Kawaiahao’s potential Because of its history and location, Kawaiahao Church is the landmark church in Honolulu, and its pastors, longtime Kahu Abraham Akaka and his successor, the Rev. William Kaina, have had a high profile in the community.
leader comes with
high regard
Rev. Kaleo Patterson is well-known in the
movement for Hawaiian sovereigntyBy Mary Adamski
madamski@starbulletin.comNext month, the church's pastoral search committee will ask the 600-member congregation to accept its recommendation and choose the Rev. Kaleo Patterson as senior pastor.
Patterson comes with a high profile. He has been a prominent figure in the Hawaiian sovereignty movement, recognized as a voice of reason and reconciliation among elements of the Hawaiian community. And he has worked to nurture a deeper understanding of the unique character of Hawaii and its indigenous people on many fronts, from teaching the tourism workforce to reflect that character to visitors, to speaking on indigenous people's concerns in international conferences, to helping guide his own denomination, the United Church of Christ, to face up to its role in the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy.
Patterson, 48, has been associate pastor at Kaumakapili Church in Kalihi since 1995 and is executive director of the Hawaii Ecumenical Coalition, which he helped organize in 1989 to counter "negative impacts of tourism on the culture and environment." He earned a master of divinity degree from Bangor Theological Seminary in Maine and a doctorate in ministry from Chicago Theological Seminary.
"We are looking for someone who knows the Hawaiian issues and is a spiritual leader who can help the church grow," said Frank Pestana, Kawaiahao moderator. "Kaleo had good credentials. He has served at several churches, knows the Hawaiian issues and speaks well."
Leroy Akamine, chairman of the search committee, said "What we had in mind was someone who has presided in a church for a number of years." Patterson was one of three finalists interviewed and the bylaws call for bringing one choice for approval. He said there were a dozen applicants for the position which was vacated by the retirement of Kaina four years ago and filled for more than a year by the Rev. James Fung. Fung had served in East Coast churches for 25 years when he was chosen by a search committee. But Fung left last November for a Connecticut position, saying his "western" style didn't mesh with Kawaiahao expectations. The Rev. Kimo Merseberg has served this year as interim minister.
Pestana said that in the process of conducting two searches, the church has revamped its profile of the perfect pastor.
The congregation has approved changes in the bylaws that required the pastor to be of Hawaiian ancestry and be fluent in the Hawaiian language -- which was a stumbling block for Fung.
"Hawaiian language fluency is now preferred, not required. Hawaiian ancestry is preferred, but theoretically we could hire someone who isn't Hawaiian," Pestana said.
"The feeling of the congregation was that the last time we looked for a kahu, the selection got smaller. We are running out of a pool of candidates that could speak Hawaiian and that had the credentials as a minister that we seek."
Kawaiahao Church was the first Christian church organized on Oahu by the New England Congregationalist mission- aries who arrived here in 1820. It was the church of the alii who were baptized as well as other 19th century community leaders. The imposing coral block structure across the street from city hall, described in its brochures as the "Westminster Abbey" of Hawaii, is often the setting of community events and draws many tourists to services that feature Hawaiian hymns and language.
It is affiliated with the United Church of Christ. In 1993, the national president came here to convey the denomination's apology to Hawaiians for the church's complicity in the 1893 overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani.
The Hawaii conference, representing 120 congregations, later drafted a plan of redress, which included monetary grants to about 40 churches which serve mostly Hawaiian members.
Patterson was "a leading architect of the historic apology and redress action," said the Rev. Wally Fukunaga in an earlier recommendation letter. Patterson was presented the 1993 Martin Luther King Jr. Peacemaker Award by Church of the Crossroads, and nominated for the 1993 Just Peace Award by the denomination's General Synod, for that effort.
Patterson was reluctant to discuss the Kawaiahao call because it is still pending the congregation's approval. Before the vote is taken, he will preach a "call sermon" there as the bylaws require, and will have meetings with groups of members.
To put the accent on past activism runs the risk of portraying someone "too Christian for the activists and too activist for the Christians," he said. The earliest file stories tell of his involvement in 1990s protests against "Star Wars" weapons testing at Barking Sands, during his several years as a minister at Kauai churches.
Recently, he and other religious leaders brought a position paper to the 2001 Asian Development Bank conference here calling for humane labor practices and environmental accountability as tourism is given economic priority.
"My work in the movement is concerned with the pastoral," he said. "I was applying the theology I have to this arena; my role was to bring people together. There are no two worlds out there, there is one."
He said that besides his Kaumakapili Church role, he has been helping a small Waianae congregation, Ka Hana O Ka Akua Church, which moved into a renovated trailer on Hawaiian Homelands last year. On any given Sunday, he preaches at services in both churches.
He was excited at interest from University of Hawaii officials about bringing elements of the Interpret Hawaii program into orientation and counseling sessions.
The curriculum on professional training in Hawaiian hospitality for tourism employees has been taught as a credit course at Kapiolani Community College, and presented in training workshops for at least 8,000 employees in the industry, he said.
Of course, the most common notoriety in being a Hawaiian and a minister is the hundreds of requests that he "bless" a building, a venture or a group of people.
He performed 54 blessings in the last year, he said, but often is reluctant unless he can learn the history of the place and the people involved.
His most recent invitation was from the company making a movie starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
They wanted Kapena Falls blessed before filming a scene in which a Jeep is crashed down into the rocky ravine. "What I said was it's not the place that needs to be blessed. The film crew needs to be conscious that what they do is not going to harm the essence of the land."
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