Cardinal Timothy Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the pope’s representative to the United States, will be among those attending the final tribute today to the canonization of St. Marianne Cope in Kalaupapa, Molokai.
About 500 people have registered to attend what is being called a Kalaupapa "community celebration" for Cope, who lived in Kalaupapa for the last 30 years of her life serving banished Hansen’s disease patients, a Catholic Diocese of Honolulu news release said.
The observance will include a 10 a.m. Mass celebrated at Charles R. Bishop Home, the former residence for female patients, which the Franciscan Sisters oversaw. Exhibits will be on display at Bishop Home, McVeigh Hall and the newly renovated and reopened Paschoal Hall. Other activities include walking tours of the settlement, a luau lunch and a performance in Paschoal Hall of "November’s Song," a play about Cope’s work.
The event will also be attended by Bishop Robert Cunningham of the Diocese of Syracuse, N.Y., where Cope joined the Sisters of St. Francis and spent the first half of her religious ministry; and Bishop Peter Paul Yelezuome Angkyier of the Diocese of Damongo in northern Ghana.
Cope’s work will also be remembered at the annual Red Mass on Thursday at 9 a.m. at Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in downtown Honolulu.
The Red Mass is the diocese’s traditional service of prayer for Hawaii’s public servants, including state and county lawmakers and members of the Judiciary. About 500 people, including Catholic employees and leaders of other faiths, are expected to attend, said a news release from diocese.
The featured speaker will be local Sister Alicia Damien Lau, a registered nurse and health care executive.
The diocese news release said Cope’s work with Hansen’s disease patients was a prime example of government and religious sectors working together effectively, and can offer lessons of collaboration today.
"Today, when we often witness a strain, and sometimes outright tension, between government and religion, each fearing the encroachment of the other, it is fitting to note that Mother Marianne became a saint as a government employee, first of the kingdom and later of the territory," the release said.
Dolan will deliver the sermon. Last year Dolan was in the forefront of Catholic bishops who protested a new federal health care mandate that employers provide free contraceptive services to employees.
Lau, as a member of the Damien/Marianne Commission for the Diocese of Honolulu, played a major role in organizing the pilgrimage to Vatican City in Rome for Cope’s Oct. 21 canonization by Pope Benedict XVI. Lau is a member of the same religious order as Cope, the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities.
The Red Mass has been a Hawaii tradition since 1955, usually held when the Legislature convenes in January. It includes an appeal for wisdom and guidance for political figures, and is named for the color of the robes worn for a Mass of the Holy Spirit, the release said.
