Painted Church and House Blessing

This is St. Benedict Parish, an old Catholic church, aka the Painted Church. It is maybe 3 miles from our farm, located in Honaunau. In 1899 after the church was built, Father John Velghe painted the church with regular house paint on regular wood, with no formal training in painting. The domes painted behind and around the altar are my favorite part!  It still has a congregation and is involved in providing medical services to the local community.

The ceiling has rusty metal starts nailed all over it, my second favorite feature. Dave's favorite element is "the mix of classic European basilica-type imagery (see the altar above) with the indigenous palm trees (on the ceiling below). The images with more creation-centered themes are similar to the way the ancient Jewish temple was adorned, reminiscent of the Garden of Eden."

Most of his congregation couldn't read so he depicted biblical stories in murals on the walls. The murals include depictions of St. Francis receiving the Stigmata, Jesus rejecting the Devil, Cain killing Abel (with Eve trying to revive Abel!), and of course, no church building would be complete without showing the boiling torment of Hell.

We also went to a "traditional Hawaiian" house blessing--which was actually a 3-hour house warming party with 15 minutes of local culture. The multi-million dollar house was located in a gated community, complete with kidney-shaped lawn and terrace. It was catered, people brought orchids and other plants as presents, and everyone was white except the Kahu (spiritual guardian), his wife, and the performers. For the blessing, we all went outside in the rain and the Kahu tied two vines across the railing blocking the door. Then as the ceremony started, the new owners untied them and the Kahu said it was like cutting an umbilical cord as the home was born. You can see the vines on the railing in the picture. He and his wife started chanting in Hawaiian to ask "permission" of the spirits of the land for the new owners to move in. The owners followed him around each room of the house and then outside to the four corners of the grounds while chanting and sprinkling water.

At the close of the ceremony, he started speaking English again, and prayed to Jesus that the spirits, good or bad, would give permission for the family to live there in peace. Afterwards, they sang a song about the rich ruler who asked Jesus what he had to do in order to receive eternal life. The part of the story that was not quoted was Jesus' response: "Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me" (Luke 18:22; see vv. 18-30). Then we ate good food, listened to this locally famous musician, and watched some hula dancing.