Church, like faith, a work in progress
By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer
'AIEA — Everyone at St. Elizabeth Catholic Church thought this would all be behind them by now. But months after the $3.5 million renovation project was supposed to be done, the congregation will hold Easter Mass without any pews, too little juice to run all the overhead fans, and a main worship hall marked by scaffolding, exposed duct work and piles of raw building materials.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
And no end in sight.
Despite the mess from construction at St. Elizabeth Catholic Church during its $3.5 million renovation project, Palm Sunday drew a full house — overflow crowds are expected for all six Mass services today. Construction at the 'Aiea church began in June.
But where some might see disorder and confusion, parishioners here see nothing but hope and joy.
"Look at our church being reborn," said the Rev. Bob Maher, an associate pastor. "That's what they're saying. 'See, things are happening, Father. ... See, you can look at the sun bouncing off the copper roof above the new sanctuary, and isn't that great?'
"The whole focus of Easter is that Christ rose from the dead, not for himself; he did it for us. And here's an example of it."
For parishioner Joanna Torre, an Army captain who on Tuesday returned from a year of duty in the Middle East, St. Elizabeth Church, even under construction, was a sight for sore eyes.
"When I saw this I thought, 'Oh, my goodness!' " said Torre, as she stood outside the church and beamed on Friday. "We worked our butts off raising money for this (construction). It wasn't like we just got money from some rich guy. I've just come from the desert, so you can imagine what it looks like to me."
Parishioner Wendy Ford had just come from no farther than 'Ewa Beach. But like Torre, she was unable to contain her glee.
"I'm excited," she said, clapping her hands. "It's fine with me any way you look at it. And when it's done, I think it will be worth the wait."
On Wednesday afternoon, about two dozen parishioners arrived at the church and quietly went to work setting up 450 folding chairs stacked around the walls in preparation for Holy Week Masses on Thursday and Good Friday, yesterday's Easter Vigil, and today's six Masses.
"The construction stuff doesn't really bother us," said Nick Helsham, 18, a member of the chair detail, who was one of more than a dozen parishioners scheduled to be confirmed at last night's vigil. "You can put us outside and we'd still have Mass. We're there for God."
For the Rev. Michel Dalton, the folding chairs signify that for the believers, faith is forever a work in progress.
"There are no lists or work assignments," Dalton said. "They just show up and start setting up chairs. It's because the parishioners are the spirit. They are the church. The building is just steel and concrete — it's just a covering."
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
That covering was built in 1969. The project to add a new entrance at one end and a rounded, peaked sanctuary at the other started last June. The project's completion date, originally scheduled before Thanksgiving, was later moved to Christmas. Christmas came and went, as did New Year's, Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day, and still the banging continued.
A sure sign of progress: Eight of the 16 stained-glass windows depicting the 14 Stations of the Cross recently were installed in the main hall at St. Elizabeth.
Today, the church grounds remain sectioned off behind chainlink fences and a maze of 7-foot plywood walls, yellow barrier tape, traffic cones galore, colored plastic strips strung across lines and long rolls of bright orange construction mesh.
Scattered throughout the property are stacks of wood, tin and other materials.
Inside the church, a makeshift wall stands between the nave and what there is of the new sanctuary.
The flooring has been ripped up, leaving cold, gray concrete. Air-conditioning ducts noticeably grace the 30-foot ceiling. Overhead fans have been inoperable during services because of the limited electrical power. (The option was either lights and microphones, or fans — but not both.)
"We can't kneel because we're sitting in folding chairs all the time," said Herman Fergerstrom, 82, the church sacristan, who has been a fixture here since St. Elizabeth was a wood-frame structure built in the 1920s. "And there's no holy water, because they don't have a place to put it."
The 1,500 families who attend the church aren't holding their breaths for the latest completion date, set for the end of April. Maher said the church has a large ethnic mix, with Filipino, Hawaiian, Samoan, Japanese and Chinese parishioners.
"The congregation is all regular working people. When the collection plate is passed around, people put in their change. We don't get any large bills. If there's a $20, we think it's great."
Church officials say the construction delay is not because of a lack of funding, though. The money's there. The problem is O'ahu's recent building boom, which has resulted in permitting delays, a glut of construction projects, and too few available workers.
Fergerstrom said parishioners are mostly consumed with thoughts of how magnificent the place will look when it's finally ready.
Until then, the church employs a lightweight wooden altar that can be scooted from one location to another. A pair of chairs in the corner serve as a confessional. Parishioner Linda Cacpal has stashed 10 church statues in her spare bedroom.
"Things are squirreled all over the place," said Maher.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
For example, the sacred holy oils currently reside atop his office file cabinet, along with a jar of jelly beans and a 6,000-year-old chunk of walrus tusk.
The Rev. Bob Maher strolls past the altar at St. Elizabeth. Church leaders and parishioners know better times are ahead for the church. "I'm excited. ... And when it's done, I think it will be worth the wait," parishioner Wendy Ford said of the ongoing renovations.
Despite the mess, church officials expect an overflow crowd for all six Mass services today. They know that the parking lot will be filled to capacity, as it was on Palm Sunday, and that vehicles will again be turned away. They know parishioners will make do, as ever, and keep right on coming.
They know the main hall will continue to appear more like a warehouse than a place of worship — except for one notable, vital and recently installed attraction: eight of the 16 stained-glass windows depicting the
14 Stations of The Cross.
The colorful windows, a genuine sign of progress, have become the symbol of the holiday — the focal point of hope and joy.
"People are very excited about those windows," Fergerstrom said. "They will be coming to see them. I know it will be standing room only. It will be beautiful. You can't stop Easter."
Nor can you stop eternal construction, Maher said.
"After the last note of the last verse of the last hymn, you'll hear the chairs being folded up again — clack!, clack!, clack! — and in about 15 minutes the whole space is cleared and the chairs all lined up around the walls.
"And on Monday morning the workers are back in again."
Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8038.
• • •
Burglary fails to halt services
Even a burglary isn't enough to dampen the spirits of worshippers at St. Elizabeth.
Yesterday, officials reported the church had been broken into overnight and the music keyboard and some public address system equipment had been stolen.
The Rev. Bob Maher said witnesses had seen a person in the area and police had been given the suspect's description.
Still, Maher said the congregation planned to hold last night's and today's services on schedule. As for how best to deal with the loss, one of the church's new stained-glass windows offers this word: "Acceptance."
"Just a little extra penance before we celebrate the joy of Easter," Maher said.
— Advertiser staff
| The history of a church
St. Elizabeth Catholic Church, Elementary School and Convent in 'Aiea occupies slightly less than 3 acres across from Aloha Stadium, where Moanalua Road, H-1 Freeway and Kamehameha Highway come together. The beginnings of the parish date to St. Patrick's Church of Halawa, built in 1860. That frame structure was destroyed by fire in 1871, and another church completed in 1873. Details of those churches are spotty, but the parish's Moanalua Road location was acquired and built in the early 1920s. On April 15, 1925, St. Patrick's of Halawa became St. Elizabeth of 'Aiea — dedicated to the 13th-century queen of Hungary who lost her crown while devoting her life to caring for the sick and poor. By the mid-1960s, St. Elizabeth had added an elementary school and convent, staffed by Filipino Sisters who follow the rule of St. Dominic. In 1988 management of the parish was taken over by the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, a religious order of Franciscans. Work to renovate the current church, built 36 years ago, began in the summer of 2004. The church's new entrance and sanctuary are scheduled to be completed in late April. Source: St. Elizabeth Catholic Church |
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