Hana pastor Sacred Hearts Father Paul Zegers is retiring

By Patrick Downes | Hawaii Catholic Herald

Sacred Hearts Father Paul Zegers is retiring as pastor of one of Hawaii’s most remote and beautiful parish settings, St. Mary Church in Hana, Maui, where he has served for the past dozen years. Age — he turns 85 on Aug. 8 — and poor health is forcing him to step down. His last Sunday in the parish is Feb. 18.

He will live at St. Patrick Monastery in Kaimuki on Oahu.

Father Zegers was ordained in Zandhoven, Belgium, in 1949. He marks his 58th anniversary as a Sacred Hearts priest on Oct. 9.

He arrived in Honolulu as a young missionary on Nov. 13, 1952. He was assigned to St. Patrick Church in Kaimuki for a month’s orientation before being named associate pastor of St. Anthony Church in Kalihi Kai.

For the next 18 years, he served as a parish priest in Kalihi and the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, Our Lady of Sorrows Parish in Wahiawa, St. Patrick Church, and Sacred Hearts Church in Lanai.

Father Zegers became pastor of Our Lady of Angels Parish in Kula, Maui, in 1979. Eight years later he settled on Kauai to be pastor of Lihue’s Immaculate Conception Parish.

In 1990, it was back to Maui with the job as pastor of St. Rita Church in Haiku, Maui. In 1995, Father Zegers traveled further on down the winding Hana Highway to be the pastor of St. Mary’s.

St. Mary has three far-flung and historic missions: St. Peter in Puuiki, St. Paul in Kipahulu and St. Joseph in Kaupo, which schedules Masses at noon only on the “fifth Sunday of the month,” a occurrence on the calendar only four times this year.

Father Zegers will be replaced by another veteran Belgian, Sacred Hearts Father Felix Vandebroek who is now associate pastor of St. Michael Church in Waialua on Oahu.