SAVING BIRDS ON THE BIG ISLAND

HAKALAU FOREST NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGEE, encompasses 38,000 acres on the Big Island of Hawaii. Located on the slopes on Mauna Kea, it is one of the most successful managed sites for endangered species restoration.  It was established in 1985 to conserve endangered plants and animals and their native ecosystem. The refuge's landscapes range from lush, rainy habitats to dry, high-altitude forests.

Large areas are fenced in to prevent feral animals from invading. Invasive plant species are controlled, and native  koa forests on lands denuded for ranches have been established.

Endemic plant species have been planted, as well as some forest birds moved to the area, such as the I'iwi and Alawi. Presently it is the only place in Hawaii where endangered forest bird numbers are stable or increasing.

Photo:  'Alawi- Hawai'i honeycreeper- a small yellow and green bird found at elevations between 3,000 and 7,000 feet.

Eight of the 14 native bird species in the refuge are endangered. 13 migratory bird species and 20 introduced species also frequent the refuge.

Slopes below 4000' receive a lot of rainfall, annually 250". Rainfall decreases as you go upward: elevations above 4500' receives 150" of rain and above 6000' a decrease to about 100" annally. Go much higher and there is snow.

One major problem the scientists are dealing with, and this effects all island birds, is avian maleria carried by non-native mosquitoes. Invasive mosquitoes have contributed to extinction of 31 species of birds, including 24 species of honeycreepers.

Up till recently many of Hawaii's unique birds have lived where it is too cold for these insects, but with global warming the tides have turned.  The goal is establishing forests where the birds can go but not the mosquitoes.

On of the best examples of native forest restoration is the 'Akiapola'au who have returned to once barren areas in the refuge.

This honeycreeper with its curved bill is the closest thing to a woodpecker found in Hawaii, as it hammers away with lower mandible eating grub.

EARLY BIRDS IN PARADISE

 

Before Homo sapiens set foot in the Hawaiian Islands, birds ruled, filling grasslands, mountain tops, forests, shores, fulfilling roles of pollinators, fertilizers , scavangers, etc. Till man came bringing, from islands further east, pigs and goats and dogs (and later rats off the ships), the birds were safe and could evolve with their specific plants. Only turtles and bats competed for the space.

Later the white man came bringing the cattle, ten years after James Cook landed in Hawaii.  In 1788 British Captain George Vancouver gave 6 cows and a bull to King Kamehameha, who protected them and let them roam wild.  By the end of the 1800s, 25,000 wild cattle roamed the landscape.

But back to our poor birds.  The first of course to disappear were the ground-nesters, as goats and pigs ran amok. Today most of the plants species survive but the birds continue to diminish decade by decade.

Top: Hawaiian Rail- found on the big island by early explorers, but extinct by 1890s,mainly due to cats, rats and dogs.

Bottom: Hawaiian O'o Bird.  A beautiful thrush whose feathers were used by the ali'i (royalty) to make capes and feathered staffs. Europeans later captured them and put them into cages where they died after a few weeks due to disease caused by mosquitoes. Later, hunters pretty much finished them off and the last on was sighted in 1934.

CONNECTIONS IN HAWAII

 In one of my last visits to the Big Island, I did a Blog on Madge Tennent, the "first lady of Hawaiian art". Now I discover one of her students, who was also famous for her  paintings of  Hawaiian women. 

 

CORNELIA MACINTYRE FOLEY  was born in Honolulu in 1909. She was a third generation descendent of Missionaries from Boston, arriving in 1835. Her father was born in Scotand, arriving in Honolulu in the early 1900s. She attended Punahu School (THE school on Oahu).

She began her art training under the first art instructor of the University of Hawaii, Huc Mazelet Luquiens (d. 1961).  She then studied at the University of Washington ( I have no clue why she wound up there), where she got her degree.  She then moved to London  and spent two years at the Slade  School of Art under Henry Tanks (d. 1937)

She returned to Hawaii where she studied under Madge, 1934-37. She then married Paul Foley, who became a Rear Admiral in the US Navy.  The couple lived in Long Beach California and Seattle during the early war years. They then moved east and her husband was at Annapolis. They lived in Newport, Rhode Island 6 years before permanently settling in Manhasset, New York where Cornelia lived till she died.

Paul died in 1990 at the age of 81 and Cornelia in 2010 at the age of 101.  She must have been a Catholic, as there was a funeral Mass for her.  She is buried at Arlington National Cememary, most probably with Paul.

She, like Madge Tennent, was best known for her  paintings  of  voluptuous Hawaiian women and  the majority hang in Honolulu.  In 1992 the Honolulu Academy of Arts did and exhibition of 2 centuries of Hawaiian art and included one of her works from the 1930s. This work caused quiet a stir and coming in her 80s was most gratifying.

LEGACY OF A SAINT IN HAWAII

 

Blogs may be short and infrequent as I am once again on the Big Island (Hawaii) with Oblate Karen- getting rest after major surgery during covid.

Of  course here, major topics are birds and art and local saints.

Monday is the feast of ST. MARIANNE COPE,  Blessed of Molokai, who gave her life caring for those suffering from leprosy. Her order has been in these islands 140 years. In 1883, St. Marianne and six sisters arrived from Syracuse, New York, responding to a call from the Hawaiian government to care for abandoned natives.

60 years ago on the 80th  anniversary of the sisters arrival, my good friend, Msgr. Charles Kekumano said: true to their Franciscan heritage, they followed the gospel norms of doing good, and they did it gladly and prayerfully."

Living what she believed, St. Marianne once said: what little good we can do in this world to help and comfort the suffering, we wish to do it quietly and so far as possible, unnoticed and unknown."

Today she is a saint and the whole world knows!

YOUNG PATRON OF DIABETICS

 

On 19 August 1989, at the World Youth Day in Santiago de Compostela, Pope (St.) John Paul II proposed  ST. RAFAEL AMAIZ BARON as a model for young people today, and beatified him on 27 September 1992, in Rome. In his Homily at the beatification Mass, the Holy Father said that he set an example, especially for young people, "of a loving and unconditional response to the divine call.”

St. Rafael was born in Burgos, Spain, in1911 into a well-to-do Christian family, the eldest of four. As a boy he attended several schools run by Jesuits and his sensitivity to spiritual topics and to art was very apparent. He displayed an open, joyful attitude to the world, combined with exuberant good humor, respect and humility.

 Bouts of fever and pleurisy interrupted his education. When he had recovered his father took him to Zaragoza to consecrate him to Our Lady of the Pillar and his family moved to Oviedo where he completed his secondary schooling.

 

In 1930 Rafael embarked on architectural studies in Madrid. It was in this year that his deeper commitment to Christ began. After completing his secondary schooling, that summer he had spent a holiday near Avila at the home of his uncle and aunt, the Duke and Duchess of Maqueda. It was they who introduced him to the Trappist Monastery of San Isidoro de Dueñas whose beauty and prayerful atmosphere attracted him.

He said upon entering that this decision had not been prompted by suffering or disappointments but rather by God who, "in his infinite goodness" had given him far more in life than he deserved. Rafael felt deeply suited to the monastic rhythm of Gregorian chant and the Liturgy of the Hours. He wrote many letters to his mother, who after his death collected them in a book, and to his uncle and aunt with whom he had a close friendship.

Four months after entering the monastery, after an austere Lent, he was smitten by a serious form of diabetes mellitus which forced him to go home for treatment. Indeed, he was obliged to go back and forth between his home and the monastery again and again between 1935 and 1937. It was at the height of the Spanish Civil War.

 

He was called up but declared unfit for active duty. He decided to abandon his architectural studies in Madrid and seek the mystery of the "Absolute" in this Cistercian Monastery of the Strict Observance, which he entered on 16 January 1934 and joyfully received the white habit.

 On his final return to the monastery, he was made an oblate, taking the last place and living on the fringes of the community. Canon law at the time did not permit a person in his condition of poor health to take monastic vows.

 He died in the monastery's infirmary on 26 April 1938 after a final attack of the disease. He was only 27 years old. He was buried in the monastery cemetery and his remains were later translated to the Abbey Church.

 Despite his brief life, he embodies the Cistercian grace in a remarkably pure way. From beginning to end he let himself be led through a series of bewildering contradictions and perplexities illness, war, the inability to pronounce his vows, abnormal community relations until he totally renounced himself. Humiliation was his constant companion.

 His one desire was to live in order to love: to love Jesus, Mary, the Cross, and his Trappist monastery. His reputation for holiness spread rapidly throughout Spain and his grave at San Isidro became a place of pilgrimage where many favors were received.

 He is the patron of people who suffer from diabetes.

A MONK DIES- BUT NOT HIS ART

 

Considered by many to be one of Canada’s most original artists, FATHER DUNSTAN MASSEY, OSB died on December 26, 2022  at Westminster Abbey in Mission, outside of Vancouver. Born and raised in Vancouver, his love of art began as a child, and continued into high school where his talent was recognized by teachers.

In 1940, at 16, he became the youngest artist to host a solo exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery, and was feted by great Canadian artists and art patrons.

 At age 18 he decided against all protestations (we know that experience) to ‘throw my life away’ in a monastic cloister!” He chose his monastic name after St Dunstan of Canterbury, patron saint of artisans and goldsmiths.

Having visited Westminster Abbey several times, I find it perhaps the most beautiful Abbey Church in North America (dedicated in 1982  by Cardinal Basil Hume, OSB) , mainly due to the stained glass windows and the art work of Father Dunstan. His huge crucifix, cast in bronze and plated with silver took seven years to complete. It has hung above the Westminster Abbey altar since 2014.

Father Dunstan once said  “it’s a unique privilege for a single artist to craft all the artwork in one church. Since 1982, he created 22 concrete bas-reliefs for the Abbey, including 20 for the church.

Working four hours a day in a barn, he said:  the work is a prayer. That’s what the Rule talks about: prayer and work. The two go together.” 

His art, he once said, is meant to convey hope. “I think our modern society needs hope more than anything, because there is so much alienation, which leads to despair.

The cloistered monk was painting to the end, until he moved into the abbey’s infirmary a short time before his death, at the age of 98.

I find some of his work to be a cross between Salvador Dali and the monks of Beuron (Germany), yet he brought his own unique monastic style. Below are two of his  St. Scholasticas (the twin sister of St.Benedict)- one in paint, the other in plaster.  

While he lived in relative obscurity, his memory lives in his art, which adorns the Abbey’s Church and monastery for many generations to come.

(Photos of crucifix- Agnieszka Krawczynski - The B.C. Catholic)

 

 

 

 

UNDERSTANDING SUFFERING- POLISH DOCTOR

“She was the only one who didn't let me feel my past. When I got out of prison, she fed me, gave me my first glasses and money for my ID card. She got a job. I was proud then, because someone trusted me, a rotten recidivist.”

 These are the words of one of the prisoners who was helped by SERVANT of GOD DOCTOR ALEKSANDRA GABRYSIAK, known in Elbląg as Doctor Ola. 

Aleksandra Gabrysiak was born on April 16, 1942 in Radzymin near Warsaw. Her father was a teacher. They came from Greater Poland, but were displaced by the Germans to Radzymin. After the war, they first moved to Żnin near Piła, and in 1947 to Gdańsk. Ola had two younger brothers: Maciej, who was two years younger, and Tom, who was born after the war. 

In her childhood, Ola became ill with an incurable disease of the musculoskeletal system (vitamin-Dopom rickets), which caused her a lot of suffering throughout her life. From childhood, touched by her own suffering, wanted to bring relief to others. Her cross was always heavy. The surgeries she underwent in her youth and multiple anesthesia weakened her memory, causing her to have to study longer than her peers. She did not get into medicine immediately, so worked as a ward for a year. While she was not considered brilliant in her field, she gained everything through hard work. However, in the economy of salvation, she received the  great gift  of a sensitive heart, in which there was no selfishness, only a care for others. 

She always spoke about God, about His selfless love, and this supposedly harmed the structures of the secular state. "As a doctor in Tczew, she started the day with Holy Mass and Holy Communion. She often prepared patients in the hospital before the priest came for confession, especially patients who were lapsed from the sacraments. Her door  was always open to people who needed help.

She was best known among the people in need, the wounded, and those  from the margins: alcoholics, drug addicts, AIDS patients and single mothers. Sometimes she gave money, sometimes food, sometimes she helped arrange some matters in the office, sometimes she also gave shelter . In spite of her own sufferings and disability she moved on crutches, with more and more difficulty each year.

In March 1974 Dr. Aleksandra adopted Marysia. It was a great happiness for her. Marysia's adoption gave her more strength and commitment. 

 On Christmas Eve 1990, she took in her home  a drunk 18-year-old with a criminal history, who she found at the railway station in Elbląg. Marysia was then 16 years old. The doctor hoped that  it would be possible to give the young man  a normal family life.

However, things turned out differently. Zbyszek was not like a brother to Mary, because he fell in love with her. The 18-year-old only briefly participated in drug addiction treatment. He quickly returned to his old company. He began to bully the doctor who gave him shelter. His colleagues robbed her apartment.

 Doctor Ola decided that the boy could no longer stay in the apartment.  She found a family who agreed to help, taking the young man in, but he robbed these people as well and escaped, living on the streets again.

 Eventually, he was caught by the police and brought to trial. In April 1992, he was sentenced for theft with burglary. He was then less than 20 years old. Doing well behind bars, he started getting 24-hour passes. He came to the apartment on May 1st, with , only Marysia at home. Brzoskowski tortured and killed her. When Dr. Ola entered the apartment, he murdered her as well.

 He was sentenced to death for this crime but later given life in prison. It does not appear from his statements that he regretted what he had done.

A marble plaque on her grave reads: "A noble and good woman. She died a tragic death together with her daughter Marysia". Everyone who knew her spoke of her holiness.

SKIES OVER MONASTERY FARM

 

Our friend Maryam Larki recently took this photo looking out to the bay.

December and January morning skies have been wondrous!

SAINTS IN THE NEW YEAR

 

 

 Pope Benedict XVI in a homily for Epiphany in 2013.

The saints are God’s true constellations, which light up the nights of this world, serving as our guides. Saint Paul, in his Letter to the Philippians, told his faithful that they must shine like stars in the world (cf. 2:15).

On New Year’s night, we still have the monastic custom of drawing a saint to be our example  through the year.  This year I had the duty to select the saints for all and decided to have only women. Of course there were some old friends such as Sts Lucy and Agatha, Sts. Hildegard and Gertrude, but I also added lesser known contemporary saints, such as Elizabeth of the Trinity (my saint for this year), St. Faustina, Bl. Benedetta Porro, St. Mariane of Moloka’I, and St. Josephine Bakita.

Seeking the intercession of a particular saint does not mean that one cannot approach the Lord directly in prayer. It is  the same as asking a friend to pray for you, except, this friend is already in Heaven, and can intercede for us without ceasing. It is the communion of saints, in actual practice.

Pope Francis has said that “ saints are not disconnected from the realities of daily life but faithfully live the Gospel to the fullest within the communities in which they find themselves. 

Saints do not come from a ‘parallel universe’ but are believers who belong to God’s faithful people and are firmly grounded in a daily existence made up of family ties, study, and work, social, economic, and political life… the saints strive constantly, without fear or hesitation, to carry out God’s will.”

So  those who have gone before us and have achieved the holiness we should be striving for- longing for, can aid us in our own journey to the Lord.  All we have to do is ask!  Find a patron you can relate to and pray to them.

GIFTS

The Journey Of The Magi by T.S. Eliot

A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.’
  And the camels galled, sorefooted, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
and running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly. 

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wine-skins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arriving at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it  was (you might say) satisfactory. 

All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

One of my favorite artists:  Dr. James He Qi

“Adoration of the Magi” - The artist writes: 

They presented three gifts to our Savior.
Yangshao Pottery (at the bottom about 6,000 years ago)
Yin Shang Bronzes (at the top, about 3,000 years ago)
Blue & White Porcelain (almost 1,000 years history)
Hallelujah!