After Catholic Church is spared from wildfires, archdiocesan priest recalls spirituality of Maui
While the fierce Maui wildfires of Aug. 8-9 burned the area around it to the ground, including its convent and school, Maria Lanakila Catholic Church in the town of Lahaina remains untouched. For many, it is a sign of hope after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century.
“For us, it’s like a miracle,” said Monsignor Terrence Watanabe, the Honolulu Diocese’s vicar of Maui and Lanai, in an interview with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser about the fires that left at least 111 people dead and thousands displaced and homeless. “When we saw the news and saw the church steeple rise above the town, it was a great sight to see.”
Locally, Father Anthony Randazzo, pastor of Holy Trinity Church in Westfield, was also relieved to see the church survive years after he concelebrated Mass there during a 1993 trip with his mother. He told Jersey Catholic he has fond memories of his time visiting the parish. Now, he said he prays for the people and the island that stole his heart.
“It’s an artsy place with people who, like Jesus, walk the beaches and are carefree,” Father Randazzo said.
The Church of Maria Lanakila, which means Our Lady of Victory in Hawaiian, is located in the “Cradle of Faith” on the island of Maui, according to the church’s website.
The church was established in 1846 as an old adobe building with grass hut chapels. The current brick building was completed on May 4, 1873.
How to help
Donations to Maui wildfire relief efforts can be made online via the diocese’s Hawai’i Catholic Community Foundation, and the Catholic Charities Hawai’i site, Catholic Charities Hawaii Maui Relief.
Father Randazzo recalled that the church holds some beautiful Catholic art such as paintings, statues, and mosaics that remain untouched by the fire. They are thought to be gifts from some Hawaiian royalty, according to the church’s history.
It took three tries to get the bells that call parishioners to Mass due to the island’s remoteness at the time.
Illustrating how remote the island is, Father Randazzo said he and his mother took an 18-person plane from Honolulu to Molokaʻi and then a fast boat to Maui.
The church caters to the Catholics of Lanakila, who consist of 12,962 residents and numerous tourists seeking out Sunday Mass. About 20% of Hawaiians are Catholic.
After concelebrating Mass in August 1993 with Father Mauricio, the pastor of Maria Lanakila Catholic Church at the time, Father Randazzo invited him to brunch at the Kāʻanapali Hotel. He also received a personal tour of that side of the island.
“The hospitality at the Eucharist table extended to the pastor himself and the people on the island,” Father Randazzo said, recalling the warmth he felt from the people of Lahaina, which was a whaling town with a history of ancient Hawaiian power.
In subsequent visits to the island, he recalled getting lost on a dark, rainy night driving his rental car from the airport to the place where he was attending a yoga retreat. He said it was the “Spirit who guided me to the retreat house’s gate,” which read “Door of faith.”
Another time, Father Randazzo remembered witnessing the spirituality of a wedding on the beach that included the bride and groom being adorned in fresh flower Hawaiian leis. He also drove on the Road to Hana, which was dotted with waterfalls and greenery, and finally finding the Seven Sacred Pools for a swim.
“Everywhere you look in Maui, there is spirituality and nature mysticism,” he said.
Normally swimming in Hawaii’s ocean waters is a beautiful experience, so Father Randazzo found it ironic that so many people nearly died in that same water after escaping into the ocean to avoid the fires.
“Not sure if I and my mother would have survived the ocean and darkness,” he said.
Some of his parishioners have sought out Father Randazzo for prayers and spiritual guidance for relatives affected by the fires in Maui. He said one Westfielder told him about her daughter, who was displaced by the fires. Another relayed a story about a sister whose Maui vacation included sleeping with her family in the car for two nights.
Now, Father Randazzo fears the town will be sold to big developers and gentrified, removing the charm and warmth he felt from the people he met who had been there for generations.
“I hope it goes back to the people,” he said. “I pray that this intense tragedy will unite its people.”
The economic cost to Maui from the wildfires could reach $7 billion, according to research done by Moody’s Analytics.
On Aug. 10, President Joe Biden issued a federal disaster declaration for Maui and the Big Island ordering “all available federal assets on the Islands to help with response.” President Biden and first lady Jill Biden will travel to Maui on Aug. 21 to meet with first responders and survivors as well as federal, state, and local officials.
In a message sent on Aug. 10 to Hawaiian Catholics, Honolulu Bishop Larry Silva said, “This is an opportunity for us to show our solidarity as a Catholic faith community and lend a helping hand to those who have lost so much.”
OSV contributed to this article.
Featured photo: Missionaries of Faith Father Kuriakose Nadooparambil, pastor of Maria Lanakila Church in Lahaina, Maui, on Aug. 16, 2023 touches a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary which still stands amid foliage untouched by the wildfire that scorched trees across the street and destroyed the entire town of Lahaina. The sisters and the staff all survived as well. (OSV News photo/courtesy Maria Lanakila Parish)
