Christ the King

Kahului is a super busy part of Maui. For me, it seemed like the center of business, commerce, and everything else. So it was a surprise to find out that Christ the King church was not established until as recently as 1932; and just as a mission outpost, besides, of a then flourishing Holy Family parish in nearby Puunene. The Puunene parish is long gone. I think it got dissolved in 1977. It's hard to imagine Kahului as an insignificant town. Apparently that was how it started. But then the business of the sugar plantations took hold and the town grew.

At the behest of residents, the sugar and railroad company donated prime beachfront property to erect the parish church. But their contact, Fr. Bartholomew Bax, having hailed from Holland, worried about the potential threats of tsunamis, suggested a more inland site; thus the location of the present day church in the heart of bustling Kahului.

Christ the King remained a mission outpost until 1942 when Sacred Hearts Fr. Evarist Gielen was named the town's first pastor.