Pāhoa man arrested for desecrating historic Star of the Sea Painted Church
A 58-year-old was arrested for breaking two stained glass windows, smashing statues of Catholic saints and stealing a crystal cross that was later found shattered.
Inside the historic Star of the Sea Painted Church in Puna, statues of Catholic saints Christopher, the blessed Mother Mary and Joseph, with baby Jesus, were broken into pieces and strewn on the floor.
“I screamed and cried,” Roseanna Kanoa, a caretaker of the church for 25 years, said when she saw the desecrated statues earlier this week.
The man allegedly responsible for the vandalism at the Kalapana church is former parishoner Edward Wilson, 58, of Pāhoa. He was arrested Wednesday and is facing fourth-degree criminal property damage and fourth-degree theft. His bail is set at $200.
During his initial court appearance on Thursday, the case was continued until Oct. 27. A mental fitness exam also was ordered to determine Wilson’s penal responsibility.
According to court records, he remains in custody at this time.
The Hawai‘i Police Department’s Puna patrol officers responded to the Catholic church for a report of vandalism just after 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The police said that officers learned that several religious statues inside the church had been knocked over and broken, and a crystal cross had been taken.
According to court documents, a caretaker was at the church on Wednesday morning when he went to file paperwork at his office, which is 10 yards from the church. At about 9:20 a.m., the caretaker told police he saw Wilson enter the church through the front door, which is left open for the public during the day.
“During this time, he could hear banging sounds coming from inside the church,” according to court documents. About 10 minutes later, the defendant left the church through the front door carrying a crystal cross in his left hand, and walked down Ahia Road.
After the man, identified as Wilson, left the church, the caretaker discovered the statues inside had been knocked to the floor and broken into pieces. The damaged statues consisted of two angels, one Jesus, one Mary, one St. Joseph with baby Jesus, and one St. Christopher.
Officers conducted area checks along Ahia Road in an attempt to locate Wilson. During the area check, officers found the crystal cross shattered into pieces in the middle of Ahia Road, fronting the property located at 12-4889 Ahia Road.
Wilson was found by officers later that afternoon at the intersection of Pāhoa-Kalapana Road and Kalapana-Kapoho Beach Road. He was taken into custody without incident and requested a lawyer.
While police were called on Wednesday, Kanoa said the first signs of damage occurred on Monday. She was home in Hawaiian Acres when her partner, who helps her with the church, called her to come to the church “right away.”
When she arrived, she saw that the two front windows had been broken.
“The two side windows with Father Damien and Mother Marianne had a hole in them,” Kanoa said. “He (the suspect) threw rocks in them to break the glass, and he also broke the jalousies.”
Kanoa said the damaged windows are irreplaceable.
Kanoa said there was a time when Wilson and his parents, who have since passed away, were members of the Star of the Sea congregation.
The Star of the Sea Painted Church was built in 1927 under the direction of the Belgian Catholic missionary priest Father Evarist Gielen, who painted the upper section of the church interior, according to the Hawai‘i Visitors and Convention Bureau website.
Father Evarist used house paints mixed with linseed oil to decorate the church with vivid scriptural scenes and devotional drawings. Other visitors lent their artistic touches to the chapel in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1990, the church was moved to its present location just ahead of an advancing lava flow, roughly 1.5 miles east of its previous location.
Star of the Sea is owned today by the Kalapana ‘Ohana Association. It was “decommissioned” by the diocese and no longer serves as an active Catholic house of worship. Visitors, however, are still able to stop by and appreciate the church’s historical heritage. Mass is still celebrated on the first Friday of each month. Since the diocese does not administer the Star of the Sea, on-island priests volunteer to conduct liturgies.
Kanoa said Wilson has been in jail for different things over the years and suffers from mental health issues. But her concern is that he will be released again and potentially cause more damage to the church.
The fact that Wilson could potentially be released next week feels like a slap in the face, Kanoa said.
“Who’s going to be around the church grounds, you know, at night? she questioned. “We have our own jobs to do. We can’t be watching the church 24 hours.”
Kanoa said Kristen McCormack, a Puna resident and member of the Red Road Resilience Network, has been helpful in providing updates about how people can help the church.
The first step is to get an estimate of the damage to the windows and statues.
“If the statues can be put back together, Kristen said that there are professionals out there that are willing to help us,” Kanoa said.
McCormack said people have been reaching out and sharing memories and stories of the historic church. Several local artists and restoration specialists have offered their expertise to help assess the damage and determine what may be possible to restore.
“We are only beginning to understand the extent of the destruction and what the restoration will require,” McCormack said. “Some pieces are nearly a century old, and some losses may be irreparable.”
McCormack said the Red Road Resilience Network is exploring ideas for fundraising.
