Kennedy, Retired Bishop of Hawaii, Dies at 84

Episcopal News Service. February 27, 1986 [86037]

HONOLULU (DPS, Feb. 27) -- The Rt. Rev. Harry Sherbourne Kennedy, who served as Episcopal Bishop of Hawaii from 1914-1969, died at the Queen's Medical Center here Feb. 14. He was 84.

Memorial services were held on Sunday, Feb. 16, in St. Andrew's Cathedral, Honolulu.

Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning, who was Bishop of Hawaii at the time of his election as primate last year, said of Kennedy: "Bishop Kennedy's life and ministry meant more than words could ever begin to describe. He was missionary in every sense of the word, reaching out to countless numbers throughout the Pacific. And for me, personally, and for my family, he was a pastor and friend who constantly touched our lives with the love of Christ. Our hearts are filled with thanksgiving for his life and ministry, and our love and prayers to Mrs. Kennedy, their five sons and their families." Had he not been taken ill, Kennedy would have been a participant in Browning's Service of Installation in Washington in January.

Before his election by the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church as Bishop of Hawaii, Kennedy was rector of Grace Church, Colorado Springs (1937-1943) and a Chaplain in the U.S. Army (1942-1943).

He received his B.A. from Colorado State College in 1925 and prepared for the ministry at St. John's Theological College, Greeley. He also received honorary degrees from Seabury-Western Theological School, Evanston, Ill. (D.D. 1943); the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Berkeley, Calif.(S.T.D. 1944); Trinity College, Hartford, Conn. (D.D. 1957); and Colorado College, Colorado Springs (L.H.D. 1967).

In 1964, Queen Elizabeth II made him a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his service to Armed Forces personnel of the United Kingdom and British Commonwealth.

As Bishop of Hawaii, Kennedy also had oversight of American Armed Services personnel in the Pacific and the Far East, as well as of churches in Okinawa, Guam, American Samoa, Wake, Midway and Taiwan. He was also one of three co-consecrators to assure the apostolic succession in the Philippine Independent Church.

Kennedy's was an episcopacy of renewal and upbuilding. His twenty-five years as bishop saw 24 new church buildings, six new chapels, 23 new parish halls, two new schools (Seabury Hall, Maui, and Hawaii Preparatory Academy, Island of Hawaii), 21 new educational buildings (not including those at Seabury Hall, HPS, Iolani or the Priory) and 40 new rectories.

Kennedy brought Hawaii's Episcopal Church from dependent Missionary District to full status as a Diocese in America's Episcopal Church.

Kennedy was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. on August 21, 1901 and was raised in Rahway, N.J.

Contributions are now being accepted to the Bishop Harry S. Kennedy Memorial Scholarship Fund, St. Andrew's Priory School, 224 Queen Emma Square, Honolulu, HI 96813.