LOUVAIN, Belgium — “We pray we will never create a Kalaupapa for others,” Honolulu Diocese Bishop Larry Silva said at a sermon today for Hawaii pilgrims, who packed the chapel above Father Damien’s tomb in the same city where, 150 years ago, the 19-year-old son of a Belgian farmer became “Brother Damien.”

He would later be ordained to the priesthood in Downtown Honolulu and volunteer to work in Kalaupapa, Molokai.
“We are called to be like Father Damien,” Silva said, “to be like the Good Samaritan, to go and open our eyes.”
More than 350 Hawaii residents, including 11 Hansen’s disease patients, on a pilgrimage for Father Damien’s canonization Sunday, packed St. Anthony’s Chapel for the Mass before heading to Father Damien’s tomb for chants and singing and to leave flowers and lei. At one point, a choir on the pilgrimage led a stirring rendition of “Hawaii Aloha.”
Hansen’s disease patient Elroy Makia Malo, 74, was wheeled up to the tomb so he could share private words with Father Damien in Hawaiian. Malo said he was congratulating Damien on his elevation to sainthood, and he added that the visit to the tomb moved him far more than it did in 1995, when he visited before Damien was given the title “blessed.”
“Now, it has struck me ... the commitment he made to Kalaupapa,” Malo said.