Kalaupapa News

ST. DAMIEN IS HONORED IN WASHINGTON: U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, right, and U.S. Rep.

The party yesterday was held in honor of the hometown hero, but for the village of Kalaupapa, it was also a celebration of its unique self.

A relic of St. Damien was placed in its permanent home yesterday, in the cathedral where the Sacred Hearts priest was ordained, following a celebration on the lawn of Iolani Palace where at least 1,000 people gathered to honor a man whose lessons of kindness and compassion have crossed religions and oceans.

KALAWAO, Molokaci - The heel of St. Damien of Molokaci sat in a clear box within a wooden box within a koa box today as a Belgian cardinal and 13 bishops honored Damien's work in the modest church where he restored human dignity to the remote Kalaupapa Peninsula beginning in 1873.

One of St. Damien's heels returns today to the church where Damien ministered to the once-hopeless and forgotten on the Kalaupapa Peninsula before the relic moves on to more elaborate ceremonies in Honolulu tomorrow.

The day after nearly 1,800 triathletes battled heat, wind and their own wills on the Big Island course of the Ford Ironman World Championship, speakers at the awards banquet lauded the competitors for their impressive determination and, in the case of physically challenged athletes, their ability to overcome enormous obstacles.

This column about hala is inspired by the canonization of our beloved St. Damien de Veuster.

A historic moment for Hawaii gets international attention. Blessed Damien of Moloka'i, who helped those afflicted with leprosy in Kalaupapa in the 1800s, will be canonized Sunday morning in Rome, Italy, making him a saint.

U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka will travel to Rome to attend Sunday's canonization of Father Damien at the Vatican.

National Park Service Park Ranger Amy Sakurada recently graduated from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia on March 2009, and completed an extensive field training program at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area in California in May.

KALAUPAPA, Moloka'i - The people of Kalaupapa honored newly sainted Damien yesterday by walking in his footsteps in a heavy mist, carrying a banner bearing his likeness.

Among the thousands expected in Saint Peter's Square for the canonization of Father Damien ware 127 with a special connection to the Sacred Hearts priest.

KALAWAO, Moloka'i - Tom Walton prayed for a miracle to save his life and got it, then felt compelled by an indescribable force to jump on an airplane and travel across an ocean so he could kneel before Father Damien's grave yesterday.

KALAUPAPA, Moloka'i - The Hansen's disease settlement on this rugged-but-spectacular Moloka'i peninsula is even quieter than usual this weekend, with all but four of the remaining patients in Rome to witness Father Damien's rise to Catholic sainthood.

We're just two days away until Father Damien is canonized as a saint. While there's been a week long celebration in Belgium and Rome to mark the occasion, it still remains about the patients of Kalaupapa.

Former patients are protective of each other and of their connection to the quiet, secluded peninsula that was Damien's home By Mary Adamski POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Oct 07, 2009 Eleven residents of tiny Kalaupapa village will be seated in the VIP section, along with King Albert II and Queen Paola of Belgium and other dignitaries from several ...

The National Parks Service treats the site as a time capsule dedicated to a story that is both horrifying and heroic By Mary Adamski POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Oct 07, 2009 Historic or religious sites are traditional destinations for travelers, but no hordes of people are likely to descend on Kalaupapa to walk in Father Damien's footsteps any time ...

BRUSSELS, Belgium>> Belgian King Albert II and Queen Paola, the U.S. ambassador to Belgium and nearly 400 people visiting from Hawaii are to party together today in festivities at Tremelo, the village where Father Damien De Veuster grew up.

Father Damien's canonization is just a week away and on Saturday night Kalaupapa patients are visiting his native Belgium.

The 12,000-mile trek to Rome for Father Damien's canonization won't be easy for the 11 Hansen's disease patients making the journey.