Religion Briefs Star-Bulletin staff & Associated Press

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Service will honor Father Damien

The statue of Father Damien De Veuster on the state Capitol grounds will be the setting for a candlelight service Friday.

The 7 p.m. service of music and prayer will honor the 19th-century priest who ministered to leprosy patients at Kalaupapa for 16 years until he died of the disease in 1889.

Damien Day is traditionally celebrated on May 10, the anniversary of his arrival at the remote Molokai peninsula where patients were quarantined after an outbreak of the disease in the mid-1800s.

This year's celebration is enhanced by an announcement earlier this week that a panel of Catholic theologians cleared the way for Damien to be named a saint by the Catholic Church. The Vatican panel issued an opinion that Oahu resident Audrey Toguchi was spontaneously cured of cancer because of her prayers asking Damien to intercede with God on her behalf.

"It will certainly add to the joy of the celebration," said Sister Helene Wood, local leader of the cause for sainthood. The case for canonization must still go to the cardinals and bishops who make up the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and their recommendation will go to the pope.

The Kalaupapa community will celebrate Damien Day next Saturday with Mass and a luau. Fewer than 30 former leprosy patients still live in the settlement, which is administered by the state Department of Health and the National Park Service.

Partake in music at church concerts

Honolulu churches are offering concerts next week.

» Actress and singer Shari Lynn will join pianist Don Conover in a cabaret performance of popular show tunes at 7 p.m. Monday at Church of the Crossroads, 1212 University Ave.

The "Gift of Love" concert will also feature the Crossroads Choir singing a variety of religious and secular music. Catherine Hage will do an interpretative dance to "Flying Free."

Five recipients of choir scholarships will perform with the choir. They are Lance Culnane, tenor and string bass; Jan Kamiya, alto and flute; Marie Kuroda, alto; Eva-Maressa Rice and Molly Jean Martin, sopranos.

There is no admission charge, but contributions are accepted for the choir's scholarship program, which pays tuition for private music lessons. Since 1980 the annual concert has raised more than $80,000 and paid 77 music scholarships.

» John Fenstermaker, former organist and choirmaster at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, will make two guest appearances at St. Andrew's Cathedral, Queen Emma Square.

He will conduct the Cathedral Choir in the 5:30 p.m. Choral Evensong tomorrow.

He will perform compositions by Buxtehude, Dandrieu, Franck and Widor in a 12:30 p.m. lunchtime recital Wednesday.

Fenstermaker is currently music director at Trinity-by-the-Cove Church in Naples, Fla.

» A Mother's Day concert at Lutheran Church of Honolulu, 1730 Punahou St., will feature music of Johann Sebastian Bach. The performance at 4 p.m. May 11 will benefit the Institute for Human Services. Tickets are $20 general admission, $15 for seniors, $12 for full-time students.

The concert by the church choir and the Bach Chamber Orchestra is the fifth in the "Bach Pilgrimage" series. This program features works from Bach's years as a Cohen court musician.