from preschool through eighth grade, about 40 percent of whom are military dependents.
“Our relationship with the Navy and the fact that we are located next to Navy housing has helped our school evolve into one that is unlike any other,” said Malins. “We have a number of parents who are active duty military; many are deployed and sometimes both parents will be called to duty overseas. This can be very difficult for children.”
Malins said the school has developed “specialized programs to assist these children.”
Tiffanie Sugai, a teacher assistant at the parish school for two years, whose husband is in the Navy and who has a child in the third grade, praised the school’s attention to service families.
“I had no doubts that this was where our son should attend school,” Sugai said.
“They think of everything,” she said, including activities specifically for students whose parents are deployed.
For Susan Bagley, the parent to two Holy Family students, the school is a blessing. During her husband’s two year deployment, “the school was extremely supportive,” she said.
“There’s such a strong sense of family and a blending of the different cultures, military dependents and civilians. Our transition to Holy Family was probably the easiest we’ve ever had with any school,” Bagley said. “It’s a great place to be.”
