In Native and Christian: Indigenous Voices on Religious Identity in the United States and Canada, 163. New York and London: Routledge, 1996.

Pua Hopkins (Native Hawaiian) is Acting Dean of Students and Associate Professor of Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawaii, Manoa.  She is the author of Ka Lei Ha'aheo (University of Hawaii, 1992), an Hawaiian language textbook used in many universities, colleges, and high schools, as well as other publications on Hawaiian language and culture.  As a popular speaker on the theory and practice of multicultural education, she is also actively involved in cross-cultural ministry development within the Episcopal Church; she is a member of the Commission on Native Hawaiian Ministry, which recently developed an alternative ordination process for native Hawaiian clergy.  Hopkins originally presented this essay at "The Challenges of the Past, the Challenges of the Future," a symposium on mission in light of the Columbus Quincentenary held at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California.  She presents a compelling example of how contemporary church hierarchies still suppress the cultural traditions of native communities, and how this affects the ability of native Christians to feel at home in the church.  In calling for institutional change, Hopkins describes the cultural conflict that is invoked by the conventions of the ordination process and the impact this conflict has on native Christian leadership.

Honolulu (HI) Advertiser, September 20, 2004:

Alberta Pualani "Pua" Hopkins, a professor of Hawaiian language at the University of Hawai'i for more than two decades and author of the language text "Ka Lei Ha'aheo," died Wednesday. She was 65.

Hopkins served as a language resource to anyone who needed her expertise after she retired from the university. Her most recent work was as a senior scholar who occasionally settled disputes among professors working on a project to modernize the Hawaiian Bible and take it digital.

"It's a big loss; she was a driving force," said Puakea Nogelmeier, a UH Hawaiian language professor. "She was a mentor to myself and many other teachers; really a pillar of the Hawaiian language community."

Hopkins was born Oct. 26, 1938, in Hilo, Hawai'i.

She is survived by her husband, the Rev. Charles Hopkins; sons, Thomas Anthony Jr., James Anthony Jr., Kalae S. Anthony, Naalehu Anthony, Gordon Hopkins, Michael Hopkins, Stephen Hopkins, and Mark Hopkins; daughters, Helen Lamburt, Margot Anthony, Punihei Anthony and Lynlie Waiamau; 32 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Hopkins also is survived by brothers, Albert "Hypo" Pung, James "Jimmy" Pung, and Robert "Bobby" Pung; and sisters, Louise May Tippitt and Lilinoe "Miggs" Cranford.

Services are scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, with visitation at St. Andrew's Cathedral in Honolulu.

Crossings (Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Berkeley, CA), Winter 2004

Honolulu’s Cathedral Church of St. Andrew was filled on Saturday, September 25th, with people celebrating the life of Pua Hopkins and mourning her loss. The diverse crowd reflected the three communities that Pua served with great energy, persistence, and grace: the Hawaiian Nation, the Episcopal Church, and the academic world. The service itself was a powerful melding of Native Hawaiian and Prayer Book traditions.

Pua was known to CDSP particularly from her years as a member of the Board of Trustees—years when she impressed upon us the importance of minority groups within the church and seminary. After she left the Board, we were fortunate to continue seeing her through meetings and visits to family in the Bay Area. CDSP awarded her the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters (honoris causa) in 2003.

Pua was a leader in the revival of the Hawaiian language and author of the text used throughout Hawaii to teach it. She taught for more than twenty years at the University of Hawaii, where she also held administrative offices. With her husband, the Rev. Charles G. Kamohoali’i Hopkins, she was a leader in encouraging Native Hawaiian congregations and ministries in the Diocese of Hawaii. She translated parts of the Prayer Book into Hawaiian and was a consultant to the Hawaiian Bible Project.

She co-founded the Anglican Indigenous Network, chaired the Episcopal Church’s Commission on Racial and Ethnic Ministry, and was a regular delegate to “Winter Talk,” the annual meeting of indigenous Episcopalians. Her workshops and lectures took her to many different places and events in the church.

She was a loyal friend, a reformer whose persistence was undergirded by a deep and centered faith, a teacher who never lost sight of the goal of wisdom alongside that of learning, a thinker who used traditional Hawaiian concepts to deepen and enlarge Christian faith, a speaker who could take her audience quickly and effectively to the heart of an issue. She was a person of great radiance.

We join her husband, their family, and her many other associates in mourning her loss.

© 2008 by James Treat