By Anna Weaver | Hawaii Catholic Herald

Father Damien de Veuster has united a diverse group of 550 travelers headed to Belgium and Rome on the official diocesan travel group organized by Seawind Tours & Travel. Many of them say this is a trip that only comes around once.

“I don’t think there would ever be another person in my lifetime that I would feel a connection to that would be canonized,” said Ann Jones, a retired St. Anthony School, Kailua, teacher.

“It’s because of [his connection to] Hawaii,” she said by phone last week. “It’s kind of silly but he’s more personal to me than any other saint.”

It was her husband, Paul, who, back when Damien was beatified, told Ann, “He’s going to be canonized one day. And we’re going to go.” Now the Jones’ are set to travel with the “Bishop’s Tour” to Belgium and Rome on their first visit to Europe.

Ann says she’s most excited about “seeing the beauty of the Vatican, the majesty and the ceremony, and the rite of the canonization.”

Such a momentous event makes her wish she was still teaching so she could share her experience with her students. Instead she’ll happily talk to her grandchildren about the trip, and “we’ll send our prayers back to Hawaii.”

Rowena Akana, an Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee-at-large, says she is attending the canonization because “the Kalaupapa patients are my constituents.”

“The fact that Father Damien gave his life while taking care of our Hawaiian people makes him a very special individual,” she said.

“It’s unprecedented that someone who lived in Hawaii for a great deal of time is going to be canonized,” Akana added. “And of course I’d like to attend the ceremonies that will commemorate his great work.”

Akana will be accompanied on the trip by her husband Ronald Bongiovanni.

Jerry Raukhorst, chief executive officer of Catholic Charities Hawaii, and his wife Cheri will be on the Rome leg of the canonization trip. He says that since he has worked with Catholic Charities his entire career, Father Damien’s becoming a saint is particularly meaningful to him.

“If there was a patron saint for Catholic Charities Hawaii, it would be St. Damien,” he said. “We work with vulnerable populations, the most at need and at risk … that’s what Damien did.”

Rauckhorst made his first trip to Kalaupapa a few months ago and it added to his high regard for the almost-saint.

“It’s the canonization of someone who is the greatest role model for what we do,” Rauckhorst explained. “It’s just one of the things I wouldn’t miss.”

Another husband and wife on the Rome pilgrimage are Branden and Christyn Ibara. The canonization trip is doubling as their honeymoon. The two 26-year-olds were married on July 10 and had hoped to go to the Belgium part of the pilgrimage, but that tour had sold out in a matter of days.

Branden, a 2001 graduate of Damien Memorial School, calls Damien one of his heroes because of his “humility and servant heart.”

“It wasn’t a small task to go to Kalaupapa,” he said. “Damien’s a great example for young people today of being willing to give up of themselves.”

He added, “Where else can we see a group of people come together as one body and celebrate the greatness of this one person’s life and sacrifice?”