Showing posts with label Maui Hawaii. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maui Hawaii. Show all posts

Sunday, August 13, 2023

Churches of the West: Maria Lanakila Catholic Church, Lahaina Maui Hawaii

Photos now coming forth show the Maria Lanakila Catholic Church in Lahaina completely untouched by the devastation there, caused by the recent horrific fire.

Churches of the West: Maria Lanakila Catholic Church, Lahaina Maui Hawaii: T

Maria Lanakila Catholic Church, Lahaina Maui Hawaii



This impressive church is the Maria Lanakila Catholic Church in Lahaina Maui Hawaii.  The Church was established in 1846 with the present church having been built in 1873. Renovations were done in 1918, including the cleaning of the impressive paintings that are located within the church, gifts of Maui residents who might possibly be King Kalakaua or his sister, Queen Liliuokalani.


One of the very unusual features of this church is the chicken weather vane that is affixed atop the cross on the steeple.  I have no idea what the story behind this is.


 
 The name of the church means Mary Victorious in Hawaiian.

I've been to Mass there.

I'm just pointing this out.  A bright spot amongst the devastation.

Friday, February 3, 2023

Saturday, February 3, 1923. French Guns, Legislative Hijinks, Kamchatka Earthquake


The Saturday Evening Post was out, as it was of course a Saturday, with a Rockwell.  This one is apparently entitled "Grandpa's Little Ballerina".

The Country Gentleman went with a mid winter fox and its prey.

A magnitude 8.3+ earthquake struck Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula causing a twenty-five foot tsunami.  Twelve people were killed by seven resulting waves in Maui.

The Soviet Union approved plans to create a civil aviation authority for passenger airlines, leading to the world's most dangerous major airline, Aeroflot.

French guns and legislative shenanigans were in the news.


 

Friday, December 31, 2021

Wednesday December 31, 1941. The conclusion of a disasterous year.

It was New Year's Eve, a traditional day of celebration in the Western World, and those using the Christian calendar in general, which at this time was the whole world, save for church calendars using the "old calendar".  Often a day of revelry, this one no doubt was in spite of the war, but the war would have weirdly warped it in at least some fashion.

It's also one of resolutions, then and now.

Making any?

As earlier noted in our Today In Wyoming's History: December 31 entry:

1941   Big Piney, Pinedale, Nowood, and Star Valley became the first Wyoming Conservation Districts when their Certifications of Organization were signed by Wyoming's Secretary of State Lester Hunt.

At least when it falls on a weekday, as it did in 1941, it's also a work day, although not all private employers observe that in the same fashion.

The Japanese were working, with ongoing advances throughout the Pacific and Far East. And they were back in action in the Hawaiian islands, where  Japanese submarines shelled Kauai and Maui.

Allied leaders agreed to a Germany First policy in the war and form a combined US/UK Chiefs of Staff organization.

While looking back it was obvious that the war had turned, for those living in the time, facing constant Japanese expansion by the day, the decision to take on Germany first must have been daunting indeed.  This is how the map of Europe then looked:


This was, moreover, even worse than this might at first suggest.  Spain was still solidly aligned with Germany at the time, and had given airfield rights to German maritime patrols and port rights to German submarines, although secretly.  Sweden was in fact a neutral, but its raw materials were going to Germany.

And then there was the Japanese offensive all over the Pacific and Southeast Asia.


In Manila, residents were destroying alcohol in fear that Japanese troops would engage in a drunken rampage, news of what had occurred in Hong Kong having reached them.

Venezuela broke off diplomatic relations with Germany, Italy and Japan.

Things must have looked awful.  And indeed they were.

But the seeds of victory were already there, even though revelers this evening would have had real reason to doubt it.  Germany had not defeated the Soviet Union, which was fighting back now that winter had arrived.  The British were advancing in North Africa, which constituted a real second front even if the USSR would never admit that.  The British were also conducting raids along the Atlantic coast pretty much whatever they wanted to, demonstrating that even though the Germans commissioned a new U-boat nearly every day, they still weren't able to drive the British from the sea or even really dominate the surface of the Atlantic.  

The Japanese, for their part, were on the march, but the case still remained that they were not into a decade long war with China which they had not defeated.  No matter how much the Japanese advanced, that remained a daunting fact.  Until they could actually take China out of the war, China would consume the bulk of its ground forces and men committed anywhere else took away from that.  They were advancing, but only because their navy had never been committed against China.  It was proving highly effective against the U.S. Navy, the Royal Navy, and the Dutch Navy, but even there, it had not struck a decisive blow against any of them.

Closer to home

My family has never been big on New Year's Eve, which makes me guess that my parents families weren't either.  For Catholics, January 1 is the Catholic Holy Day of Obligation, the Solemnity of Mary, and December 31 has always had a Mass of Anticipation.  Without knowing, my guess is that this would have been the day my parents' families would have chosen to go to Mass, but I could well be wrong.  I'd definitely be wrong if my then 12-year-old father had to serve a January 1 Mass.

My parents would have still been enjoying a holiday break from school, and probably dreading the return to school the following week.

Sunday, December 17, 2017

Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: Maria Lanakila Catholic Church, Lahaina Maui Hawaii

Churches of the West: Maria Lanakila Catholic Church, Lahaina Maui Hawaii


This impressive church is the Maria Lanakila Catholic Church in Lahaina Maui Hawaii.  The Church was established in 1846 with the present church having been built in 1873. Renovations were done in 1918, including the cleaning of the impressive paintings that are located within the church, gifts of Maui residents who might possibly be King Kalakaua or his sister, Queen Liliuokalani.

One of the very unusual features of this church is the chicken weather vane that is affixed atop the cross on the steeple.  I have no idea what the story behind this is.




 The name of the church means Mary Victorious in Hawaiian.

Sunday, December 10, 2017

Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: St. James the Less Catholic Church, Ulupalakua, Maui, Hawaii.

Churches of the West: St. James the Less Catholic Church, Ulupalakua, Maui, Hawaii.






This is St. James the Less Catholic Church in Ulupalakua, Maui, Hawaii.  It's a mission church served by Our Lady Queen of Angels, which is actually fairly close to it on the same highway.  Being used to the large distances of most rural areas of the West, to find two churches of the same faith so close together is surprising, but even in such locations as Denver Colorado that still occurs, so perhaps this should not be surprising.  This church is actually older that Our Lady Queen of Angels and the original church built in this location was constructed at least as early as 1875, with missionary activity having dated back to the 1850s.  The current structure was built in 1950 and renovated in 2002.

Sunday, November 26, 2017

Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Kula, Maui, Hawaii

Churches of the West: Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Kula, Maui, Hawaii:


This is Our Lady Queen of Angels Church in Keokea, Maui Hawaii.  This church was opened in 1940 after a need for a new Catholic Church in the area was discerned in connection with a nearby sanatorium.  As it was centrally located, and had sufficient grounds, it became the mission church for two churches in the nearby region, those being St. James the Less and the unique Portuguese styled Holy Ghost Mission.

Monday, December 21, 2015

Courthouses of the West: Lahaina Banyan Courthouse, Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii.

Courthouses of the West: Lahaina Banyan Courthouse, Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii.:






This is the Lahaina Banyan Courthouse in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii. The courthouse was built in 1859 to replace a courthouse that had been destroyed in a typhoon the prior year.  The courthouse served the Kingdom of Hawaii until in U.S. annexation in 1898.  It was renovated, while still being used as a courthouse in 1925.  It is now a museum, visitors center and a community center.