Our Staff
Aloha to you from the staff of Maria Lanakila Catholic Church. If you would like to contact us, give us a call at the number below, or use the email button below to send us a message.
Father Gary P. Colton, Administrator. Father Gary was born on January 21, 1942 in Van Nuys, California. When he was four-years-old, the family moved to Maui, Hawaii where his father, Dr. Lloyd Colton, became the plantation dentist for Maui Pine Co. The family then moved to Honolulu in 1953 because Dr. Colton set up a private practice with medical office in Waikiki.
After graduating from Star of the Sea Elementary School, young Gary entered St. Stephen's Seminary. Following St. Stephen's, he moved on to St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park, California.
On June 1, 1968, Bishop John Scanlan ordained him at Star of the Sea Church in Honolulu where he served as a parish priest for 13 years. In December 1981, Father Gary return to his "home island, Maui" where he served in Haiku, Paia, Kahului and Keanae for 20 years. After four years in Honolulu at the Co-Cathedral of Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus, he has returned to Maui to be the new pastor of Maria Lanakila Catholic Church in Lahaina, Maui.
Rev. Joseph Pathiyil, M.F., Associate Pastor. Fr. Joseph is from India, from the state of Kerala. He was born on January 10, 1960, and has three brothers and three sisters.
Fr. Joseph completed minor seminary and the philosophical studies in Hyderabad in the state of Andhra Pradesh, and completed his theological studies in Rome, Italy.
Fr. Joseph was ordained on December 10, 1988, for the Religious Order of the Missionaries of Faith. He was working for the past 19 years in India as Socius, pastor, and formator, and in 2003 was elected to be Provincial Superior. In 2009-10 he spent his sabbatical year at St. Felicitas Church, San Leandro, in the diocese of Oakland, California.
The Diocese of Honolulu invited Fr. Joseph's Religious Order to work in the Hawaiian Islands and he was asked to come over to be the first priest of the Order. He accepted this appointment on August 16, 2010 at Maria Lanakila Catholic Church in Lahaina, Maui.
Nars Fernandez Febra, Director of Liturgy. Nars was born in the southern part of the Philippines in Davao City. She is the second of nine living children, all raised in the Catholic faith. She comes from a family of musicians and singers. A sister next to her is a nun, two sisters and a brother are keyboard players and song leaders in their respective parish churches in the Philippines. Nars has been playing and singing in church since her high school days. She finished her Bachelor of Music degree major in piano in the Philippines, and, got her Master's degree in Church Music and Liturgy with an emphasis on composition at St. Joseph College, Rensselaer, Indiana in the United States. She came to Hawaii in 2001 and served as Director of Music at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Honokaa, on the Big Island. In 2002, she came to Maui and was received here at Maria Lanakila by Fr. Bill Petrie to coordinate the R.E. and the RCIA programs for the parish. In 2003, when Fr. William J. Kunisch became the new administrator here at Maria Lanakila, he assigned her as Director of Music and Liturgy and she still holds the same position to this day.
Marie LaBanca, Outreach Coordinator.
Howard Lolesio, Buildings and Grounds.
