Churches making room for overflow

By Mary Kaye Ritz
Advertiser Religion & Ethics Writer

Cantor Aleka Cullen has a surefire hook for enticing people to join his Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace choir: a guaranteed seat at Midnight Mass.

A Nativity Scene outside City Hall makes reference to the season's religious roots. One of the busiest times of year for Hawai'i churches, Christmas Eve and Day present challenges with crowding and parking. Many rely on both extra services and video screens. Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

Both the 6 p.m. vigil and midnight Christmas Eve services are expected fill to bursting at the downtown cathedral, and the five Christmas Day Masses should be just as packed. But it's Midnight Mass that brings the crush, Cullen said.

"There's a mad rush at 10 p.m., when we open the doors," he said.

With the approach of one of the two biggest churchgoing periods of the year, island parishes and congregations are looking for creative ways to solve the problem of too many worshippers for the pews — without breaking fire codes, of course. Some pick a bigger venue; others take advantage of technologies such as remote video feed; some hold two concurrent services.

Others just keep the doors open and pray.

After last year's five services failed to accommodate everyone, the Rev. Dan Chun at First Presbyterian had to ask himself: Do I really want to do six Christmas services?

Realizing the answer was no, he and his staff booked the Blaisdell Concert Hall, which holds 4,000 comfortably.

"Last year, people sat outside or drove away from our five overcapacity services," reads the announcement in First Presbyterian's December church bulletin. "It became obvious that we had to find a larger venue."

The Rev. Joven Junio of St. Joseph's in Waipahu answered the call electronically.

"We put up video(cameras) by the choir loft, and send it simulcast to the cafeteria, about 15 feet away," where chairs are set up for the overflow crowd, the priest said.

There is no physical solution, since the church already approaches gridlock in the parking lot between Masses.

With a sanctuary that comfortably seats about 500 people, standing-room-only attendance on a regular Sunday often climbs to 700.

"For big occasions like Christmas — especially Eve Masses — we block off the roadway between church and cafeteria, arrange pews in between, and add more chairs," Junio said. "We put up a tarp if it rains."

Christmas Eve may see 2,500 people per service, he said.

At St. Elizabeth's, it's Rev. Michel Dalton's turn to perform Midnight Mass upstairs, in the church's main 450-seat sanctuary, while his associate, the Rev. Bob Maher, will be downstairs in the parish hall, where seats will be available for 175. The two priests alternate the upstairs/downstairs arrangement every year.

Those are just two of the nine Christmas Masses the parish will celebrate tomorrow and Wednesday.

"I've got to go out and buy another shoehorn to get everybody in," said Dalton, coming from a meeting with an architect and electrical engineer about expanding the 'Aiea church.

His regulars don't begrudge the pew room given over to "C & E" Catholics, he said, who at least double the attendance of a regular church day.

"What are we going to do? We're going to welcome everybody in. ... You don't have to show a membership card at St. Elizabeth's," Dalton said. "It's tight, but what do you do when you're home and you have a party and Uncle Charlie and Aunt Maria show up? You put a few extra chairs out. It's 'ohana."

New Hope Christian Fellowship will be prepared for its two services. People who don't fit in the regular meeting spot at the Farrington High auditorium will take shelter under a tent in the courtyard, where a screen will project the proceedings.

"You just need to be creative," said executive pastor Elwin Ahu. "One of the keys of New Hope is to be resourceful."

That characteristic is apparent in New Hope's five regular weekend services: Not only do they have the outdoor setup, but also four new "plants" (church affiliates in other parts of the island), and satellite services at Sand Island and Hawai'i Kai.

Still, overcrowding is not a bad problem for a minister to have, Junio admits. "We just have to find ways to accommodate."