This is the second in a series of Hawaii Catholic Herald columns leading up to the
canonization of Blessed Damien de Veuster which is expected some time this year.
Pilgrimage planners make Rome, Belgium connections
By Patrick Downes | Hawaii Catholic Herald
Have you ever tried to plan a trip of a lifetime — airlines, hotels, ground transportation, travel stops and activities — when you don’t know when the trip is going to be? Now try it for several hundred people. Twelve time zones away.
It’s not that easy.
But that was the goal last week of Randy King, president of Seawind Travel and Tours, the agency picked by the Diocese of Honolulu to handle the travel arrangements for the canonization of Blessed Damien which will take place most likely in Rome on … well, nobody knows.
King, and three others, made a Jan. 25-Feb. 2 trip to Rome and Belgium to plan the pilgrimage that he said, “everybody is talking about happening in October,” although even that has not been determined.
The trip was “very productive,” King said, by cell phone from New York, Feb. 1 on his way back to Hawaii.
The group, which included Sacred Hearts Father Lane Akiona, Barbara Okamoto who is a member of the Bishop Silva’s Damien Marianne commission, and Seawind CEO Glenn Yim, “made some fantastic contacts” in Rome and Belgium that will expedite things once the date is announced.
“It was very important to do this,” King said.
According to King, the connections they’ve made will help them “be the first in line” for tickets for the canonization and other events, get their choice of hotels, and arrange other tour activities.
He wants this trip to be the “best that it can possibly be.”
“We know the hotels we want to use,” he said. “We are trying to be first. We have our A, B, C, D, E list.”
King said October is a high tourist season and the pilgrimage group would be competing with other gatherings. If past practice is followed, Damien will be canonized along with other saints who would attract their own pilgrimage groups to the city.
But the weak global economy could also thin the crowds, King said. And the latter part of the month, he was told, is usually less congested.
Putting everyone in one hotel would be Seawind’s first choice. After that, it would use a “cluster of hotels” in the same area.
Among the people King and his party met in Rome was Sacred Hearts Father Alfred Bell, the postulator for the cause for Father Damien who is one of the primary contacts with Vatican officials planning the canonization.
King said Father Bell would try to ensure that Hawaii is recognized with a role in the ceremony, since Hawaii is the place where Damien served and the location of his second miracle for canonization.
“We are on the same page” regarding that, King said.
The group also met a representative from the Pontifical North American College, the United States’ seminary in Rome, who will serve as one of the local contacts for the pilgrimage group when in Rome.
The official pilgrimage will include a trip to Belgium to the city of Tremeloo, Damien’s birthplace and the site of the chapel that holds his tomb. King’s delegation met there with city officials.
“They are ecstatic that we are coming,” he said. “We are planning a Mass at Damien’s tomb.”
In Rome, the trip planners want to have several special liturgies separate from the canonization, including a vigil Mass the evening before and a Mass the day after. A day trip to Assisi would also be part of the package.
King said that Seawind is planning a shorter version of the pilgrimage to Rome only for those who don’t have the time or money or desire to go to Belgium.
People interested in the pilgrimage may log their names and addresses on the Seawind Tours and Travel website at www.seawindtours.com/damien. About 250 people have already signed up, King said.
As soon as the date is announced, King said, an “e-mail blast” will go out to everyone on the list with information on how to sign up for the pilgrimage. The travel agency’s pilgrimage website is nearly ready and waiting to launch.
No one is sure when the news of the canonization date will come, but Bishop Silva canceled a Feb. 14-24 trip to San Francisco in case the announcement is made during that time.
King said he asked his contacts in Rome and Belgium to call him “immediately, day or night” when they learn of the date.
Read all about him
Dozens of books have been written on the life of Father Damien but a little 32-page booklet may have done more to tell his story than all of them.
“Damien, Servant of God, Servant of Humanity,” updated in 2002 by Sacred Hearts Father Herman Gomes and in its third printing, is the publication the Sacred Hearts Fathers have been using to spread the word about their most famous member.
Since it was originally published in 1974 by the Franciscans of St. Anthony Guild in Paterson, N.J., thousands of copies have been printed. They have been available in classes and presentations about Damien, in church gift shops, at the now-closed Waikiki Damien Museum, in Kalaupapa’s St. Francis Church, and other places.
Most recently, it was handed out after the Jan. 22 Red Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace.
On the cover is an old color photograph of St. Philomena Church in Kalawao, inset with a photo of Blessed Damien as a young priest in formal habit.
The 5 1/2 by 8 1/2 inch booklet gives an appealing, easy-to-read biography of the soon-to-be-saint that covers his childhood, his entry into religious life, his arrival in Hawaii, his Big Island assignment and finally his 16 years in Kalaupapa.
The booklet also has chapters on the Sacred Hearts Congregation, the Hawaiian people’s leprosy scourge, and Father Damien’s final journey to canonization.
The text is broken up with 10 black and white photos, and 13 color photos fill a four-page glossy center section.
If you want a copy, please fill out the coupon below. The cost is $2 per booklet ($1 for the cost of printing, and $1 for postage.