PROCLAMATION
Christian Heritage Week in Hawai‘i
News release from Office of the Governor, Feb, 2021
WHEREAS, Henry ‘Opukaha‘ia, who was born around 1792 in Ka‘u on Hawai‘i Island and educated in Connecticut, was one of the first Native Hawaiians to become a Christian and inspired the first mission to Hawaiʻi; and
WHEREAS, the first missionaries from Boston which included four Hawaiians—William Kanui, Thomas Hopu, John Honoli‘i and George Kaumuali‘i—arrived in Kailua-Kona in 1820; and
WHEREAS, what began as a grass hut church in 1820 is now Moku‘aikaua Church, the oldest Christian church in the Hawaiian Islands; and
WHEREAS, the State motto—Ua mau ke ea o ka ‘āina ika pono (the life of the land is perpetuated in Righteousness)—were spoken by Queen Keōpuōlani as she was baptized a Christian in 1823; and
WHEREAS, Kawaiaha‘o Church stands as the first Christian church built on O‘ahu and is respected as a place of worship where the Hawaiian culture and language are perpetuated; and
WHEREAS, in 1993, one hundred seventy-five years after Henry ‘Opukaha‘ia’s death in Connecticut, his remains were returned to Hawai‘i Island and reinterred at Kahikolu Church in Napo‘opo‘o, Kona; and
WHEREAS, the Hawai‘i Association of Evangelicals sets aside activities and events for ministries, churches and affiliated educational institutions to celebrate the 28th annual Christian Heritage Week in Hawai‘i;
THEREFORE I, DAVID Y. IGE, Governor of the State of Hawai‘i, do hereby proclaim February 14–20, 2021 as
“CHRISTIAN HERITAGE WEEK”
in Hawai‘i and ask the people of the Aloha State to join me in recognizing the island’s Christian heritage and history.
Done at the State Capitol in the Executive Chambers, Honolulu, State of Hawai‘i, this twenty-seventh day of February 2021.
DAVID Y. IGE
Governor, State of Hawai‘i
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