Hawaii Catholic Herald

Newspaper of the Diocese of Honolulu

MARIANIST BROTHER ROBERT HOPPE | 1940-2019

by

Religious served his community with a talent for ‘temporalities’ Society of Mary Brother Robert Hoppe, who served for 20 years in administrative positions for his Marianist community in Hawaii, died April 11 in Cupertino, California. He was 78 and a religious brother for 58 years. Father Patrick McDaid remembered his fellow Marianist as a person […]

ADELAIDA ‘IDA’ BARBOZA FREITAS | 1912-2019

by

Centenarian served the church in humble ways all her long life Hawaii Catholic Herald Adelaida “Ida” Barboza Freitas, companion and helper for Hawaii’s Carmelite Sisters for more than 30 years, caretaker at the CYO Camp Hauula in its heyday, and next door neighbor to three bishops at St. Stephen Diocesan Center, died at her home […]

SISTER JOAN CHATFIELD, MM | 1932-2019: Maryknoller served here 63 years in education, interfaith pursuits

by

By Patrick Downes Hawaii Catholic Herald Maryknoll Sister Joan Chatfield, who served 63 years in Hawaii as a leader in the sprawling mission fields of education, social justice and interreligious affairs, died on March 1 in Honolulu. She was 86 and in religious life for 68 years. Her death was unexpected, the result of striking […]

SISTER BERNADETTE HIGA, MM | 1925-2019: Maui-born missionary served in Taiwan, Bangladesh, Hawaii

by

Maui-born Maryknoll Sister Bernadette Higa, who served in Taiwan, Bangladesh and Hawaii, died March 12 at the Maryknoll Sisters Center in Maryknoll, New York, with her sister Mary Louise Higa, also a Maryknoll Sister, by her side. She was 93, and a Maryknoll Sister for 68 years. Sister Bernadette’s birth name was Shigeko. She was […]

DEACON MICHAEL DAVID ROSS | 1940-2019: Retired deacon, scholar, theologian, was a convert from Judaism

by

  Deacon Michael David Ross, a former professor and academic dean at the Pontifical College Josephinum who retired in Hawaii five years ago, died March 3 while hospitalized in Honolulu of kidney failure and complications from severe pancreatitis. A sign in his room asked that he be addressed as “Deacon Mike,” reflecting his commitment to […]

FATHER VINCENT KIEN NGUYEN | 1952-2019

by

Vietnamese chaplain understood how to engage his community By Patrick Downes Hawaii Catholic Herald Father Vincent Kien Nguyen, who served as chaplain of Hawaii’s Vietnamese Catholic community for about 10 years, died in Orange County, California, on Jan. 14. He was 66 years old and a priest for 30 years. “I remember Father Kien as […]

Obituary: Maryknoll Sister Irene E. Solzbacher | 1934-2016

by

Missioner for 65 years served as a psychiatrist on the Waianae Coast Maryknoll Sister Irene E. Solzbacher, a medical doctor and psychiatrist who spent nearly four decades serving in Hawaii, mostly as a psychiatrist on the Waianae coast in the 1980s and 1990s, died Nov. 29 at the Maryknoll Sisters Center in Maryknoll, New York. […]