Immaculate Conception Church, Ewa

Immaculate Conception Catholic Church

91-1298 Renton Road, Ewa, HI 96706-1913

The historic Immaculate Conception Catholic Church stands along Renton Road on leeward Oahu in Honouliuli.

The first priest to serve in Ewa Plains was the Rev. Raymond Delalande SS.CC., a priest of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts from Normandy, France. Between 1857 and 1891, Father Delalande traveled by horse throughout his large mission territory, which at that time also included the North Shore and Waianae Coast. During this time, Mass was held in a small chapel in Honouliuli, near Pearl Harbor.

The sugar industry did not take off until the year 1879 when the first artesian well was bored. In 1886, the Ewa Plantation Company was formed. Shortly thereafter, Portuguese, Filipino, and Japanese immigrants arrived to work on the plantations, which included a large number of Catholics. Eventually, a village, called Ewa, formed out of the community around the local sugar mill. In 1891, the community built a cemetery and replaced the dilapidated chapel with another simple structure near the mill.

In the late 1920’s, Bishop Stephen Alencastre, SS.CC., exchanged a piece of land in Honouliuli for the present lot on Renton Road as a new location for a larger church. Father Charles Windels, SS.CC., an energetic and enterprising Belgian priest who had arrived at Ewa in December, 1913, designed, supervised, and greatly contributed to the construction of the Gothic wooden church that stands today. Bishop Alencastre solemnly blessed the church on September 8, 1929, and dedicated it to Mary under the title of Immaculate Conception. Due to his success, Father Windels was shortly thereafter transferred to (now Co-Cathedral) St. Therese of the Child Jesus to carry out a similar building project.