Pentecost in Hawaii

May 31, 2026 Tom Ciszek Reflection

Statues of Servant of God Joseph Dutton and St. Marianne Cope in a memorial garden, Big Island of Hawaii — Servant of God Joseph Dutton and St. Marianne Cope, in the memorial garden, 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 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

Relic card bearing a photograph of Servant of God Joseph Dutton with a cloth relic — A relic card of Joseph Dutton

Relic card of St. Marianne Cope, 1838 to 1918, with a cloth relic — A cloth relic of St. Marianne Cope

Pentecost Sunday Mass at Annunciation, Waimea: red altar frontal and banner, white orchids — Pentecost Sunday at Annunciation, Waimea

Crown ceiling at Annunciation 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

The covered lanai at St. Michael the Archangel, Kailua-Kona, with the bell tower behind — The lanai and bell tower

Watercolors of St. Marianne Cope and St. Damien above a votive candle stand at Annunciation, Waimea — Cope and Damien above the candle stand, Annunciation, Waimea

A wooden cross from the original Immaculate Conception Church, with a plaque reading 1923 to 2003 — The cross from the original Immaculate Conception Church, 1923 to 2003

The saints here gave their whole lives to the forgotten, and the small parishes 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 I was in Detroit, at the tomb of a humble porter. That story is here: The Doorkeeper of Detroit.