Cool and lush Nuuanu just outside downtown Honolulu is the home to St. Stephen Church, one of the oldest churches in the valley. It marks its 75th anniversary as a parish this year with a 3 p.m. Mass on Nov. 30, the first Sunday of Advent, celebrated by Bishop Larry Silva.

The parish’s history actually extends a dozen years earlier than its official blessing in 1933. In April 1926, Bishop Stephen Alencastre acquired a small piece of land from Albert and Martha Blatt. It was known as the “brickyard,” because of all the manufactured bricks that used to be stored there.

A first church was built as a mission chapel of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace. It became known as the “Chapel of Ease.”

The first structure was replaced by a new small handsomely designed concrete church blessed by Bishop Alencastre on Nov. 6, 1932, and dedicated to his patron saint, St. Stephen.

St. Stephen did not remain a mission long. In April 1933, Bishop Alencastre elevated it to the status of a quasi-parish, naming Sacred Hearts Father Patrick Logan as its first pastor.

When the islands became a diocese in 1941, St. Stephen became independent of the cathedral. In 1942, Sacred Hearts Father Alphonsus Bouwmeister was appointed pastor. When he retired in 1960, Father Joseph F. Turk was named the first diocesan pastor.

By that time, the church needed major repair. Instead, Bishop James J. Sweeney recommended that a new church be built.

On July 1967, the building contract was awarded to Tani Construction Company. For nearly a year the daily Pali commuters watched the new modern structure rise on the site of the original St. Stephen. During the construction, nearby Temple Emanu-El graciously allowed St. Stephen parishioners to celebrate Mass every Sunday in their hall.

Bishop John J. Scanlan blessed the present church on Sept. 1, l968.

Bishop Sweeney, in 1944, had built St. Catherine Convent (named after his mother) next door to the church to house the Maryknoll Sisters working at Catholic Social Services, the precursor to Catholic Charities. Catholic Charities uses the building today for its services to the elderly.

Following Father Turk, Msgr. Raymond Nishigaya became pastor serving from 1976 to 2000. Under his administration, the parish purchased an adjacent property for a rectory.

In 2004, the parish was clustered with its neighbor, Blessed Sacrament Church in Pauoa Valley, under the single pastorship of Msgr. Alan Nagai. Today, Father Khanh Pham-Nguyen is pastor of both parishes.

Despite its modern profile, St. Stephen Church has held on to some historic touches.

The historic 130-year-old bronze bell, now displayed in the church, once called to services the faithful of the Waiapuka Church in North Kona. After years of tolling, it found its way to St. Stephen in the early 1990s.

The parish’s landmark, the statue of Our Lady of Fatima that greets everyone driving up Pali Highway, was blessed by Bishop Sweeney in l948.

The statues of the Blessed Mother in the nave and St. Stephen in the church were carved from lindenwood by the St. Joseph Carpenter Shop in Taiwan. The design of the St. Stephen statue is by Larry Ing of Honolulu.

The mural in the devotional nave and the new confessional were blessed in 2006 by Bishop Silva. The mural display represents St. Stephen, the Blessed Mother and Moses.