Builder of ‘many churches’ concludes mission at 106

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KAHULUI - A church-builder in the Philippines who came to Maui to help build the Filipino ministry in what has grown to become one of Maui County's largest congregations, the Rev. Rosendo Abellera Alcantara, died Oct. 3 at the age of 106.

He is remembered by his family and his congregation as someone who dedicated his life to God and inspired others to trust their lives to God. But his own story was that he left his Roman Catholic upbringing and family life to sin for seven years "until I heard the preaching of the Gospel."

In an interview on his 100th birthday, he told a reporter he drank, gambled, danced and hung around with a crowd interested in worldly goals rather than spiritual ones. That was after he had left the Philippines to live in California.

But he turned back to God in 1927, he said, becoming a minister in the Assemblies of God church.

In 1936, he felt called back to the Philippines, where he was involved in establishing churches around the Ilocos region working with American missionaries.

"He started many, many, many churches in the Philippines. He is very well-known in the Philippines." said Pastor Anne Fujii, senior associate pastor with the King's Cathedral in Kahului.

He was also known to the Rev. James Marocco, who worked with Alcantara's father in the Philippines. In 1980, when Marocco was building the church on Maui, he asked Alcantara to work with the Filipino families on Maui. At 81 years old, Alcantara came to Maui in 1983, Fujii said. From just two families of Filipino ancestry, the Filipino ministry at the church has grown to several hundred families, not only on Maui but on Molokai and Lanai, she said.

She said he inspired by his example and dedication to God.

"His whole life is an inspiration. When he was in the Philippines during the war, when the Japanese had captured the country and imprisoned the American missionaries, he risked his life to take food to the missionaries in prison. There were times he was at gunpoint and he said he asked God, 'If there is anything else you want me to do, spare my life.'

"He was a godly man. He lived for God totally," Fujii said. "He wanted people to know the Jesus that he loved."

He was born Feb. 27, 1902, in Aringay in La Union, a province on the east coast of the Ilocos region of Luzon island. His family includes his wife, Presentacion "Precy" Alcantara; a son, Francisco (Pacita) Alcantara; a daughter, Rosemarie Puson; a sister, Leoncing Ganaden; and six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren - and thousands of spiritual children.

A hanai daughter, Merlee Galinato, said she began receiving counsel and support from Pastor Alcantara and Precy Alcantara more than 20 years ago.

"He both inspired me and provided guidance. He's like a second dad to me," Galinato said.

As his health began to falter in recent years, she said she was helping to take care of him. But he never wavered in his faith, she said.

"To his last breath, when we were with him, instead of us praying for him, he prayed for us. It was that kind of relationship."

Services will be held Friday and Saturday at the King's Cathedral. Visitation will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, with a service at 7 p.m. Visitation will continue at 8 a.m. Saturday at the church, with a service at 9 a.m., followed by burial at 11 a.m. at Valley Isle Memorial Park. Borthwick Norman's Mortuary is assisting with the arrangements.