Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 4, Number 9, 1 September 1987 — Congregation Bent on Restoring Molokaʻi Edifice [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Congregation Bent on Restoring Molokaʻi Edifice

Kalua'aha Church Celebrates 154th Anniversary

By Kenny Haina, Editor Ka Wai Ola O OHA A great, great grandson of the first kahu to serve the religious needs of Moloka'i pledged his full support and labor to the restoration of a gigantic church whieh has fallen on bad times.

John T. Goss, a Honolulu business consultant and direct descendant of the Rev. Harvey Rexford Hitcheoek who was among the fifth company of missionaries to leave Boston, Mass., for Hawaii, said during his family's ho'ike portion of the 154th anniversary of Kalua'aha Congregational Church Aug. 9 in Puko'o that he will support the current congregation's efforts to restore the church. "It won't be easy but my family and I pledge our full support with labor and fund-raising efforts or in other ways," Goss declared. Henrietta Kaupu Mokiao and Lorraine Kalima Luuloa, whose roots are just as deep as the church's history, have been spearheading the restoration efforts. There is already some seed money whieh the little congregation raised about 12 years ago, according to Mokiao, a sister of the Rev. David Kaupu, ehaplain at the Kamehameha Schools. "We're going to need more than what we have. We know we have a big project on our hands and its going to take the kokua of everyone, not only on Moloka'i but throughout the state to get us through this," Mokiao explained.

"We've been without a church for a longtime and we're determined to restore Kalua'aha. We know it can't be done by tomorrow but we'll wait until we have enough funds," she added. Mokiao said the congregation's first target in the restoration program is to get the rundown social hall back into shape "so that we ean have a plaee for our services." There have been no services at the church for over 20 years and the services conducted Aug. 9 by the Rev. Kaupu and Rev. James Merseberg were the first on the church grounds in over a decade. Restoration estimates by non-professionals attending the Aug. 9 services ran from a low of $250,000 to as high as $2 million. The church was officially established on June 19, 1833, at a meeting of the Hawaiian Association in Lahaina and was dedicated Dec. 6, 1835. It was repaired during early 1919 and rededicated Aug. 12, 1919, accompanied by heavy showers and attended by 400 to 600 people, according to an account of the church's history.

Another account gave this description of the building: "It is a building made of stone laid up in mud mixed with grass. The walls are three feet thick. It. is 90 feet long, 42 feet wide and 12 feet high, plastered and whitewashed inside and out. The thatchingis of the leaf of the spira! pandanus, surmounted at the end and ridgepoled by a thick border of ki leaf. The framework is concealed by large light-colored mats and the floor consists of the same material. lt accommodates probably 1,200 and 1,300 hearers. It has cost the mission but little more than $100." In contrast to the 1919 rededication, the 1987 anniversary program and services were held under a searing sun and high humidity, making it uncomfortable despite plastic covering overhead.

The congregation braved the heat and humidity to participate in the services conducted by two kahu whose very roots are deeply imbedded in the history of the church and whose ancestors rest in a little cemetery on the left or mauka side of the building. It is interesting to note that the name Merseberg on two of the tombstones is spelled: "Merzberq." Kaupu and Merseberg also baptized and received new members to the church, reconsecrated its membership, commissioned members of the restoration project and offered Holy Communion. As for the church building itself, a steeple and bell tower have long been removed and a good portion of the flooring was also taken out to see if drainage pipes could be placed under it. The building was overgrown with weeds, trees and other shrub, many of them growing through the building walls and on the partially exposed roof.

I he first roof of the church was thatched. 1 his was replaced by shingles and then iron roofing around 1917 just two years before the rededication. Some of the shingles ean still be seen on the Manae side of the building. Just five weeks before the Aug. 9 anniversary, members spent weekends and some evenings cleaning up the plaee. With the aid of a donated bulldozer, they were able to elean up the entire area.

Goss visits Moloka'i as often as he ean, goingespecially to Kalua'aha to do as mueh as he ean in trying to maintain the yard. He was accompanied on this last trip by his wife, Marilyn, son Jeb and his wife, Anna, and daughter Mele Majors of Dallas, Tex., alongwith her little son and daughter.

Kahu Kaupu, whose father Edward Sr., was a lay pastor for more than 30 years at Kalua'aha, estimates that the church is older and bigger than Kawaiaha'o although perhaps not as high. lt has always been eonsidered the church of the commoners and is the mother church on Moloka'i. In addition to the Kaupu and Merzberq tombstone names, there are others whieh definitely "tell a story" as explained by Cemetery Research Project Director Nanette Napoleon Pumell during a recent exhibition at the Ala Moana Shopping Center.

There are names like Crane, Hipa, Kailua, laea, Ilae, Kaapuna, Kekoa, Kaonohi, Solomon, Aea, Kalima, Simeona, Kaauwai, Kaili, Pupuhi, Kalilikane, Mahoe, Mokiao, Luuloa, Kanae, Pauole, Kalaluhi, Dudoit, Naki, Ewaliko, Kekoa and others.

Involvement in the restoration project has eome also from various sectors of the Hawaiian and Moloka'i eommunity . The Office of Hawaiian Affairs, through T rustee Louis Hao, has also provided some assistance. OHA's involvement is viewed by the little congregation as being very positive and weleome. Mokiao and Luuloa concurred that the biggest ongoing project for the congregation is raising money. They said that church members and other volunteers, meanwhile, will tend to the yard and "do whatever we ean so we ean soon have services again on our own grounds."

This is the way Kalua'aha Congregational Church looked around the early 1920s, perhaps shortly following the 1919 rededication. Note steeple and bell tower.

Kalua'aha Church as it looked on a hot steamy day Aug. 9, 1987. Makeshift shelter is where154thanniversary services were held. Note missing bell tower and steeple.

Office of Hawaiian Affairs Trustee Louis Hao of Moloka'i, third from left in dark glasses, was one of those participating in the Kalua'aha Church services.