Currently closed due to Covid-19
One of the four mission churches of St. Michael’s Parish, Holy Rosary was built in 1874 on Mamalahoa Highway in Kalaoa. The A-frame church sits high off the road, standing sentinel over the Kona Coast.
When there wasn’t a priest available to give Mass, parishioners gathered at Holy Rosary to say the rosary and sing hymns. In the 1940s, Mitchell Mahi built the church’s social hall of native ‘ohi’a wood. It hosted movies and wedding lu‘au. Generations of families who attended the tiny church are buried behind it.
After the new millennium, weekly Mass was suspended at Holy Rosary due to waning attendance. The church was still used for weddings; however, and religious education classes and community meetings continued in the hall. The Kaloko landmark received a major facelift in 2006 and reopened for weekly Mass.
Find more info on St. Michael’s mission churches in the 2009 book, “North Kona’s Catholic Heritage….remembered.” It’s for sale in the parish office and bookstore on the grounds of St. Michael’s Church in Kailua-Kona, 326-7771.
