This is the fourth in a series of Hawaii Catholic Herald columns leading up to the Oct. 11 canonization of Blessed Damien de Veuster
Canonization tours going fast
By Patrick Downes and Anna Weaver | Hawaii Catholic Herald
Sold out!
Two days after Seawind Tours and Travel announced its three tour packages to the Oct. 11 canonization of Father Damien in Rome, the main one, which includes a visit to Damien’s home country of Belgium, had no more spaces available.
“We got slammed,” said Seawind president Randy King, about the most enthusiastic response to a tour he said his company has ever seen.
“It’s fantastic, wonderful!” he told the Hawaii Catholic Herald by phone on Feb. 27. “Hawaii is so excited. It couldn’t be better.”
The main tour, “Tour A,” an Oct. 1-14 trip titled Bishop Larry Silva’s Pilgrimage Tour, costs $4,619. It includes three days in Belgium, seven days in Italy, plus two days coming and two days going.
Tour B goes to Italy only, joining Tour A on Oct. 6. Tour C is also Italy only, but is for travelers arranging their own air transportation to and from Hawaii.
The limit for all three tours is 400 people, the number of tickets Seawind was able to secure for the actual canonization ceremony, Oct. 11, in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican.
As of March 2, all canonization seats were taken. Those who sign up for a tour after March 1 will receive assistance in finding a spot in the general viewing area.
Tour A’s limit was 160 people. There is still room in Tours B and C.
On Tour A will be 10 residents of Kalaupapa plus their traveling companions. It also includes about 10 people associated with Kalaupapa National Historical Park. Bishop Silva will also travel with Tour A, at least some of the time.
The Kalaupapa residents were the first to learn about the trip details when King visited the settlement on Feb. 22 for a Mass of Thanksgiving for the canonization date announcement.
As for covering the patients travel expenses, “we’ll make it happen” through fundraising and other means, King told them. Spouses and relatives would have to pay for themselves.
King said he will personally make sure that the patients have special seating at the Belgium and Vatican Masses.
Also traveling to Belgium and Rome will be a choir of at least 50 people, organized by Calvin Liu, the choir director for the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, and Robert Mondoy, the choir director for St. John Vianney Parish in Kailua. The choir will be traveling independently of the 160 in Tour A.
“We have been looking forward to this for years,” said Liu, who will direct the choir. Potential choir members “have been saving up for this for a long time,” he said.
Liu said that “try-outs” will be conducted to determine who will go.
The choir will participate in the numerous liturgical celebrations being scheduled for Belgium and Italy. But for the Oct. 11 canonization ceremony itself, its involvement may be limited to a period before the Mass, which seems to be standard procedure.
According to King, also making the Belgium-Italy trip independent of Tour A will be a 30-member hula halau organized by Sacred Hearts Father Lane Akiona, pastor of St. Augustine Church in Waikiki.
Considering the destinations and historic nature of the canonization event, King is billing the tours as the “trip of a lifetime.”
Nonetheless, he listed a few more perks to add to the exceptional nature of the pilgrimage. Namely:
n The group will eat at a different Rome restaurant every night. King and commission member Barbara Okamoto “scoped out” all of them during a planning visit to Rome in January.
n Pilgrims will receive “an official jacket” and a “pilgrimage scarf” to identify group members.
n Most of the meals, the tours and ground transportation are included in the price. The Vatican tours have already been booked.
King offered one caveat. “Even if the pope cancels the canonization, we’re still going,” he said. “So many things are out of our control.”
It is no idle warning. After Seawind organized the pilgrimage to Father Damien’s beatification in Belgium in 1994, Pope John Paul II broke his hip and the ceremony was canceled. But Seawind couldn’t cancel and Hawaii travelers were treated to a non-beatification visit to Belgium. It was good practice for the actual beatification which was rescheduled for the following year.