Holy Apostles Celebrates 120 Years! By the Rev. Katlin McCallister
[November 9, 2023, Hilo HI] On the Feast of All the Saints, 2023, Church of the Holy Apostles celebrated its 120th year!
The earliest recorded baptisms were of five on September 8, 1903, in the home of a Puna resident. At the time, our mission congregation worshipped in homes and in the Hilo Hotel. James Hind of Kohala funded the building of a parish hall that was so named after him and the congregation in its earliest mission days was known as St. James, Hilo.
Around 1908, Holy Apostles and the Mediator of Philadelphia, PA, granted significant funds to complete the construction of a small steeple church on Waianuenue Avenue in Hilo, and the congregation took Holy Apostles as its namesake thereafter.
In the early 1960s, Holy Apostles outgrew the steeple church, and, after a few years of recorded vestry discussions, acquired state land and built the church where it stands present day.
A selection of stained glass windows were transferred from the old building to the new with original givers’ plaques that continue to bless the sacred space today. Some of the original families are still connected to our congregation through several generations.
On the commemoration of All the Saints, we remember those who came before us in thanksgiving for their faith and stewardship of God’s gifts, and we pray that as we come to receive the bread of life that we, too, would become bread for this generation and the next.
