Kaimuki Christian School to dedicate new $4M facility

Kaimuki Christian School will host a blessing ceremony and dedication at 10 a.m. Friday for its new $4.2 million educational center.

The new Clarence T.C. Ching Educational Center completes the first segment of the second phase of Kaimuki Christian Church and School’s master plan to accommodate a larger student body and create more affordable private school options in Honolulu, according to a news release. The Kaimuki campus enrolls nearly 300 students, from preschool to 12th grade.

The new education center features rooms wired for technology, with computer stations and mobile tablet access for every child. In addition, the center will include administrative offices, teacher work space and a tutorial room. There will also be a music center and areas for studies ranging from art to Mandarin.

“There is a great need for quality, values-based education in which students are prepared for college and a highly competitive world,” said Kaimuki Christian School Principal Mark Gallagher in the release. “This center will enable access for more students to obtain a quality education in urban Honolulu.”

The educational center is part of Kaimuki Christian School’s master plan, which has involved the acquisition of seven nearby properties over the past 18 years, the release said.

The Clarence T. C. Ching Foundation contributed $1.5 million toward the education center. Other contributors include First Hawaiian Bank, which contributed $25,000, and the Atherton Foundation (through Hawaii Community Foundation), which provided $50,000.

Construction of the next phase of the master plan, with six additional classrooms, is scheduled to begin within the next two years.

75th-anniversary Mass will honor isles’ bishops

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu will celebrate its 75th anniversary with a multilingual, multicultural Mass, 10 a.m. Sept. 10 at the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace on Fort Street Mall.

In 1941 Bishop James J. Sweeney was installed as Hawaii’s first diocesan bishop, succeeding a line of six missionary bishops. The installation was held in the downtown cathedral. Our Lady of Peace, the “patroness of the diocese,” will also be honored during next weekend’s liturgy.

The Mass will recognize the four bishops who preceded current Bishop Larry Silva. Besides Sweeney, they include the late Bishops John J. Scanlan and Joseph A. Ferrario, and Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo, who is now the bishop of the Richmond, Va., diocese.

The first Catholic missionaries arrived in Hawaii in 1827 and, after an initial rebuff by the Hawaiian government that lasted 10 years, were allowed to practice and propagate their religion, according to a Diocese of Honolulu news release.

Compiled by Pat Gee, pgee@staradvertiser.com