By Father Patrick Freitas | Special to the Herald

The crew The volunteers and their parishes Peter Acpal, Holy Rosary, Paia Frank Chargualaf, St. Theresa, Kihei Stefano Halatokua, Maria Lanakila, Lahaina David Moon, Maria Lanakila, Lahaina Maka Secretano, Maria Lanakila, Lahaina Phil Secretano, Maria Lanakila, Lahaina Albert Sansano, Christ the King, Kahului Austin Sensano, Christ the King, Kahului Josh Silva, St. Theresa, Kihei

Few members of this far-flung Catholic community on Maui’s eastern coast, tucked in the Keanae-Waipio Valley three-fourths of the way to Hana, a place of tropical flower growers and taro farmers, could remember the last time fresh paint brightened their place of worship.

St. Gabriel’s Mission Church in Keanae, a wooden structure built in the 1930s and once a vibrant center of Catholic life, has long shown the wear of time, weather, termites and benign neglect, given the dwindling population and the advanced age of its residents.

That is, until, Saturday, Oct. 18, when nine enthusiastic members of the Maui Vicariate Young Adults, armed with gallons of white paint, and a truckload of ladders and painting gear, coalesced into an early-morning caravan for an hour-and-a-half trip up the (in)famous Hana Road.

Once at their destination, and after nearly nine straight hours of work, the crew of volunteers completed the repainting of the interior of the 70-year-old church, a mission of St. Rita Parish in Haiku.

For the five to 20 parishioners who gather once a week for noon Mass on Sunday, it was a generous gift, a miracle of sorts. Perhaps not as dramatic as the “miracle” that built the coral-walled Our Lady of Fatima Shrine, also on the Keanae property, but that’s another story…