honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Sunday, April 3, 2005

So far away yet so close to hearts of Hawai'i

By Mary Kaye Ritz and Suzanne Roig
Advertiser Staff Writers

In downtown Honolulu, the bells of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace tolled 84 times to mark the death of Pope John Paul II.

Dagmara Krecioch and Daniel Dudrick attend a Mass at Our Lady of Peace Cathedral. Krecioch says her late grandfather was a high school classmate of the pope's in Wadowice, Poland.

Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

In tiny Kalaupapa on Moloka'i, residents of the Hansen's disease colony gathered in St. Francis Church for a morning Mass.

In Waimanalo on O'ahu, Margaret Pekelo cried not just because of the loss of a great leader, but because she had witnessed, on television, his caring. "I just won't ever forget the way he touched all the little children in Africa," Pekelo said.

And, at Cathedral Gift Shop in Ala Moana Center, there was a run on items with pictures of the pope that started Friday night. "I think the people who came in were looking for some kind of keepsake," said owner Bryan Siu.

All across the Islands people gathered yesterday to mourn and remember on a day in which the gray overcast sky matched the mood of many.

But, with the sorrow came the solace that the pope's suffering was over. And for many there was much to celebrate about a man who had touched their lives from afar.

A parishioner kneels in prayer at the altar of Our Lady of Peace Cathedral. The bells of the downtown Honolulu cathedral tolled 84 times yesterday after it was learned that the pope had died in Rome.

Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

Leading a subdued parish at Mass at St. George Church in Waimanalo last night, Monsignor William Mattimore voiced what was on many minds: The world lost a man of great humility.

Mattimore, whose sermon focused on peace and forgiveness, told parishioners they should pray for the future of the church, which had been guided for more than 26 years by John Paul II.

Dressed in their Sunday best, the members of the church sang and prayed in honor of the minister of peace. Right from the start of yesterday's service, some had tears in their eyes.

One of them was Bernie Alameda. She had come to church earlier in the day to pray after hearing the news. While she had never met the pope, his views on the world made sense to her.

"I was very moved by his death."

At St. Mary Church in Hana, Maui, the pastor, the Rev. Paul Zegers, said the burden of the pope's long illness had been lifted.

"My idea is it's a happy occasion," Zegers said. "The man has done great work. And he's suffered much in the past days, so I'm happy God took him back to heaven."

Priscilla Moreno had tears in her eyes when she talked about the pope. She and her friend, Din Bihag of Kalihi, went to Our Lady of Peace for the noon Mass.

Still, others like Susan Tiefenthaler of Diamond Head were following what she believed to be the will of the pope, and chose not to cry. "It's a joyous day," said the flight attendant. "He did everything to get to this day."

Final lessons

The pope may have conveyed one of his most powerful lessons in his final hours, said Tom Dinell, the retired head of Catholic Charities in Hawai'i.

"In the process of dying, the pope taught all of us a lot about accepting suffering and living with it," he said. "It is, in a sense. a gift. He certainly lived it.

"It seems to me an occasion for joy for the pope but of sadness and regret for us."

"I'm sad, because he's gone," said Frances Trowbridge, who attended the 5 p.m. Mass at Our Lady of Peace Cathedral yesterday with her daughters, Abigail, 11, and Rebecca, 15. "But happy because he's home."

Many at the cathedral, which was filled to capacity for the Mass, paused in front of a portrait of the pope with an 'ilima lei draped across it.

"Today, we mourn the death of our beloved Holy Father, John Paul II," the Rev. Tom Gross, administrator of the Honolulu Diocese, said in his homily. "When he was elected pope, one of his first public statements was 'Be not afraid.' For over 26 years he fearlessly led the church, inspired the world and worked tirelessly for peace, for the poor and sick, for the oppressed and forgotten. ... The pascal mystery we celebrate this Easter season was the basis of his strength and hope, for he believed in Jesus' victorious death and resurrection."

For Thalia Ching, the pope's death was "like losing a relative." But the Tantalus resident also rejoiced that "the doors have opened for him to go home."

At the noon Mass yesterday at Our Lady of Peace Cathedral, Dagmara Krecioch mourned a man who wasn't just her pope, but a friend of the family.

Pope John Paul II knew her late grandfather from Wadowice, the pontiff's hometown in Poland. As a high school classmate of the pope's, her grandfather was invited every five years to visit the Vatican.

Those back home are not sad about his relief from suffering, she said. "Everybody in Poland is (glad) he's at peace."

The Rev. Joseph Henkriks, pastor of St. Francis Church in Kalaupapa, said that the pope was "a real father to us, not just for Catholics, ... a strong moral leader who cared about his people and improved the world."

Kalaupapa Postmaster Ku'ulei Bell, who met the pope in 1995 when she traveled to Belgium for Father Damien's beatification, remembered John Paul II as "radiant."

At Holy Cross Church in Kalaheo, Kaua'i, the bell tolled for 30 minutes yesterday upon news of the pope's death.

Parishioners had been holding daily prayers for John Paul II since he first fell ill. Many called the church office yesterday and others were compelled to come to the sanctuary, said the Rev. Napoleon Andres. Those who went to the church joined a youth confirmation class in an impromptu prayer service.

Energized youth

Andres, 46, said he was a seminarian when the pope visited the Philippines in 1981. He recalls running after the "Popemobile" along with other young people who were energized by the sight of the pontiff. "Even if he was the pope, he was so close to the people," Andres said.

In Hawai'i, where many religious traditions coexist and even overlap, the pope's outreach to all faiths was met with admiration. John Keola Lake, a Catholic who also maintains indigenous Hawaiian spiritual practices, called the pope "an outstanding humanitarian." Around the state, officials reflected on the pontiff's personal life and religious vocation.

"Having experienced the horror of Nazi occupation as a young man in his native Poland, he spoke with a deep personal conviction when calling for international peace," said Gov. Linda Lingle. "And he shared those words of wisdom with more individuals than any pope in history."

Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona praised the pope as "a man of God" and "a champion of peace whose compassion for humanity crossed all faiths and cultures."

Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann noted how John Paul II advocated for global peace.

"As a linguist fluent in more than a dozen languages, he was truly a citizen of the world," he said. "It is fitting that in his final hours, he chose not to leave the Vatican, but insisted on remaining close to the people who were gathered outside his residence, to thank them for their concern."

The Rev. George DeCosta, a Catholic priest who is retired

but still leads the blessing at the Merrie Monarch hula competition each year, praised the pope for his work for human rights. "He was a man committed to grace, and grace is what the church needs," he said.

Advertiser staff writers Wanda Adams, Vicki Viotti and Christie Wilson contributed to this report.