Kawaiahaʻo Church

Church in Hawaii, United States

Church in Hawaiʻi, United States

Kawaiahaʻo Church

Kawaiahaʻo Church is known as the "Westminster Abbey of Hawaiʻi": site of royal weddings, inaugurations, installations, christenings, funerals and tombs.

Location| 957 Punchbowl Street
Honolulu, Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi
Country| United States
Language(s)| English and Hawaiian
Denomination| United Church of Christ
Website| www.kawaiahao.org
History
Status| Church
Architecture
Functional status| Active
Style| Neoclassical
Mediterranean Revival
Years built| 1836–1842
Administration
Division| Hawaii Conference UCC
Clergy
Pastor(s)| Kenneth Makuakāne (Kahu)

Kawaiahao Church and Mission Houses

U.S. National Register of Historic Places

U.S. National Historic Landmark

Location| 957 Punchbowl Street and 553 S. King Street, Honolulu, Hawaii
Coordinates| 21°18′15″N 157°51′28″W﻿ / ﻿21.3043°N 157.8579°W﻿ / 21.3043; -157.8579
Area| 8.8 acres (3.6 ha)[1]
Built| 1836–1842
Architect| Hiram Bingham
NRHP reference No.| 66000294
Significant dates
Added to NRHP| October 15, 1966[2]
Designated NHL| December 29, 1962[3]

Kawaiahaʻo Church is a historic Congregational church located in Downtown Honolulu on the Hawaiian Island of Oʻahu. The church, along with the Mission Houses, comprise the Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site, which was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark (NHL) in 1962.[1][3] In 1966 it and all other NHLs were included in the first issuance of the National Register of Historic Places.

At one time the national church of the Hawaiian Kingdom and chapel of the royal family, the church is popularly known as Hawaiʻi's Westminster Abbey. The name comes from the Hawaiian noun phrase ka wai a Haʻo (the water of Haʻo), because its location was that of a spring and freshwater pool of a High Chiefess Haʻo.[4] It has also been called the "hale pule lahui", the Great Stone Church, the Hawaiian Tabernacle (luakini), the Mother Church, the Kingʻs Church, the Kingʻs chapel, and the "Aliʻi Church".

Today, Kawaiahaʻo continues to use the Hawaiian language for parts of the service. It is the oldest church on Oʻahu and one of the oldest standing Christian places of worship in Hawaiʻi, although four thatched churches stood at or near the present site before construction of the coral church. The oldest standing church is Mokuaikaua Church on the Big Island. Denominationally, it is a member of the United Church of Christ.

## History[edit]

First known photograph of the church in 1857 by Hugo Stangenwald The grass church that preceded the stone church seated 4000 people; by Francis Allyn Olmsted

The Kawaiaha'o mission was started in 1820. The stone building of Kawaiahaʻo Church was commissioned by the regency of Kaʻahumanu, during the reigns of Kamehameha II and Kamehameha III. Designed by Rev. Hiram Bingham in the New England style of the Hawaiian missionaries, it was constructed between 1836 and 1842 of some 14,000 thousand-pound slabs of coral rock quarried from an offshore reef on the southern coast of Oʻahu. Hawaiian divers dove three to six metres below sea-level to chisel out each coral block with hand tools, and the blocks then were transported from the reef onto the shore.[5]

The church house rivaled the concurrent construction of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace by the Roman Catholic Apostolic Vicariate of the Hawaiian Islands. Construction began on that churchhouse in 1840 and was substantially completed in 1843, one year after the completion of Kawaiahaʻo Church.

The name Kawaiahaʻo was not applied to the site until 1853.

Kawaiahaʻo Church was frequented by the chiefs of the Hawaiian Islands as well as the members of the reigning Kamehameha dynasty and Kalākaua dynasty. Kamehameha III, Kamehameha IV, Kamehameha V and Kalakaua took their oaths of office to their constitutions at Kawaiahaʻo Church. State burials were also held at the church as well the baptisms of aliʻi including aliʻi members who would eventually convert to other denominations or faiths.

Today, the upper gallery of the sanctuary is adorned with 20 portraits of Hawaiian royalty (Aliʻi).[6] The body of King Lunalilo, who preferred burial in a church cemetery to burial in the Royal Mausoleum, is buried in a crypt along with his father near the front courtyard.

But Kawaiahaʻo Church was not the only site of royal worship in the Islands. Kamehameha IV and his wife Emma were devout members of the Church of England and established the Anglican Church of Hawaiʻi, which evolved into the present-day Episcopal Diocese of Hawaiʻi after the islands were annexed by the United States and later gained statehood. The royal couple commissioned the construction of the Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew, which replaced Kawaiahaʻo Church as the principal centre of royal worship. Kamehameha V, Kalākaua, and Liliʻuokalani (after the rebellion which overthrew the kingdom) preferred to use the cathedral – even though, before her reign, then Princess Liliʻuokalani had directed the choir of Kawaiahaʻo Church. When Liliʻuokalani died in 1917, she lay in state in the church for a week before her funeral at Iolani Palace.[7]

Other well-known persons associated with the church include:

Kīnaʻu, kuhina nui of the Hawaiian Kingdom;

Timoteo Richard Haʻalilio, the Hawaiian envoy that helped to secure Hawaiian independence;

John (Ioane) Iʻi, an advisor to Kamehameha III and teacher at the Chiefʻs Children School;

Emma Kaʻili Metcalf Beckley Nakuina, historian and the first record female judge in Hawaiʻi;

Levi Haʻalelea, an advisor to Kamehameha III;

John Thomas Gulick, a missionary to Micronesia and head of the Hawaiian board of Foreign Missions to Oceania and the Philippines;

Daniel Opunui, one of the first Protestant missionaries in Micronesia was member of Kawaiahaʻo Church before Kaumakapili Church was built;

David Kinimaka, adopted brother of King Kalakaua and officer in the Hawaiian Royal Guards;

Henry Berger, band master of the Royal Hawaiian Band and is buried at Kawaiahaʻo Church.

Miss Agnes Baldwin Alexander, born in Honolulu in 1875 to William DeWitt Alexander and Abigail Charlotte Alexander, née Baldwin. Miss Alexander was a scion of two of Hawaii’s most illustrious Christian missionary families — the Alexanders and the Baldwins. In 1900 Agnes discovered the Baháʼí Faith while in Rome on a tour of Europe, which she had undertaken after a severe illness. In 1901 she returned to Hawaii as its first Baháʼí.[8]

Abraham Akaka, late pastor of the Kawaiahaʻo Church and most remembered for his role in the US Civil Rights Movement.

## List of Nā Kahu (Senior Pastors)[edit]

Kawaiaha'o Church and front gate

* Hiram Bingham (1820–1840)
* Richard Armstrong (1840–1848)
* Ephraim Weston Clark (1848–1863)
* Henry Hodges Parker (1863–1917)
* Akaiko Akana (1918–1933)
* William Kamau (1934–1940)
* Edward Kahale (1940–1957)
* Abraham Akaka (1957–1984)
* William H. Kaina (1984–1997)
* James Fung (2000–2002)
* Curtis P. Kekuna (2004–2017)
* Kenneth Makuakāne (2018–present)

## List of Interim Pastors[edit]

* Ronald F.K. Ching – Intentional Interim (1998)
* James Kimo Mersberg – Intentional Interim (2017-2018)

## See also[edit]

* List of the oldest buildings in Hawaii

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b Levy, Benjamin (August 1978). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Kawaiahao Church and Mission Houses" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved June 22, 2009. and Accompanying eight photos, exterior and interior, from 1962 (2.79 MB)
2. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
3. ^ a b "Kawaiahao Church and Mission Houses". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on March 1, 2007. Retrieved July 3, 2008.
4. ^ Westervelt, W.D. (1915). "Hawaiian Legends of Old Honolulu". Boston: G.H. Ellis Press. p. 17.
5. ^ "200 Years of Faith". Kawaiahaʻo Church. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
6. ^ "The Aliʻi of Hawaiʻi at Kawaiahaʻo Church". Archived from the original on January 15, 2008. Retrieved January 22, 2008.
7. ^ "Honors of Royalty Return to Liliuokalani after Death". The Hawaiian Gazette. Vol. X, no. 93\. Honolulu. November 20, 1917. p. 2. Retrieved February 4, 2017.
8. ^ Alexander, Agnes Baldwin (June 23, 1958). Linard, Thomas (ed.). "An account of how I became a Baha'i and my stays in Paris in 1901 and 1937". Michigan State University. Archived from the original on July 20, 2011. Retrieved August 9, 2023.

## External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kawaiahaʻo Church.

* Official site
* Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. HI-14, "Kawaiahao Church, Punchbowl & King Streets, Honolulu, Honolulu County, HI", 19 photos, 10 measured drawings, 15 data pages, 2 photo caption pages
* HABS No. HI-15, "Lunalilo's Tomb, Punchbowl & King Streets (Kawaiahao Churchyard), Honolulu, Honolulu County, HI", 9 photos, 6 measured drawings, 15 data pages, 1 photo caption page

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Kawaiahaʻo Church Kahus (pastors)

Kahus|

* Hiram Bingham (1820–1840)
* Richard Armstrong (1840–1848)
* Ephraim Weston Clark (1848–1863)
* Henry Hodges Parker (1863–1918)
* Akaiko Akana (1918–1933)
* William Kamau (1934–1940)
* Edward Kahale (1940–1957)
* Abraham Akaka (1957–1984)
* William H. Kaina (1984–1997)
* James Fung (2000–2001)
* Curtis P. Kekuna (2004–2018)
* Kenneth Makuakane (2018–)

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Christianity in Hawaii

Christian groups
in Hawaii|

* Anglican Communion
* Church of Hawaiʻi
* Episcopal
* Baptist
* Catholic Church
* Roman
* Eastern
* Latter-day Saints
* Lutheran
* New Hope
* Oriental Orthodox
* Coptic Orthodox
* Orthodox

Historic chapels|

* Church of the Crossroads
* Our Lady of Peace
* Haili
* Hōlualoa
* Imiola
* Kaʻahumanu
* Kawaiahaʻo
* Lāʻie
* Makawao
* Makiki Christian Church
* Maria Lanakila
* Mokuʻaikaua
* Star of the Sea
* St. Andrew
* St. Benedict
* St. Joseph
* St. Michael the Archangel
* Waiola
* Waiʻoli
* Wānanalua

Missionaries|

* W. P. Alexander
* Lorrin Andrews
* Richard Armstrong
* Alexis Bachelot
* Dwight Baldwin
* Hiram Bingham I
* Hiram Bingham II
* Sereno Edwards Bishop
* Elias Bond
* Libert H. Boeynaems
* Ephraim Weston Clark
* Titus Coan
* A. S. Cooke
* Marianne Cope
* Peter Coudrin
* Samuel C. Damon
* Father Damien
* Sheldon Dibble
* Daniel Dole
* Joseph Dutton
* William Ellis
* Ursula Emerson
* J. S. Green
* P. J. Gulick
* E. O. Hall
* Merriman Harris
* H. R. Hitchcock
* Charles McEwen Hyde
* Gerrit P. Judd
* David Lyman
* Lorenzo Lyons
* Louis Maigret
* John D. Paris
* W. H. Rice
* William Richards
* Thomas Staley
* Betsey Stockton
* John M. Systermans
* Asa Thurston
* Lucy Goodale Thurston
* Abner Wilcox
* Alfred Willis

Native Christians|

* Abraham Akaka
* Akaiko Akana
* Hewahewa
* William Hoapili Kaʻauwai
* Edward Kahale
* Alice Kahokuoluna
* William Kamau
* Kapiʻolani
* James Kekela
* Charles Kekumano
* Keōpūolani
* Helio Koaʻeloa
* Joel Hulu Mahoe
* David Malo
* Jonatana Napela
* Henry Opukahaia
* Puaʻaiki

Related articles|

* Edict of Toleration
* French invasion
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Royal sites of Hawaiʻi

Residences|

* ʻĀinahau
* Brick Palace
* Haleʻākala
* Halekamani
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* Keʻalohilani
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* Mokuʻula
* Muʻolaulani
* Paoakalani
* Rooke House
* Washington Place

Churches|

* St. Andrew's Cathedral
* Kawaiahaʻo Church
* Waineʻe Church

Mausolea|

* Mauna ʻAla
* Pohukaina
* Mokuʻula

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Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame

Patrons|

* Kalākaua
* Leleiohoku II
* Likelike
* Liliʻuokalani

1995|

* Alfred Apaka
* Helen Desha Beamer
* Henri Berger
* Sol K. Bright Sr.
* Keaulumoku
* Joseph Kekuku
* Charles E. King
* Lena Machado
* Mary Kawena Pukui
* Victoria K. I`i Rodrigues

1996|

* Albert "Sonny" Cunha
* Sol Hoʻopiʻi
* Alvin Kaleolani Isaacs
* Haunani Kahalewai
* Mekia Kealakaʻi

1998|

* John Kameaaloha Almeida
* Irmgard Farden Aluli
* Robert Alexander Anderson
* Bina Mossman
* David Nape
* Songs honored: Hawaii Aloha, Ua Like No A Like, Kaulana Na Pua, Makalapua and Na Ali`i

1999|

* The Royal Hawaiian Band

2000|

* Maddy Lam
* Hawaiian Chanters: Keaulumoku, Ka`opulupulu, Kapoukahi, Kapihe and Hewahewa

2001|

* Haili Church Choir
* Genoa Keawe

2002|

* Ray Kinney
* Gabby Pahinui

* Songs honored: Alika, Kalama'ula, Wehiwehi 'Oe

2003|

* Kamehameha Schools

2004|

* Kahauanu Lake
* Kawaiahaʻo Church

2005|

* Alfred Alohikea
* Kahauanu Lake Trio
* Bill Ali'iloa Lincoln
* Henry W. Waia`u

2006|

* Mahi Beamer
* The Brothers Cazimero
* Charles K.L. Davis
* Linda Dela Cruz
* Nina Keali`iwahamana
* Emma Veary

2007|

* Bill Ka'iwa
* Jesse Kalima
* Eddie Kamae
* Donald McDiarmid Sr.
* Peter Moon
* Marlene Sai
* John Pi'ilani Watkins

2008|

* Joseph Ae'a
* Elizabeth "Lizzie" Kahau Kauanui Alohikea
* Anuhea Audrey Brown
* Thomas Kihei Desha Brown
* Alice Angeline Johnson
* John Keola Lake
* Albert Po'ai Nahale-a Sr.
* Leo Nahenahe Singers
* Palani Vaughan
* James Kaʻupena Wong

2009|

* Hui Ohana
* Thomas Sylvester Kalama
* Dennis Kamakahi
* Ma'iki Aiu Lake
* Kui Lee

2010|

* Pat Namaka Bacon
* Andy Cummings
* Ernest Kaʻai
* Richard Kauhi Quartet
* Keali'i Reichel

2011|

* Joseph Ilalaole
* Benny Kalama
* Sam Li'a Kalainaina
* Akoni Mika
* Alice Namakelua
* Olomana
* James Pihanui Kuluwaimaka Palea

2012|

* Ka Leo Hawai‘i
* George Kainapau
* Makaha Sons of Ni'ihau
* George Na'ope
* Harry Owens
* Song honored: Hawaii Ponoi

2013|

* Kamaka Hawaii, Inc. (ukulele maker)
* Matthew H. Kane
* Iolani Luahine
* Napua Stevens
* Don Ho

2014|

* Hawaii Calls
* Sonny Chillingworth
* Edith Kawelohea McKinzie
* Puakea Nogelmeier
* Beverly Noa
* Lani Custino

2015|

* Lokalia Montgomery
* Lei Collins
* Halekulani Girls (Alice Fredlund, Sybil Bright Andrews, Linda Dela Cruz)
* Jerry Byrd
* Darrell Lupenui
* Thaddius Wilson
* O'Brian Eselu

2016|

* Johnny Noble
* Jean “Kini” Sullivan
* John Kaimikaua
* Mamo Howell
* Danny Kaleikini

2017|

* Richard “Babe” Bell
* The Isaacs ‘Ohana
* The Kanaka’ole ‘Ohana
* Krash Kealoha
* Jacqueline "Skylark" Rossetti
* Kimo Kahoano
* Karen Keawehawai’i
* Melveen Leed
* Israel Kamakawiwoʻole

2018|

* Beamer ‘Ohana (Nona, Keola, Kapono)
* Bray ‘Ohana (Daddy and Lydia Bray)
* Ho‘opi‘i Brothers (Richard and Solomon)
* Kahananui ‘Ohana (Dorothy Kahananui and Dorothy Gillett)
* Saichi Kawahara
* Literary award: He Mele Aloha: A Hawaiian Songbook (Vicky Hollinger, Kimo Hussey, Puakea Nogelmeier, Carol Wilcox), The Queen’s Songbook (Dorothy Kahananui Gillett, Barbara Smith and Hui Hanai)

2019|

* Pua Haʻaheo
* Marta Hohu
* Leila Hohu Kiaha
* David “Feet” Rogers
* Harry B. Soria Jr.
* Kauʻi Zuttermeister
* Hawaiian Room musicians from the Lexington Hotel, NYC

2020|

* Paused due to the global pandemic

2021|

* Jules Ah See

2022|

* Jules Ah See
* Kihei de Silva
* Mapuana de Silva
* Kawaikapuokalani Hewitt
* David Kalama
* Makua Laiana
* Lorenzo Lyons
* Mary P. Robins

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* 2

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