Kane'ohe Marines break ground on $9.5 million chapel
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
Marines at Marine Corps Base Hawai'i in Kane'ohe are on their way to having something they've never had before: a real chapel.
It won't be the converted chow hall, crowded behind a doughnut shop, that has served the Marines for years. It won't have ugly, dark brown paneling. The plumbing is expected to work and the lighting to be conducive to hymnal reading.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held Friday and construction of the $9.5 million complex is set to be completed by early next year.
Much of the building is modeled after St. Ann's in Kane'ohe, said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Cartus Thornton, one of four chaplains at the base.
"We ... took a look, and we liked a lot of aspects of their church," he said. "What they had, we wanted."
The seating will be raised in the back of the new chapel, the acoustics will be good and the lighting will recessed. Contractors and subcontractors on the construction project will be drawn from the local community.
Planning for the stained glass windows continues. Thornton said Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Jerry McAbee is overseeing the design, which he wants to reflect the Corps and its relationship to the surrounding land and community.
Maj. Chris Hughes of Marine Corps Base Hawai'i said the chapel is part of a number of improvements to the base, which had suffered a degree of neglect when, a decade or so ago, it was rumored to be on the verge of closing. With defense money recently marshaled toward Hawai'i by the state's congressional delegation, the base is undergoing a minor renaissance. New barracks, housing and a new post office are among the projects.
All of those measures will help raise the quality of life for Kane'ohe Marines, sailors and families, Thornton said, and that is important. But the chapel will offer support to a community that, as deployments to foreign shores increase, will need to draw comfort from within its ranks.
Reach Karen Blakeman at 535-2430 or kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.
