NEWS FROM PAGES PAST
50 years ago — Sept. 10, 1965
In ceremonies last Sunday, His Excellency the Most Reverend Bishop James J. Sweeney, Bishop of Honolulu, blessed the new St. John Vianney School in the Keolu Hills-Enchanted Lakes area of Kailua. It is the third windward Catholic school and the 20th Oahu school. Assisting the Bishop was the Very Reverend Monsignor Charles A. Kekumano, Chancellor (right) and Fr. John B. Read, pastor of St. John Vianney Parish. (Herald Photo)
25 years ago — Sept. 14, 1990
Call to renewal
Bishop Joseph A. Ferrario opened the year of preparation for the Diocese of Honolulu’s jubilee celebration last Sunday by asking Island Catholics “to ponder … this faith that is ours” that “we may be more of a church than we are now” when we enter the next half century of diocesan history.
In a 4:30 evening prayer service at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, Sept. 9, Bishop Ferrario officially opened a year of spiritual preparation for the 50th anniversary celebration of the founding of the Diocese of Honolulu on Sept. 10, 1991.
The bishop urged the nearly 200 people present to seek “the totality of Jesus in our lives.” Said the bishop, borrowing a phrase from the evening’s scripture reading from Paul’s letter to the Philippians, “What a beautiful and complete paradigm for the coming year – ‘to know Christ!’”
10 years ago — Sept. 9, 2005
Faith and renovation
The perseverance, dedication and faith paid off.
After a year of putting up with dust, noise, paint, a leaking roof and the weekly setting up and putting away of nearly 800 metal folding chairs, the parishioners of St. Elizabeth in Aiea are now enjoying a spacious, quiet, cool, bright, ADA-approved church.
The $3 million-plus renovation project, done primarily to provide more room for a congregation bursting at the seams, literally turned the church backwards.
The parish chopped off both the front and back of the building to lengthen it 25 feet in each direction. The extra space allowed the addition of 150 seats, increasing the capacity to about 700. …
The renovation did not come easy. The six-month construction schedule expanded into a year-long project. About halfway through, during Lent, the church was burglarized and the sound equipment was stolen.
