The original church began as a Mission of Immaculate Conception parish in Ewa on Renton Road. Our Lady of Perpetual Help mission was built on Ft. Weaver Road and dedicated in 1951. It got its name because of the devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help which had recently been introduced by Redemptorist priests who had conducted some retreats in the Diocese at that time.

This was literally a grass roots effort. Money for the construction was raised from individual donations and all kinds fundraisers. The church furnishings also came from donations fro the surrounding community. But it wasn’t long before the little wooden church on Fort Weaver Rd. had outgrown its space.

The new pastor, Fr. Bernard Eikmeier asked, then Bishop Sweeney, what could be done about increasing the size of OLPH Mission. The over crowding was becoming serious. Checking with an architect, it was decided that the cost of adding room for merely a hundred more people would be far too expensive and too congested. Land for a new church needed to be found.

While visiting Fr. Ernest Claes, SS.CC. at St. Joseph parish in Waipahu, Fr. Eikmeier met a gentleman from the U.S. Government who was in charge of making excess federal surplus lands available for private ventures. Fr. Eikmeier asked if there were any such land in the Ewa Beach area. The man assured him that there indeed was a goodly amount there. One section was being reserved for a new high school (the future Campbell High School). Another parcel was set aside for a contractor who would be building a new housing subdivision (the present Ewa Beach Estates). The property between these two parcels was available. The only hitch was that it had to be used for Education, Health or Welfare purposes. The federal land could not be sold to build a church. Fr. Eikmeier, nevertheless, jumped at the prospect. Our Lady was definitely laying the groundwork for her future parish.

The land was still complete overgrown with keawe bushes. Fr. Eikmeier and a couple of men from the parish went out to survey the property with axes and chain saw, and found it acceptable even though the ground was all coral based. But coral can be covered, right? Fr. Eikmeier requested ten acres. When told that it could not be used for a church, he said that it would be used for a school. The Church, with Mary’s help, would come later. He was granted 8.8 acres. He contacted the Marist Sisters at Star of the Sea parish and school in Waialae who indicated interest in staffing the new school.

The Sisters began immediately to make preparation for their coming to Ewa Beach; and negotiating with the pastor of a Protestant Church, Fr. Eikmeier was able to obtain a neighboring house for the Sisters. The payment of the parish acreage was handled by the Diocesan Business Office. This was at an 80% discount to be amortized over a period of 20 years of the estimated evaluation of $150,000.00. (You can’t even get a garage space for that amount nowadays!)

Upon advice of others, Fr. Eikmeier engaged the Architectual firm of a Mr. Rummel to design the school. When that was completed, bids were requested from various contractors and a contract was negotiated with the lowest bidder by the Diocese. And “Our Lady” provided another unforeseen benefit. It just so happened that Our Lady of Good Counsel parish in Pearl City was trying to get rid of some rich top soil. They too were doing some construction and they had more dirt than they could use. OLPH got the soil it needed just for the cost of hauling it. Thank you, Mother Mary!.

 Construction proceeded on schedule and the first of the two school buildings was ready for school as were the Sisters who arrived and took up residence in their remodeled home on Papipi Drive. The year was 1968. But what about the needed new church?

Next:  Part II - OLPH School Opens and the Parish Grows