KALAUPAPA, Molokai » Names long ago stricken from family memories after their bearers were banished from society were spoken aloud Saturday at this remote former leprosy colony.

About 80 descendants of former patients and current Kalaupapa residents attended an unprecedented service at which Catholic, Protestant and Mormon church officials reconsecrated the ground where 8,000 people are buried—more than 6,000 in unmarked graves.

“;We are grateful for their witness that endures to this day,”; said the Rev. Charles Buck, state conference minister of the United Church of Christ. “;Let us always remember what they have given to us, what they have left us as a heritage, so we may live lives of hope. May remembrances of (God's) love for the people and this place so inspire us to retell the stories to others.”;

The Saturday “;service of rededication and remembrance”; was held in Kalawao, the east end of the peninsula and the original site of the Hansen's disease settlement. A solemn but upbeat mood prevailed as attendees packed Siloama Congregational Church, a tiny white clapboard chapel built in 1871 by some of the earliest Protestant residents.

Tears flowed as relatives of former patients read portions of a resolution of apology passed by the state Legislature this year to “;the people of Kalaupapa and their families for any harsh restrictions that caused them undue pain as the result of government policies surrounding leprosy.”;

Catholic Bishop Larry Silva told the crowd of his own family's link in the history of the settlement where men, women and children were sent between 1866 and 1969. Silva's great-grandfather John Santos was sent to Kalaupapa, as well as his daughter Minnie Santos Arruda.

“;This morning, for the first time, I saw the headstone of my great-grandfather,”; Silva said. “;We grew up with no remembrance of him. The family was told that you never talked about it, you blot out this remembrance because there was always suspicion that when a person had Hansen's disease, that family members might have it, too. There was danger, so everyone was sworn to secrecy.”;

Silva said he has known for 15 years that his ancestor was in Kalaupapa, but the grave marker was found only recently by Valerie Monson of Ka Ohana O Kalaupapa, an organization of former patients, their families and supporters, which sponsored the Saturday event.

“;We dedicate this land as a sacred place,”; said Arnold Wunder, Maui stake president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“;The story of Kalaupapa is one of sorrow and pain,”; he said, but also a “;story of people who showed their love of God and their fellow man”; by coming to Kalaupapa to care for the patients, “;leaving a legacy of love.”;

Wunder recalled Father Damien DeVeuster, Mother Marianne Cope and Jonathan Napela, a Mormon contemporary of Father Damien, who ministered to 19th-century patients.

Under a drizzling rain, participants walked to a meadow where many of the earliest leprosy victims were buried. There are no gravestones visible in the thick overgrowth, one of several graveyards on the peninsula.

Aulani Shin and Dayton Kupele presented a ti-wrapped hookupu and a hala lei, which, she said, “;represents new beginnings.”; Shin chanted an oli of “;gratitude and thanks to our beloved ancestors ... admiration, thanks and love to all who are present, seen and unseen.”; Their grandfather and grandmother, David and Annie Kupele, as well as an uncle from Maui, died in Kalaupapa.

“;We are fortunate; their grave markers are clear,”; Kupele said.

Kupele's father was born in Kalawao and, like all children born in the settlement, was sent outside to be raised by relatives.

Monica Bacon and her relatives visited the site where her great-granduncle Ambrose Hutchinson lived. Unlike many, his story is well chronicled and the house foundation is a historic feature being preserved by the National Park Service. Hutchinson, also a contemporary of Father Damien, came as a 16-year-old patient and was later named government superintendent of the settlement. He died in 1932.

“;He planted fruit trees,”; Bacon said. “;The people here tell us they still get oranges from his orchard.”;

The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a bill to create a monument to all people sent to Kalaupapa before the quarantine was ended in 1969. It is pending in the U.S. Senate.