On Saturday, April 20th there will be a luau at the Paniolo Heritage Center marking the 100th Anniversary Celebration of Waimea’s St. James Episcopal Church. For more information and service times, contact the St. James’ Church Office at 885-4923 or visit the website at StJamesHawaii.org. Here’s the Press Release from St. James on their up-coming April event.
PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release:
St. James’ Episcopal Church
Kamuela, Hawaii
One hundred years ago — March 30, 1913 — the congregation of St. James’ Episcopal Church held the first service in its new chapel in Waimea. About a dozen people gathered that day to hear the good news preached by Fr. Frank Merrill, who traveled by horseback and buggy over the Kohala Mountains from Kapa‘au, a journey that then took many hours. Today, St. James’ Church is a thriving congregation of more than 130 people attending one of the three weekend services, including a beach mass at Kawaihae Harbor Saturdays at 5 PM. St. James’ also hosts the Marshallese Full Gospel Fellowship on Sunday afternoons. It is also home to the Waimea Community Chorus on Tuesday evenings, and to a full weekly schedule of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous 12-Step program meetings.
St James’ sponsors an after-school tutoring program for Marshallese children twice weekly and the ever-popular St. James’ Thrift Shop is open for bargains three days a week. In addition, St James’ serves as the home parish for St. Columba’s Episcopal Mission in Pa‘auilo and has held monthly services there for a number of years. Starting March 31, Easter Sunday, St. Columba’s will once again offer weekly worship on Sundays at 9:30 AM.
To mark its 100th birthday, the St James’ Centennial Committee has embarked upon a year-long celebration, including a luau on April 20 at the Paniolo Preservation Society’s Pukalani Stables with a traditional luau menu, music and dance, followed by a special celebratory mass the next day, Sunday, April 21 at 9 AM.
Members of the History Committee are hard at work compiling a written history of the church’s first hundred years including pictures of the first church building, members and activities which depict the church’s role in the life of Waimea throughout the years.
The Cookbook Committee is busy gathering recipes that will be published in a centennial cookbook later in the year. Handmade koa pens fashioned from the original altar rail will be sold as centennial mementos and the church choir will present a special anthem written by Fr. Guy Piltz, Rector emeritus of St James’.
The public is warmly invited at all of these events. For more information and service times, contact the St. James’ Church Office at 885-4923 or visit the website at StJamesHawaii.org.
