KAPALUA, Hawaii — For scores of families in Hawaii still hoping to reunite with loved ones, it was not yet time to give up — even as the staggering death toll continued to grow, and even as authorities predicted that more remains would be found within the ashes left behind by a wildfire that gutted the once-bustling town of Lahaina.
But many others are already confronting a painful reality. Their loved ones did not make it out alive.
At a Sunday Mass at a church in Kapalua, the Most Rev. Clarence “Larry” Silva, the Roman Catholic bishop of Honolulu, appealed to somber parishioners not to abandon their faith.
“If we are angry with God we should tell him so. He can take it,” he said in his sermon, adding later that “God loves us in tragedies and good times and bad times.”
On Saturday, Gov. Josh Green predicted the tragedy could rank as Hawaii’s deadliest natural disaster ever.
It was an ominous signal of the anguish to come. Mourners will file into houses of worship, then somberly gather at gravesites to say final goodbyes. The scenes will be repeated over and over — though how many times no one yet knows.
“Funerals are not yet on the horizon,” Silva told The Associated Press. “Even in the best of times, Hawaii has the custom on having funerals anywhere from a month to six months after the death.”
Amid Lahaina’s devastation, the Maria Lanakila Catholic Church itself suffered smoke damage but its convent and school were destroyed.
Pope Francis acknowledged the tragedy during his Sunday address to people gathered at the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Square, saying that he “desires to assure my prayers for the victims of the fires that devastated the island of Maui.” Locally, amid the gloom, faith leaders were focused on providing community and spiritual hope for congregants who lost homes and livelihoods. Some vowed to hold services on Sunday.
“We’re hoping our church can be a beacon of hope when the time comes,” the Rev. Barry Campbell said from Kihei, where his family has stayed since escaping Lahaina.
He plans to hold services as soon as it’s possible at Lahaina Baptist Church, which remained standing, even if buildings around it were razed.
“That’s the thing our people really need,” Campbell said. “To be together.”
For now, many faith leaders are mounting relief efforts, including turning houses of worship into temporary shelters. They are also delivering supplies to those in need, and doing their best to help families connect with friends and relatives across an area with intermittent power and without reliable cellphone services.
The Church of Latter-day Saints in Maui said five of its members died in the fires, including four from the same family. In the fire’s aftermath, the church has transformed two meeting houses into shelters.
