Who We Are
Christ Church Episcopal
Where progressive and traditional Christians worship together.
Christ Church Episcopal is a Mission Church in the Episcopal Diocese of Hawai’i, the national Episcopal Church and part of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
We are a small congregation located on an historic church property in Kealakekua, Hawai’i, a rural area about 10 miles south of Kailua Kona on the Big Island of Hawai’i. We love and value our Episcopal tradition and rich history that has been our cornerstone for over 150 years. At the same time we believe we are being called by God to reach out to the culturally diverse families in Kona and people who come from all walks of life and places to settle in our beautiful community.
Christ Church and Queen Emma
This historic church is sometimes referred to as “Queen Emma’s church” in part because
she and her husband Liholiho, Kamehameha IV worked to establish the Episcopal
church here in Hawai‘i . The queen’s connection to this church in Kealakekua is even
more intimate than that: when she was in residence at Hulihe‘e Palace, she attended
services at Christ Church Episcopal. Riding 14 miles on horseback from Kailua Kona
village, she was followed on foot by Hawaiians who were faithful to her highness if not
actually the practices of the Episcopal church. So many people filled the building that a
great many had to sit outside on the ground.
In 1865, the queen was in England asking the Bishop of Oxford for support for an
Anglican (eventually Episcopal) mission for the islands. The next year, a student at the
missionary college in Canterbury, England was being ordained, and within three months
was aboard a ship headed to what was then called the Sandwich Islands. After arriving
in Honolulu on his way here to Kona, he met Queen Emma, and they were to become
good friends.
The new missionary, Charles George Williamson, after a difficult time finding land to
build a church, settled on the spot this church still stands on. In June 1867 Williamson
himself, with the help of two local men, built the original building and steeple. His
studies had prepared him well in carpentry as well as theology, and the new church was
completed by September of that year. It is the oldest Episcopal Church in Hawai‘i.
The queen was well-known for her generosity in taking care of her people, supporting St.
Andrew’s Cathedral in Honolulu, St. Andrew’s Priory, Queen’s Hospital, and this small
church in what was then the center of the Kona district. As you look around the
grounds of the church and “Queen Emma Community Center,” you may note the spidery
bursts of purple and pink of the flower that was her favorite, the Queen Emma Lily.
Once built, the church became a hub for community service. It has been a school and
now houses the Hawaiian immersion school, Punana Leo, on the grounds. It has been a
USO center for soldiers who were assigned to Kona during WWII. It became the first
hospice care on the island. When the Kona community came together to replace the old
parsonage, the Queen Emma Community Center mauka of the church was created. It
provides space for local artisans to meet, for other congregations such as the
Marshallese to hold services, for concerts and other public events, and its kitchen is
crucial to many local vendors of Kona’s food trucks and farmers’ markets.
The legacy of Episcopal worship and community engagement began in 1867 continues.
Our Clergy
Bishop – The Rt. Rev. Robert L. Fitzpatrick
Vicar – Rev. Canon Dwight Brown
Bishop’s Committee
Dennis Costa, Bishop’s Warden
Jeanne West, People’s Warden
Meg Greenwell
Karl Sears
Steve Valdez
Jasmine Locatelli
Vance Shepperson
Sandy Sandin
Martha Morrissey
Jeanne West
Treasurer – Steve Valdez
Organist – Cyndi Parks
History of Queen Emma’s Church
In Queen Emma’s Church in Kealakekua: Crossroads of Culture, author and parishioner Nancee Pace Cline provides us with an introduction to our rich history:
When Queen Emma stayed in the Hulihe’e Summer Palace in Kona, she rode her horse 15 miles to attend services at Christ Church. According to a letter the first vicar wrote in 1868, crowds of adoring subjects came to church whenever she did. So many attended that they could not all fit inside the chapel. A young British missionary, Charles Williamson, the first vicar, built this church in 1867. With two helpers he built a foundation of low lava rock walls reinforced with ohia logs. The windows were single hung with a Gothic arch. Inside the church the floors were Douglas fir. The church was painted gray with a sand-dash finish.
Twenty-five local natives attended the first Hawaiian language service, and sixty whites attended the English service; this would have included the local British farmers, graziers and merchants, and perhaps visitors from the ships in Kealakekua Bay.
From the earliest years there was a boarding school on the grounds, originally for Hawaiian girls. Later schools included elementary schools, Waldorf, a dyslexia center, and currently, a Hawaiian Immersion Preschool.
It was the Anglican church that supported the Hawaiian Monarchy during the overthrow. Once the monarchy was over; it was the end of the Anglican Church in Hawaii as well. The church authority passed over to the American Episcopal Church. One hundred and fifty years later, we still sing the Queen’s Prayer and the Doxology in Hawaiian.
The parish hall served as a Red Cross Center during WWI, and a USO Center during WWII. We have photographs of soldiers eating Thanksgiving dinner, and posing in front of “The Little Grass Shack.”
Walking through the cemetery you can see history unfold. First, we see the old British names on the tombstones, and the Hawaiian, then the Chinese and the Portuguese, then the Japanese. We see the same family names, again and again.