An ode to joy

The following testimony was prepared to be read at the Nov. 22 funeral of Sacred Hearts Father Joseph Hendriks by a resident of Kalaupapa where the priest was pastor for eight years, his final parish assignment. However, heavy rains on Oahu the day of the funeral prevented the plane carrying the group from Kalaupapa from leaving Molokai.

Here is what the congregation in St. Patrick Church would have heard, had the weather been more cooperative. Father Hendriks died on Nov. 3.

Father Joseph Hendriks came to Kalaupapa in 1998. He used to like to say that Kalaupapa must not have ever heard of Vatican II because we still did a lot of things in church in the old way. Somehow, he was comfortable with that.

He used to like to have his picture taken with us and with his parishioners from other churches he had served. One of his favorite lines was, “Wait, I have to comb my hair first.” The thing was, he must have not had more than just a couple dozen of those hairs left up above his forehead. He would put out the juice and cookies and loved to show albums and albums full of these pictures. I don’t recall all of the other subjects in those photos, but I can see him clearly, always tall and erect and beaming, and proud and full of love for the people around him.

We have a lot of tourists that come daily to visit Kalaupapa. Father Joseph, no matter how poorly he felt or fatigued he may have been feeling that day, every day, he’d put on his best aloha shirt, black pants and his shiny black shoes and when they’d come to that point of the tour when they’d walk into our church, he would speak tirelessly of Saint Damien of Molokai, Blessed Mother Marianne and Brother Dutton. His energy, love, enthusiasm and total dedication of all things Kalaupapa and the church shone through his eyes and speech and softened many eyes and hearts.

One thing Father Joseph used to like to do was to compose lyrics to the tune of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.” We would sing these songs he wrote of the spiritual and humanitarian attributes of Blessed Father Damien, Blessed Mother Marianne and Brother Dutton. He also composed songs for several special and deserving members of this parish. It was one of his ways to express approval and appreciation when you did something good for the church or the community. He would print up the lyrics and pass them out and he’d lead us in singing for this special person or couple after Sunday Mass. In Kalaupapa, it was quite a feather in your cap if you got a song composed for yourself from Father Joseph.

When it came to that sad time for Father to retire to Honolulu and to leave Kalaupapa, we had a farewell party, exchanged gifts. At the end of his final Sunday Mass, the entire congregation, his congregation, got up and sang a song, but this time the song was for Father Joseph. It touched briefly upon his young life in Belgium, his many years of service to parishes throughout Hawaii and of the many lives he touched and of how much he had meant to them. It was sung to the tune of “Ode to Joy” and it was simply entitled, “Father Joseph Hendriks, pastor, St. Francis Church, Kalaupapa.”