A Fenced St. Michael's Church Building. Photo by Tony Ambut
From: Fern Gavelek Communications, 808-329-0833, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Contact: Richard B. (Dick) Leander, Jr., Chairman of St. Michael the Archangel Parish Planning and Building Committee
808-326-2613, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
ST. MICHAEL’S PLANS CHURCH FAREWELL, DEMOLITION
KAILUA-KONA—St. Michael the Archangel Church will be decommissioned during a Farewell Service at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2. The public is invited to the service, which will be held in front of the church, followed by refreshments and a talk story under the tent currently used for Mass.
Demolition of the Alii Drive Church and tiny exterior rear rectory will begin shortly thereafter and is expected to take two weeks. The adjacent wooden administration building, which opened as a Convent for the Sisters of the Holy Family in 1955, will be razed at a later date.
St. Michael the Archangel Church, which was built around 1850 of lava rock, coral and sand, was damaged during the October 15, 2006 earthquakes. After the structural engineering firm of MKM & Associates of Santa Rosa, California found the church unsafe, it was permanently closed. Due to the church’s disintegrating structure, which was caused by past flooding and age, studies found the building could not be effectively repaired and the parish initiated plans to build a new church campus on its roughly three-acre property.
Demolition of St. Michael’s Church will include locating the remains of Father Joachim Marechal, who oversaw the construction of the original church. He was buried under the church’s altar in 1859.Archeologist Bob Rechtman of Rechtman Consulting has been secured to guide the demolition crew in locating Father Marechal’s remains, according to Dick Leander, chairman of St. Michael the Archangel Parish Planning and Building Committee. “The remains will be put in a safe place until they can be re-interred under the new church.”
Architect Mark Lively, AIA has been hired to design plans for a new church and parking, plus a combination community/administration building and a social services outreach building with an upstairs apartment for visiting priests. The church’s adjacent cemetery will not be disturbed.
“We hope to have a new church that can accommodate up to 650 people at any one time,” details Leander. “We will also have an outdoor area between the buildings for social events. We plan to use the space effectively.”
Leander adds that some of St. Michael’s original construction materials will be included in the new church’s design, such as the stained glass windows, lava rock, timbers and the 1859 bell from France.
The parish recently released a new book that chronicles its history, including the background of St. Michael’s Church, “North Kona’s Catholic Heritage….remembered.”
For information, phone (808) 326-7771.
St. Michael the Archangel Church is part of the North Kona Catholic Community that includes Immaculate Conception Church in Holualoa, St. Paul’s Church in Honalo, St. Peter’s Church in Keauhou and Holy Rosary Church in Kalaoa. NKCC serves over 1,000 parishioners and a steady stream of visitors, many who return year after year.
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