The bishop assigns a priest to survey and assess the condition of the more than 70 Catholic cemeteries in Hawaii

By Anna Weaver | Hawaii Catholic Herald 

Photo by Anna Weaver Father Mike Owens examines a carved, lava rock headstone in Our Lady of the Mount Cemetery in Kalihi Valley. A Pandora’s Box of questions Father Mike Owens says that the cemetery survey project could open a “Pandora’s box” of Catholic cemetery issues and improvements that need to be addressed. Those include: Is a cemetery fenced off? Is a cemetery marked with a sign? What are the liabilities of uneven burial plot border markers and cracked or falling headstones and monuments? Are there records or a map of where people are buried? Does a parish know which historical figures are buried in their cemetery? Is a cemetery still active? If not, are cremated remains allowed to be put in family plots? Does the church or the family own a grave plot? Is there paperwork or contracts to back up ownership? If a cemetery is no longer next to a church, is the diocese or the parish responsible for it?

Churches and cemeteries. The connection is as old as the catacombs. The church in Hawaii is no exception to this tradition. The King Street Cemetery, the resting place of missionaries and bishops and many early island Catholics, may be the most well-known Catholic graveyard in Hawaii, but many others dot the diocesan landscape.

The diocese, in fact, has more cemeteries than active parishes. Many lie beside churches, but others are hidden and harder to find. Most have not been used in decades.

In April 2007, Bishop Larry Silva assigned Father Mike Owens to survey and evaluate the safety and maintenance of the more than 70 cemeteries in the Diocese of Honolulu. The project will include a review of cemetery record keeping and long-term maintenance plans.

Bishop Silva said he eventually wants to set standards of care for cemeteries to make sure they are properly looked after.

“Christians did not invent the custom of burying their loved ones who have died, but since the early days of the church, we Christians have shown great respect to the body and to the places where the bodies of our loved ones are buried,” the bishop said.

“These have become places of prayer, remembrance, and hope, as we know that eternal life, not death, is the final reality.”

“I have often witnessed people spending time at the graves of their deceased relatives or friends, decorating them, and praying at them,” Bishop Silva said. “It has always struck me that this is but one manifestation of the truth that love never dies.

Father Owens believes that a major responsibility of Catholics is to be united with the deceased through prayer. “It doesn’t end with the funeral,” he said. “We need to be reminded. Without them where would we be?”

Our Lady of the Mount Cemetery

Deep in Kalihi Valley, past St. Anthony Retreat Center sits a small plot of land that could be mistaken for a park if it weren’t for a large sign visible from the street reading “Our Lady of the Mount Cemetery: God Is Watching.”

The cemetery was started in 1883 on the original site of Our Lady of the Mount Church, now located two miles away. It has only a few visible headstones, many of which have worn grave inscriptions or are damaged. Walking on the grass probably means treading on unmarked graves.

Walking through the cemetery, Father Owens points out a unique gravestone carved out of lava rock, the kind of which he said he’d never seen except there.

According to Father Owens, there are many cemeteries in the islands like Our Lady of the Mount, not visited often or maintained. Part of his survey will be to determine just how many uncared for cemeteries there are.

Father Owens says that going back to the early Catholic Church, people were often buried under churches because of the strong idea of the communion of saints. Eventually the practice spilled over into cemeteries next to them.

“The idea was that in church you pray for each other,” he said. “And it was also a reminder that one day you’re also going to die.”

St. John the Baptist Cemetery

Nestled against St. John the Baptist Church on Omilo Lane in a residential area of Kalihi is its cemetery, inactive since 1965.

Moving through the quiet plot, Father Owens points out significant graves. He believes that the last person to be buried there was the mother of retired Marianist Father Joseph Priestley. Governor John Burns and his wife Beatrice buried their infant son William Edward in the graveyard in 1935 with a simple marker that reads “Beloved Son.” Father Owens’ own grandmother, Mary De Silva, is also buried in the cemetery under a tree near the church rectory.

He pointed out the olive trees in the cemetery and talked about priests from Europe who came to Hawaii and brought with them the tradition of using olive branches for Palm Sunday. He said one will often find olive trees planted near island churches and cemeteries.

Our Lady of Good Counsel Cemetery

Father Owens thinks that perhaps the saddest cemetery in Hawaii is at one of his former pastoral assignments, Our Lady of Good Counsel in Pearl City. It dates back to 1896 when James Campbell, the Oahu Railway & Land Company, and the Ewa Plantation Company gave land to Bishop Gulstan Ropert for a Catholic graveyard.

In 1938, part of the cemetery was given to the Territory of Hawaii for a road-widening project after which nearly 500 remains ended up unaccounted for.

“It’s through no fault of the parish community, but just the idea of pushing all the remains to the back of the cemetery,” he said. “Here in Hawaii we have such a great reverence and kind of a fear of the dead that you can’t imagine people doing something like that.”

“There’s a Hawaiian burial committee for Hawaiian remains. What about Catholic remains? Who is going to be responsible to see that they are buried in a dignified and respectful manner?”

Father Owens job now is to help prepare the way for the proper remembrance of those buried in Hawaii’s Catholic cemeteries. As he said, “Who knows how many saints are buried [in them]?”