Our Affiliation: The Episcopal Church USA, based in New York, and the Philippine Independent Church, based in Manila.
Our Numbers: About 250 members attend weekly services.
What We Believe: The church's mission statement reads: "St. Paul's Church is called to serve Christ as our Lord and Savior by responding to the sacramental, pastoral and spiritual needs of the community in general, and to the Filipino people in particular by being sensitive to the traditions, culture and local customs of the people."
Our primary goals, Albano said, are to provide more outreach to the Filipino community, increase youth involvement, strengthen their understanding of the Gospel, and develop a stronger lay involvement in church and community activities.
What's special about us: A majority of members are of Filipino descent, both immigrant and American-born, and are primarily Ilocanos. The church offers Ilocano and English-speaking services on Sundays.
"We are really unique because we maintain our cultural traditions here," Albano said. "But (St. Paul's) is not strictly for Filipinos. It's open to everyone."
Members also believe strongly in giving back to the community and have been involved in such projects as Adopt-A-Highway, Hawai'i Foodbank, American Cancer Society, Filipino Community Center, and the Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program.
A brief history...
Fr. Gregorio Aglipay
Father Gregorio Aglipay, a Catholic priest, seceded from the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines to establish in 1902 the Philippine Independent Church, often referred to by members as the Aglipayan Church.
In the mid-1950s, the Most Rev. Isabelo Delos Reyes Jr., then-supreme bishop of the Philippines, and the Right Rev. Harry Kennedy, then-bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Hawai'i, looked into the idea of having a Filipino ministry in Hawai'i. Kennedy commissioned Delos Reyes to send a priest to begin work as a Filipino minister in Hawai'i, and Delos Reyes sent Father Timoteo Quintero. Quintero established St. Paul's Episcopal Church at Parke Chapel on Aug. 11, 1959.
The Most Rev. Isabelo Delos Reyes, Jr.
The Rt. Rev. Harry Kennedy
Today under the leadership of Fr. Randy St. Paul's Church has grown to be by far one of the largest congregations in the Episcopal Diocese of Hawaii and is also the largest Filipino congregation in the Episcopal Church USA.
Fr. Randy, Fr. Tim and Bishop Bob
(Photo from W. Vergara blog site)