MAKAKILO — The faithful, the newly converted and the lapsed who have returned home to the Catholic Church will stream through the doors of St. Jude Catholic Church for Easter services today, further swelling a congregation that's been blessed with overflow crowds the past few years.

Easter symbolizes redemption and rebirth and there's plenty of both at St. Jude, which rests on a hilltop on the slopes of Makakilo, just mauka of the H-1 Freeway.

"During Easter, we can't put everybody in the building," said Deacon John Coughlin. "People are out the doors."

St. Jude is one of a half-dozen or so Catholic churches in the 'Ewa Plain and Leeward O'ahu areas struggling to accommodate growing congregations. A December strategic plan for the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu identifies the 'Ewa Plain as the fastest-growing area of the state — and one that may need four new parishes by 2030, said Tom Papandrew, director of planning for the diocese.

None of it was imagined 20 years ago, when St. Jude began operating out of the garage of the priests' rectory.

Sacraments were offered in places like Mauka Lani Elementary School's cafeteria and at the Makakilo rec center, where the teachings of Jesus shared the same space as children's judo classes.

Now, in its nine-year-old, 14,400-square-foot building, St. Jude has once again run out of room, and its 852 seats can't hold all those who attend Mass during peak times, like today.

And that's a good problem to have.

"It's a magnificent dilemma," said Coughlin, who was there in St. Jude's early days.

St. Jude lacks even the land to expand to accommodate its annual 10 percent growth.

"They don't even have space to build a decent parish hall or classrooms for religious education," Papandrew said. "It's not on a flat piece of land. So the topography makes it more difficult."

Some of the parishioners attribute the church's growth to Coughlin and the rest of the St. Jude clergy and staff, who work long hours and are responsible for keeping a feeling of intimacy in an overcrowded church.

Coughlin humbly said the church's popularity is primarily the result of being at the epicenter of Leeward O'ahu growth, as subdivisions fill in with young families looking for a home to pray in — or are increasingly converting to Catholicism.

DESIRE TO CONVERT

It all mixes together in a place that has become a second home for people like Lawrence Hahn, 42, of Kapolei, who grew up with no organized religion.

Twenty-two years ago, when his father died, Hahn questioned the very existence of God.

But when he met Kimberly Cummings five years ago, Hahn was moved by her nightly rosaries and prayers and the serenity she said she found in the church.

So Hahn began studying Catholicism and in February was baptized, received his first communion and offered his first confession. On March 8, Hahn and Cummings were married in the church.

Then on Holy Thursday last week at St. Jude, in a ceremony replicated around the globe, Hahn stood in for one of the original 12 disciples who had their feet washed by Jesus.

As the Rev. Cletus Mooya knelt on his knees and cleansed Hahn's right foot, Hahn nearly wept in front of the congregation.

"It was undescribable," he said. "It was so moving that a father would wash our feet. I should be washing his feet. He's the one I pray to. ... It teaches me to be a better person and — as much as I can — to treat people with more respect. If he can go on his knees and wash my feet, I can go out of my way to help other people."

More than 60 percent of St. Jude's congregation is made up of Filipino descendants and the rest follow Hawai'i's general demographic patterns.

One of the priests, the Rev. Joseph Diaz, is on loan from the Philippines. Mooya comes from Zambia but belongs to the diocese.

"We're growing in all areas but our congregation is definitely skewing younger," Coughlin said. "At St. Jude, we're tending to trend down to the thirtysomethings, young families that perhaps are not following the road that their parents did, who may have been disaffected from the church and turned their backs on organized religion. But some of the parents are coming back after realizing something was missing."

REACHING OUT

The diocese has programs for returning Catholics and those looking to convert. But St. Jude continues to grow on its own, with little outreach, Coughlin said.

"We have not been out knocking on doors or, frankly, making much of an effective campaign," he said. "But we do want to reach out and bring them back in."

Ivy Espiritu, 40, of Makakilo, was baptized but fell away from the church until a breast cancer scare in August 2006.

"I felt very helpless and unsure," Espiritu said. "What helped me was opening my heart to God. It gave me the courage and the strength to get me through the surgeries and the cancer treatment. It helped me cope with the devastating news and the change in my life."

Espiritu's doctors believe she's "100 percent cured" but her faith will be with her forever.

"The experience has changed my life," she said.

Her two sons — Dustin, 16, and Deven, 11 — were to be baptized this weekend; Ivy was to be confirmed and all three would receive their first Eucharist.

And Thursday night, mother and sons had their feet washed by Mooya.

"It was to teach us that you are no more better than the next person and you should always treat — and be willing to serve — one another with love and respect," Ivy Espiritu said. "It was a lesson in humility."

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com.