Charles Kekumano

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Charles Kekumano, a Roman Catholic priest, was born in 1919 in Kona on the island of Hawai‘i. Educated at Saint Louis High School in Honolulu, he subsequently entered clerical formation and was ordained to the presbyterate for the Diocese of Honolulu. He earned a doctorate in Canon law from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. and was subsequently appointed as chancellor of the Honolulu diocese, secretary to Msgr. James Sweeney, and later rector of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace. In 1961 he was named an honorary chaplain of the Papal household, with the title of Monsignor, by Blessed John XXIII, the first native Hawaiian to hold such an honor.

Shortly after Father Joseph Ferrario was elevated to the episcopate, Msgr. Kekumano left the diocese of Honolulu, to work in the diocese of Juneau. He retired from active ministry in 1984 and returned to Honolulu. Msgr. Kekumano was involved in many civic organizations, including the American Red Cross, the Duke Kahanamoku Foundation, the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, the Hawaiian Civic Club of Honolulu. He also served on the University of Hawai‘i Board of Regents, the Honolulu Police Commission, the Maui Charter Commission, and the Hawai‘i Commission on Children and Youth. He died of cancer at the age of 78 in St. Francis Hospice in Honolulu on January 19, 1998.