Kalaupapa

Pitching Our Tents

Wednesday, May 26th, 2021

Opinion by Father Pat Killilea, St. Francis Church, Kalaupapa

You may have heard the one about the detective who, on being interviewed by a friend, was asked why he stayed in a tent. He responded that he was under cover. When I think of a tent, I usually think of a scout troop or an army platoon pitching their tents under the wild blue yonder. I think of the tinkers, the Irish traveling folk, who pitched their tents on the side of the road and made tin cans for the local people. I think also of the apostles, Peter, James and John, on the mountain of Jesus’ transfiguration.…

The Last Farewell

Wednesday, March 24th, 2021

Opinion by Father Pat Killilea, St. Francis Church, Kalaupapa

“There’s a ship lies rigged and ready in the harbor, tomorrow for old England she sails
Far away from your land of sunshine to my land full of rainy skies and gales
And I shall be aboard that ship tomorrow, though my heart is full of tears at this farewell
For you are beautiful and I have loved you dearly, more dearly than the spoken word can tell.”
For those of you who were into the hit songs of the 70s, “The Last Farewell” is one of them, sung by the great Kenyan-Englishman, Roger Whittaker, in 1971.…

Aloha, Uncle Boogie

Wednesday, March 10th, 2021

By Catherine Cluett Pactol

Kalaupapa’s Clarence “Boogie” Kahilihiwa will be remembered by many around the world for his big smile, even bigger presence and his life of advocacy for patients of Hansen’s disease in Kalaupapa. Uncle Boogie passed away on March 5 at the age of 79, following an illness.

Uncle Boogie served as president of Ka ‘Ohana O Kalaupapa, an organization for patient residents and their families and friends, since 2011, as well as a member and former president of the Kalaupapa Lions Club. He retired from his job as a painter with the state Dept. of Health and managed the Kalaupapa Bookstore, a popular visitor stop on the Kalaupapa tour.…

Kalaupapa Goodbyes

Wednesday, February 24th, 2021

Opinion by Father Pat Killilea, St. Francis Church, Kalaupapa

It must have been about 9:30 p.m. and I had settled in bed for the night when it came to me by way of the voices of Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli, “Time to say goodbye….” I have no idea why this melody floated into my consciousness. In this song written for Andrea, the duo are saying goodbye to countries they have never shared with each other, but now they are in fact going to these countries on ships which don’t exist anymore. So, it’s time to say goodbye again. The opening verse is in Italian and I have only a couple of words of Italian in my vocabulary.…