THE REV. SEIDO OGAWA / 1915-2004

Minister focused
on social issues

The Rev. Seido Ogawa was a leader in early efforts to bring different churches together to work on social and community issues that transcend denomination.

Seido Ogawa: He led the Honolulu Council of Churches for most of the 1960s

"He took Christian unity very seriously," said Maryknoll Sister Joan Chatfield. "One of his favorite expressions was that people should never lose sight of fact we were reading the same gospel."

Ogawa, 89, executive director of the Honolulu Council of Churches from 1962 to 1969, died Sunday in Pali Momi Hospital.

He was a minister with the United Church of Christ whose assignments included work with Japanese Americans who were interned in California during World War II and with Hansen's disease patients in Kalaupapa. He served congregations in Waipahu and on Kauai.

Chatfield, who was active in early ecumenical efforts, said Ogawa was instrumental in establishing Church of the Crossroads as a sanctuary for servicemen opposed to the Vietnam War.

"He was one of the early participants at the Nuuanu Thanksgiving," an interfaith service now in its 42nd year, Chatfield said. "He helped institutionalize the Punchbowl Easter sunrise service, made sure it had strong support."

Under his direction, the Council of Churches addressed mental health, public education and labor issues and brought noted speakers, including Martin Luther King Jr., to Hawaii.

Ogawa worked as a juvenile-delinquency specialist with the state Law Enforcement Planning Agency from 1969 to 1976 and was appointed to the Hawaii Paroling Authority in 1977. He served as president of the Health and Community Services Council and a board member of Child and Family Services.

He was born in Honolulu and was a graduate of McKinley High School and Chicago Theological Seminary. He did graduate work at Harvard Divinity School on a Merrill Fellowship.

He is survived by son Everett, daughters Cheryl Ho and Liesa Ogawa, brother Takeo, five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Services will be at 2 p.m. Friday at Hosoi Mortuary. The family asks that flowers be omitted and aloha attire be worn.