Pentecost in Hawaii

May 31, 2026 Tom Ciszek Reflection

Servant of God Joseph Dutton and St. Marianne Cope, remembered together in Hawaii — Servant of God Joseph Dutton and St. Marianne Cope, Big Island of Hawaii

The night we arrived, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake hit near Kona. Trade winds built all weekend, gusting to 50 mph through the Kohala passes. By Pentecost Sunday the earth had shaken and the wind was howling. The Spirit was making Himself known.

Map and reading of the magnitude 6.0 earthquake off the Kona coast, May 22 2026 — Magnitude 6.0, Kona coast, May 22, 2026

The Catholic faith in Hawaii was built by extraordinary people. St. Damien de Veuster arrived in 1864 to minister to the leper colony at Kalaupapa, Molokai, and eventually contracted leprosy himself. St. Marianne Cope, "Beloved Mother of Outcasts," led the Sisters of St. Francis from Syracuse to Hawaii in 1883, founding homes for patients' daughters and caring for the dying Damien himself. She spent 30 years at Kalaupapa and never contracted the disease. And Brother Joseph Dutton, a Civil War veteran and convert, served alongside them both for 44 years, never leaving the colony. His cause for canonization is open.

Watercolor portrait of St. Damien de Veuster — St. Damien de Veuster

Statue of St. Marianne Cope with orchid lei — St. Marianne Cope, "Mother of Outcasts"

Statue of Servant of God Joseph Dutton in the memorial garden — Servant of God Joseph Dutton, remembered in the garden · josephduttonguild.org

Antique photograph of Servant of God Joseph Dutton — An antique photograph of Joseph Dutton

Second-class relic of St. Marianne Cope, 1838 to 1918 — A second-class relic of St. Marianne Cope

Pentecost Mass at Puako on the Kohala Coast — Pentecost Sunday, Kohala Coast

Crown ceiling at Puako with copper Stations of the Cross — Crown ceiling with copper Stations of the Cross

Baptismal font with the Holy Spirit dove, inscribed in Hawaiian — Baptismal font, inscribed in Hawaiian

Statue of St. Michael the Archangel with sun flare, Kailua-Kona — St. Michael the Archangel, Kailua-Kona

Mosaic of St. Marianne Cope at St. Michael's, Kona — St. Marianne Cope mosaic

Open-air lanai at St. Michael the Archangel, Kona — The open-air lanai

Annunciation Church, Waimea — Annunciation, Waimea

Immaculate Conception cross, 1923 to 2003

Across the island the same Spirit kept arriving: in the earthquake and the wind, in the saints who gave their whole lives to the forgotten, in the small parishes that have kept the lamp burning for a century and more. Damien, Marianne, and Joseph Dutton did not flee the hardest place. They stayed at it, the way Pentecost stays: not as a single descending flame but as a fire handed on.

We are all pilgrims and we are always pilgrims, walking as we seek to follow the Lord.
Pope Leo XIV

A month later the same Spirit met me again in Detroit, this time in a hall full of machinists and at the tomb of a humble porter. That story is here: The Doorkeeper of Detroit.

Come, Holy Spirit.
Fill the hearts of Your faithful.
Kindle in us the fire of Your love.