Hymns for her: Hawaiian music fills a New York church to honor Blessed Marianne

SYRACUSE, N.Y. » A choir of Hawaii and New York Catholics sang Hawaiian-language music on Saturday for perhaps the first time in the history of the 145-year-old church where soon-to-be-Saint Mother Marianne Cope made her religious vows.

While 104 people traveled from Hawaii to New York to honor Cope, a total of 247 people from Hawaii will see her elevated to sainthood on Oct. 21 in the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Square.

Honolulu Bishop Larry Silva urged the faithful here to follow Cope’s path to help those forgotten by society.

"She cared for those who others considered their outcasts," Silva told a gathering at Syracuse’s Franciscan Church of the Assumption, where Cope first heard the need for help in a faraway place called the Sandwich Islands in 1883 — and later took over the work of Father Damien in caring for Hansen’s disease patients on Molokai’s remote and unforgiving Kalaupapa peninsula.

Silva presided over a celebration of the Eucharist that featured Calvin Liu — musical director of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu. Liu wore a Cope-inspired aloha shirt while playing an eight-string ukulele to "Iesu me ke Kanaka Waiwai" and "Blessed Mother Marianne," sung by a first-time choir of Syracuse and Hawaii singers.

"It was beautiful," said Steve Block, one of the cantors at the Franciscan Church of the Assumption who joined in the choir. "We want to do Hawaiian music all of the time now."

Glenn Armstrong, the church’s musical director, said he did not think that Hawaiian music had ever been sung in the church — but he would welcome a reprise.

The songs "Blessed Mother Marianne," written by Hawaii Catholic Herald editor and diocese spokesman Patrick Downes, and "Iesu me ke Kanaka Waiwai," by Hawaii musician-songwriter Johnny Almeida — were sung by Hawaii and New York congregants who used their enthusiasm and pitch to make up for any missed Hawaiian pronunciations.

Dr. Kalani Brady, who oversees the care of the Hansen’s disease patients, said he considered it an honor to join Saturday’s combined choir "in the church where (Cope) accepted her call to come to us in Hawaii."

Silva ended the service with a Hawaiian blessing and offered the New York congregants a relic of Cope’s remains. He also presented the church with a bronze plaque that bears the names of each of the nine Hansen’s disease patients — their average age is 80 — who made the pilgrimage to Syracuse and will go on to witness the canonization before Pope Benedict XVI.

The plaque also recognizes the 8,000 other Hansen’s disease patients who were banished to Kalaupapa out of fear of spreading the disease. Cope "selflessly dedicated her life to caring for the unfortunate victims of this dreadful disease," it says. "Their plight shall not be forgotten and their strength and devotion will forever inspire us."

Syracuse church officials said the plaque will hang in the entryway.

DAY TWO of the pilgrimage began Saturday morning when bleary-eyed Hansen’s disease patients arrived after more than 20 hours of travel from Kalaupapa.

In all, 104 people from Hawaii made the long, overnight series of airline flights that began Friday and took them from Honolulu to San Francisco, then to either Newark, N.J., or Washington, D.C., before they finally landed in Syracuse.

"I haven’t slept yet," Hansen’s disease patient John Arruda said after landing. "I’m tired. Very tired."

But the patients also were excited to see where Cope began her journey in New York, said Hansen’s disease patient Clarence "Boogie" Kahilihiwa, who made the journey with his wife, Ivy.

In 2009, Kahilihiwa traveled to the Vatican in a wheelchair to witness Damien’s canonization. Damage to both of Kahilihiwa’s knees led to knee replacements in both legs.

This time, Kahilihiwa said, he knows he might need to move slowly over Rome’s notorious cobblestone streets, but he has a plan: "I’m going to take more pictures this time," Kahilihiwa said. "My knees were bad and last time I didn’t take enough pictures."

It’s that kind of persistence to see Cope’s canonization that worries their doctor, Brady.

"I’m really afraid they’re going to shop till they drop," Brady said.

Kahilihiwa said he’s eager and prepared for the long days ahead.

"It’s good to come back (to Rome)," Kahilihiwa said. "Now we know what to expect."

Today the patients, their caregivers and the other religious pilgrims will spend one more day in New York, visiting Cope’s remains in Utica. She died in 1918 in Kalaupapa at the age of 80 from kidney and heart disease.

The patients also will tour a Cope-inspired museum at St. Anthony Convent of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities to learn more about the nun.