• Where we are: 712 N. School St.

• Our numbers: 1,500 families are registered members. About 500 people attend weekend services.

• Our pastor: The Rev. Gary Patrick Colton.

• What's special about us: The church is "one of the main centers of Catholic worship on the island of O'ahu and we're proud of that," said Colton, who attributes this to the church's facilities — which include a good sound system, ample parking and accommodations for 750 people — as well as well-planned services. It's one of the largest churches in the Roman Catholic diocese, which is also the largest denomination in the state.

• Our history: Originally called St. Theresa Parish, the church was established in 1931 by Bishop Stephen Alencastre, who came to Hawai'i from Belgium. Construction was completed in September 1932. St. Theresa School was also established in 1932. Today the school serves 560 students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

Monsignor Benedict Vierra led a major fund-raising effort in 1956 to replace the church's original wooden structure, which began to deteriorate. The renovated building was dedicated Aug. 15, 1963. In 1984, under Bishop Joseph Ferrario, the church was renamed, and its interior reconfigured. Ferrario decided to make the parish a "co-cathedral," Colton said.

"A cathedral means that there's a special chair set aside for the bishop during services. So there's one at Our Lady of Peace Cathedral and one here."

• What we believe: The Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa follows the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, which has seven sacraments: baptism, confirmation, marriage, reconciliation (confession), anointing of the sick, communion and holy orders. Eucharist is taken at every Mass. Only celibate men are ordained as priests, and the highest authority is the pope.

St. Theresa's mission statement: to be an example of the presence of God through our Christian Catholic worship, education, service and stewardship of all God's gifts.

Like the other parishes in the diocese, the co-cathedral is in the process of incorporating Mass adaptations made this summer by the Vatican, Colton said.

Some will affect those in the pews: Congregants are asked to remain standing until the last person has received communion. And "for the sake of uniformity," people are encouraged to kneel during the eucharistic prayer "until we recite the 'Our Father' together," Colton said.

Others are more subtle, affecting the priest and his helpers: "They're encouraging that the priest receive communion first," before the lay helpers, called eucharistic ministers, approach to help dispense communion, he said. And during the sign of peace, priests have been asked to stay in the sanctuary.

While these changes are strongly mandated by the Vatican, there will be some flexibility at the local level, Colton said. Church leaders at St. Theresa are still working on incorporating these changes into their Masses. "We're going to start next month," he said.

• What we're excited about: The church will host the ninth annual Lokomaika'i 'Aha Himeni Songfest at 7 p.m. Friday. The event, sponsored by the Hawaiian Arts & Liturgical Inculturation Awareness Committee, encourages churches to build choir membership and encourages people to compose hymns. About 10 choirs will each share a Hawaiian or Hawaiian-English selection.

Church leaders and members are also happy about a recent renovation: "We just resurfaced and restriped our parking lot here," Colton said. "This property gets a lot of use and the parking lot was deteriorating to the point of being dangerous." The $125,000 project began in 2000 and was completed in August.

They are also redirecting their focus. "Ever since 1931, if you look at the history of the church, it's been one building program after another and then a renovation program," Colton said. "The (church community) has been very generous and very supportive. I think at this time, what needs to happen is we just need to focus on servicing the people well and taking care of what we have. I don't see any major capital changes for the next five to six years."