Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 5, Number 6, 1 June 1988 — Hawaiian Mass is Unique at DeRussy [ARTICLE]

Hawaiian Mass is Unique at DeRussy

The annual summer Catholic Hawaiian Mass on the beach at Ft. DeRussy begins June 4 and runs through Sept. 3. It is held at 6 p.m. every Saturday throughout the period mentioned and it brings together in worship the loeal and military communities along with thousands of visitors from all parts of the world. The Mass itself is unique in that the Hawaiian language is spoken and sung by lay participants of volunteer dancers and musicians from St. Louis School along with some civilians and soldiers. The hula is a key element for this offering of the liturgy as young men and women in Hawaiian attire gracefully portray, through their dancing, the words of prayers and hymns to the music of ukuleles, guitars and gourds. Kumu Hula and St. Louis Hawaiian language instructor John Keola Lake and his Hui O Na Opio Hawaiian Club of St. Louis make up the nucleus of the performing participants. The congregation faces the sea on beach chairs or mats whieh they are requested to bring. This is a program of the U.S. Army Catholic ehaplain at Ft. Shafter and St. Louis.