After 40 years of hosting a Sunday morning Mass at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort & Spa, the hotel’s management has informed St. Peter and Paul Parish, which has been providing the liturgy, that the last service there will be on Aug. 31.

In an Aug. 6 letter to St. Peter and Paul’s administrator, Jesuit Father David Travers, the Hilton Hawaiian’s director of guest services Bert Momotomi explained the 9 a.m. Mass’s cancellation saying “we are saddened to make this decision, but with the economy and the current situation in the travel industry, we were forced to make some difficult decisions.”

Michael Wilding, resident manager at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, said in a statement, “Due to the business and economic challenges we are facing this year in the visitor industry, we could no longer offer our events facilities at no charge.”

Father Travers was first informed of the Mass cancellation in a July 14 phone call with Momotomi.

“Poor old Conrad Hilton must be turning over in his grave,” the priest told the Hawaii Catholic Herald. “He was a devout Catholic.”

According to Father Travers, while St. Peter and Paul Church was being constructed in 1968, at its location a few blocks from the Ala Moana Shopping Center, church members celebrated Mass at three hotels — the Pagoda, the Ilikai and the Hilton. Catholic services have continued at the Hilton ever since.

“When something that has lasted that long ends, and you have no control over the reason for it, that’s hard,” Father Travers said. “Of course I’m prejudiced; I think we should be there. I think we render a service to them.”

St. Peter and Paul parishioner and Waikiki resident Connie Smith has attended Mass at the Hilton Hawaiian with her son Gregory from around 1970. Gregory, who has Down syndrome, carries up the Communion hosts each Sunday.

“He’s a regular helper at church. He’s just going to be lost,” she said. “We’re all going to be lost without it. I know the tourists are going to be upset when they come back in November or December and find out there’s no more Mass.”

Smith said that about 170 people attend Mass there each week with that number going up to 500 at Christmas and Easter. A headcount at the Aug. 10 Mass showed that among the visitors there were 27 local parishioners at the service. Smith said that visitors from other Waikiki hotels find out about the Hilton Hawaiian Mass and come.

Since they heard the news, Father Travers and the other priests who rotate covering the Mass have been announcing the cancellation at the end of the liturgy. Father Travers said visitors, especially those that make regular trips to Hawaii, have been “stunned.”

New Hope Christian Fellowship, a Protestant Evangelical Church, began holding weekly services at the hotel since Easter of this year, but Father Travers says they’ve also been told they will no longer be able to hold services. Each group holds its services in various ballrooms depending on where space is available that week.

Father Travers asked the Hilton Hawaiian if the parish could pay for any set-up and other facility expenses incurred by the hotel. The Mass requires the set-up of chairs and a large table that serves as the altar.

In his letter to Father Travers, Momotomi wrote that because of “the long-standing relationship with the Catholic Church, the room rental and AC/electrical charges would be waived” but that labor cost would be $856 per Sunday.

“We don’t even make that kind of money [on a Sunday],” Father Travers said.

He has written a bulletin letter to St. Peter and Paul parishioners, is considering submitting a column to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin about the cancellation, and has also written a letter to Bishop Silva to see if he has any suggestions for them.

Smith says she and other parishioners who attend the hotel Mass have encouraged visitors to call the hotel management and express their wish to see services continue.

“We’re all just very upset and disappointed. We’ve all been just praying because we don’t know what else to do,” Smith said.

Conrad Hilton bought the then Hawaiian Village hotel property in 1961 and added Hilton to its name. In 2007, Blackstone Group, a private-equity firm, acquired Hilton Hotels Corporation, including the Waikiki hotel.