The new St. Damien Church on Molokai. Upgrades to the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa. A rectory for St. Rita Church in Nanakuli.

These parish building projects and dozens of others have been made possible through financial support from the Parish and School Revolving Fund. Though many parishioners have not heard of this diocesan system of savings and loans, it plays an important part in the life of the local church.

On July 17, Bishop Larry Silva issued a new set of statutes for the Parish and School Revolving Fund, or PSRF. The document details the functions of the fund and outlines the responsibilities of the diocesan leaders in charge of it.

According to diocesan finance officer Lisa Sakamoto, the updated rules mark a big step for the diocese. Although the fund has been around for decades, Sakamoto said the new guidelines show the effort being taken to ensure parishioners of its utmost transparency.

“It’s standard operating procedure for dioceses throughout the nation to set up these revolving funds or to have parish savings and loan funds,” she said. “We’re just following best practices.”

The PSRF is essentially a diocesan “bank,” said Sakamoto. The PSRF statutes note that all 66 of the Islands’ parishes must deposit with the diocese “all monies in excess of the amount of cash required to support 60 days of operation.” Parish schools are urged to do the same, unless the Augustine Educational Foundation is handling their assets.

These deposits are held in savings for the parishes and schools. They earn interest at a rate determined by the diocese, and can be withdrawn from the PSRF for various purposes. Parishes and schools can also turn to the PSRF for loans to finance building or capital projects.

High level of accountability

Currently, the PSRF holds more than $23 million. Monitoring this cache are Sakamoto and the Diocesan Finance Council, a 12-member group of mostly lay financial experts. The Investment and Loan Committee, comprised of finance council members and diocesan staffers, advises Bishop Silva on all decisions regarding the PSRF.

This high level of internal accountability is one of the advantages parishes and schools have over investing their money in a commercial bank. The PRSF statutes call for quarterly reports by the diocesan finance officer of its investments and loans. It is mandatory as well that an annual audit of the fund be done by an independent certified public accounting firm.

The fund is also kept separate from general diocesan assets. Sakamoto and the finance council make sure that none of the PSRF deposits are comingled with diocesan ministries or programs.

“We provide protection for the benefit of the parishes and schools,” Sakamoto said.

The PSRF also provides a unique streamlined connection between its managers and clients. The finance council and Investment and Loan Committee deal directly with parishes and schools and are continually aware of their financial situations. They look at markets with the aim of finding the best savings interest rates and loan terms to benefit the parishes and schools.

Sakamoto said parishes and schools presently earn interest at 2 percent for savings and pay 5 percent on loans. It is a reasonable fiscal balance, she said, that allows the fund to be sustainable.

“From a math perspective, if I get 5 percent on $10 million, and I have to pay 2 percent on $30 million, they kind of even out,” she said.

Applying for a loan

These management considerations and the robustness of the Parish and School Revolving Fund make it a good resource for loans. The PSRF has an efficient system for lending money to parishes or schools that are looking to improve their facilities with construction or capital projects.

According to the PSRF statutes, Bishop Silva must preliminarily approve a project before a parish or school can apply for a PSRF loan. Pastors must write a letter of intent outlining a plan for the project and a budget estimate.

Following the bishop’s OK, the pastor and parish or school team then meets with the diocesan advisors. The Investment and Loan Committee reviews various criteria for the loan, including parish or school operations costs, offertory cash flow and past ability to repay loans.

The committee determines loan amounts, a payback schedule and interest rate to be charged. They present the loan request to the bishop, who ultimately approves or rejects it.

This system “provides better governance,” Sakamoto said. “The bishop always has final authority on everything, but he has advisors now.”

St. Damien Church, built in Kaunakakai, Molokai, in 2011, is an example of the assistance provided by the revolving fund. The cost of the project was $3.4 million. Parishioners were able to raise $2 million for the construction and received a $1.4 million loan from the diocese to finance the rest.

For other parish and school needs, the new PSRF statutes allow the diocese to create an “emergency fund” to aid in unexpected situations. There is also a provision for interest-free loans or grants to help parishes with less credit-worthy statuses.

“It provides more of a collegiate spirit helping the parishes,” Sakamoto said. “We have better access to funds for the benefit of other parishes who need the help.”

Sakamoto hopes parishioners will review the PSRF statutes on the diocesan website (www.catholichawaii.org) to better understand how their parish contributions are being used for the betterment of the local Catholic community.

“To the extent that we can earn income within the fund, that will allow us to help those parishes truly in need,” Sakamoto said. “The bishop has that option within this governance structure which we never really had before.”

Jocelyn Howard, left, and Julie Walsh talk about Micronesian history and culture at a workshop for clergy, Aug. 8 at St. Stephen Diocesan Center. (HCH photo | Darlene Dela Cruz)

People from Micronesia bring a rich measure of devotion and diversity to Hawaii’s Catholic parishes, said two local experts on Micronesian anthropology at a recent workshop for Island clergy.

More than 50 priests and deacons attended an almost two-hour orientation Aug. 8 at St. Stephen Diocesan Center to learn more about the history and culture of the Micronesian community. The diocesan Office for Clergy organized the event in light of pastoral challenges that have arisen in ministering to one of the fastest-growing immigrant populations in the state.

The workshop, titled “Who is My Neighbor: Chuukese Catholic Immigrants in Hawaii,” was presented by Julie Walsh and Jocelyn Howard of the University of Hawaii at Manoa Center for Pacific Islands Studies.

“Micronesia,” as Walsh and Howard explained, is the general name for a large area of the Pacific west and south of Hawaii comprised of a number of tiny island countries. The region includes Palau, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Guam and the Marianas. The Federated States of Micronesia is the island nation comprised of Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosrae.

In the 1980s, “compacts of free association” with Micronesian countries were established by the U.S. government in exchange and reparation for military testing. Walsh said people from Micronesia may freely travel to the U.S. thanks to a provision in the compacts granting them visa-free entry.

Today, many Micronesians regularly come to Hawaii for medical treatment, education and work. According to Walsh, there are currently between 8,000 and 12,000 Micronesian immigrants here.

“They’re a part of us,” she said.

Immigrants seek the church

Catholicism is a major part of life in Micronesia, with about half of its population practicing the faith. Walsh said it is natural for Micronesian immigrants, then, to seek church support when they come to Hawaii.

Island clergy face linguistic and cultural challenges in ministering to this ethnic community. The language barrier is formidable, Walsh said, since there are at least 16 Micronesian languages and few interpreters available.

Western cultural values also differ from Micronesian ways. Walsh showed a list displaying such contrasting ideals, including Micronesians’ respect for relationships over money, and humility over pride.

For Micronesians, “it is more important to be inclusive than to do things well,” Walsh said.

Walsh suggested that Hawaii’s clergy personally approach their Micronesian parishioners. An acknowledgement from the leaders of the church will make them feel welcome in a parish and encourage them to participate.

Teaching assistant Howard, a native of Chuuk, in the second half of the orientation described how Micronesian Catholics keep their faith alive.

Howard said days on her island of Onoun “start with church and end with church.” Families there attend Mass in the morning and pray the rosary at evening. They also hold clergy in high esteem, she said, with priests often helping Micronesian families with their needs.

“The priest was everything to us on the island,” Howard added.

Howard said Micronesian Catholic newcomers to Hawaii decided to keep a similar community of faith going here. In 1995, a group of them formed the Chuukese Catholic Community Council. Among other events, this nonprofit organization organizes Masses for special occasions.

She recommended the council as a good resource for those who minister to Micronesian congregations.

At the end of the workshop, several local clergy shared their experiences in Micronesian ministry. Chuukese Deacon Eliot Cholymay, who is assigned to the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, said Micronesians are trying to create more catechism classes in their native languages. He hopes the diocese can find facilities for these programs.

Father Manny Hewe, diocesan vicar for clergy, has been celebrating the diocese’s Chuukese Mass every third Sunday at St. Philomena Church in Honolulu. The liturgy is in English, with music sung in Micronesian languages. Father Hewe said congregants tend to form groups based on the parish communities they belonged to in Micronesia. It would be helpful, he said, to create local ministries based on these allegiances.

Deacon Francis Leasiologi of St. John the Baptist Church in Kalihi reported that a recent parish survey showed that Micronesians made up about 15 percent of its congregation. That is up from a total of just 1 percent five years ago. These Micronesian parishioners, he said, are extremely devoted and even attend the Spanish Mass on Sunday just to be a part of a liturgy.

“They have an extremely strong sense of faith,” Deacon Leasiologi said.

Here, in alphabetical order, are the 27 members of the Hawaii vice province of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet and their current ministries. Two of them live on the Mainland.

• Sister Catherine Anthony Acain: Prayer and witness and volunteer work, Christ the King Parish, Kahului, Maui
• Sister Rosita Aranita: Fully retired, living in St. Paul, Minn.; volunteer for a Kenya mission project
• Sister Ann Faber Chang: Director for the seniors’ Forever Young program at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa, Honolulu; assists with long term care sisters
• Sister Patty Chang: Director of the sisters’ long term care/retirement and medical insurance; volunteer with Holy Trinity Parish, Honolulu, Family Promise Program and with the Newman Center
• Sister Francine Costello: Member of the congregational leadership team in St. Louis, Mo.
• Sister Mary Kathleen Dugar: Hawaii vice province councilor, assisting the director with administrative functions; active in the Newman Center choir and parish programs
• Sister Roselani Enomoto: Social justice director, co-director of vocation/formation and mission advancement grant writer; volunteer at Hale Makua and visiting the sick on Maui
• Sister Marcelina Felipe: Assists with long term care sisters including meal preparation
• Sister John Joseph Gilligan: Hawaii vice province treasurer
• Sister Joan Goulden: Oversees the archives for the Hawaii vice province; volunteer at the St. Francis Intergenerational Program in Ewa
• Sister James Therese Joseph: Volunteer driver for our senior sisters; a partner for prayer and witness
• Sister Jean Larm: Driver and caregiver for long term care sisters, assists with overseeing Carondelet Center’s maintenance; sings in the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa choir
• Sister Brenda Lau: Medicare program specialist for Hawaii’s Office of Aging/SAGE; part time caregiver; member of the Honolulu Chorale
• Sister Angela Laurenzo: Religious education coordinator, Christ the King Parish, Kahului, Maui
• Sister Rose Damien Malabon: Prayer and witness partner
• Sister Giovanna Marie Marcoccia: Part-time high school classroom substitute; prayer and witness
• Sister Tomasa Marcos: Prayer and witness partner
• Sister Eva Joseph Mesina: First councilor for Hawaii vice province, director of religious education at St. Anthony Parish, Wailuku, Maui, and a volunteer coordinator for the church cleaners; sings and lectors for the parish liturgies
• Sister Rosemarie Montoya: Teacher at St. Anthony School, Kailua, Oahu; co-director for vocations/formation; provides witness at her hula halau.
• Sister Carmen Paas: Prayer and witness, helps with our long term care sisters; volunteer at the Our Lady of Keaau program for the homeless; sings in the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa choir
• Sister Margaret Leonard Perreira: Full time caregiver and treasurer emeritus
• Sister Anita Marie Rosco: Prayer and witness partner
• Sister Sara Sanders: High school academic administrator, librarian and English teacher at St. Anthony Junior-Senior High School, Wailuku, Maui; volunteer parish choir director
• Sister Rose Miriam Schillinger: Prayer and witness
• Sister Sarah Bernard Talite: Part time volunteer at Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa rectory and a driver for our senior sisters
• Sister Marian Tung: Public school special education teaching assistant; volunteer American Sign Language interpreter for the hearing impaired at Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Honolulu
• Sister Claudia Wong: Director for the Hawaii vice province of the Sisters is St. Joseph of Carondelet, liaison for the congregation’s diocesan affairs, local community affairs, congregational affairs, national groups and other canonical, civic and spiritual matters

It took more than pleading to get the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet to come to Hawaii. There was also some conscience tugging involved. Hawaii’s Bishop Stephen Alencastre’s 1936 cabled entreaty to the mother superior general in St. Louis, Mo., for “at least six” sisters ended with this guilt-inducing conclusion: “Otherwise obliged to close school.”

It was the bishop’s second try. An earlier request for 12 sisters was countered with Mother Rose Columba McGinness’ polite response: “Appreciate offer. Regret inability to accept.”

Bishop Alencastre’s second attempt resulted in the mother general’s willingness to “put off a little from the shore,” Jesus’ lakeside suggestion to a weary Peter, luckless after a night of fishing.

But Hawaii was 2,000 open ocean miles “from the shore.” It would be the longest missionary leap for the Sisters of St. Joseph since the congregation had come over to the United States from France a full century earlier.

Hawaii’s Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet on retreat at the St. Anthony Retreat Center in Kalihi on March 9. (Photo By Darlene Dela Cruz)

Nevertheless, Mother Rose Columba, accompanied by Mother Mary Killian Corbett, the superior of the sisters’ Los Angeles region, took a five-day exploratory visit to the Islands to check out the situation.

The result was a happy one for the bishop, resulting in one of the last of his many significant contributions to the church in Hawaii. He died two years later.

The two mothers superior split the difference between Bishop Alencastre’s first and second requests and sent nine sisters.

They arrived 75 years ago this month on Aug. 24, 1938, on the U.S. Lurline.

They ranged in age from 21 to 58. From the St. Louis province were the superior Sister Mary Virginia Becker, the assistant superior Sister Mary Zenaide Belanger, Sister Mary Felix Jochem, Sister Frances Celine Leahy and Sister Alice Josephine Tornovich.

From Los Angeles were Sister Mary Faber Van der Werf, Sister Adele Marie Lemon, Sister Mary Anne Bahner and Sister Ann Patrice O’Connor.

The school in question that the desperate bishop had threatened to close was St. Theresa on School Street in Honolulu.

The first group of nine Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet on board the Lurline just before their arrival in Honolulu on Aug. 24, 1938.

A happy aloha

“What a happy Aloha was ours!” wrote Sister Adele Marie, recalling their morning arrival at Honolulu’s Pier 11 as the clock on the Aloha Tower marked 10 minutes to nine.

According to the late Sister Kathleen Marie Shields’s recounting of the historic day in her 2004 book “Aloha Ke Akua,” the sisters were met by a “waving crowd of aloha.” Disembarking, they together received nearly 100 leis.

The sisters were identically dressed in their hardly tropical-friendly habits with thick pleats, deep pockets, ample sleeves and draping veil, kept in check with straight pins, jet black from head-to-toe except for a white coronet framing the face and a large stiff white bib. Their only adornments were the black profession crucifix and the black rosary hanging from the knotted black cincture.

The new arrivals were accompanied by their future pastor Sacred Hearts Fathers Athanasius Bous and the vice-provincial of the Hawaii mission Sacred Hearts Father Valentine Francks as they were driven down Bishop Street, past the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, turning left on School Street for the few final blocks to St. Theresa School.

Waiting for them was a new two-story cream-colored convent, built in the previous three weeks. Upon inspection, Mother Mary Virginia described it as “quite perfect.”

St. Theresa School, one of the largest in the mission, had opened in 1931 under the direction of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. But rapidly increasing enrollment in their other schools had forced them to leave St. Theresa, prompting Bishop Alencastre’s call for the Sisters of St. Joseph.

On Sept. 1, a mere eight days after the sisters arrived, the school year opened for 730 students, kindergarten through grade nine, representing the wide ethnic diversity of Honolulu’s working class.

According to Sister Kathleen Marie, “the faculty of eight sisters and four young women found their greatest challenge in their combined efforts to pronounce and to spell correctly the names of the children.”

The sisters’ quick success prompted Bishop Alencastre a few months later to ask for more of them, this time to run Holy Rosary Parish in Paia, Maui.

On July 19, 1939, Mother Rose Columba sent from the St. Louis Province Mother Mary Albert Carroll, Sister Carlotta Whitmore and Sister Julienne Fennerty. On Aug. 2, Sister Miriam Ruth Karl also arrived from St. Louis.

Sister Alice Josephine Tornovich, one of the original group, moved from St. Theresa to Holy Rosary and a year later Sister Jerome Mulligan also joined them.

In the summer of 1941, the year the Diocese of Honolulu was established, the sisters briefly branched off to Kauai at the invitation of Sacred Hearts Father Walter Mutsaarts to teach catechism classes there. Sister Zenaide, Sister Mary Faber and Sister Adele Marie, the first religious women to work on Kauai, taught 30 adults and 200 children in catechetical centers set up in Eleele, Kekaha and New Mill Plantation.

World War II

Three sisters were caught out in the open when the Japanese bombs started falling and the bullets started flying on Dec. 7, 1941. It was Sunday morning and Sister Frances Celine, Sister Martha Mary and Sister Adele Marie were in a car on their way to Schofield Barracks to teach weekly religion classes. They made it to the base chapel. There they celebrated Mass to the thunder of the opening salvos of World War II. On the way back to Honolulu they were forced to take cover in a cane field.

The war years found the sisters on Oahu and Maui broadening their ministry to include praying with parishioners, offering hospitality to servicemen, writing letters to their anxious families on the mainland, and taking turns before the Blessed Sacrament in evening adoration.

World War II was a pivot for the Catholic Church in Hawaii, from its final days as a mission of the Sacred Hearts Order into the post-war boom of a new emerging American diocese. The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet were there, contributing greatly in the transition.

Before the war, besides their two schools, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet provided a good portion of the teaching power in parish catechism classes across Oahu. In 1939 they began teaching at St. Agnes, Kakaako; Our Lady of Sorrows, Wahiawa; St. Joseph, Waipahu; and Sacred Heart, Waianae. In 1940, they started at Our Lady of the Mount in Kalihi Valley.

In 1942, they began at St. Philomena in Damon Tract; and in 1945, at Immaculate Conception in Ewa.

By 1958, a dozen years after the Japanese surrender, the sisters at St. Joseph School, Waipahu, were teaching religion to nearly 900 public school children. By 1961, the sisters at St. Anthony School, Kailua, together with 37 trained catechists, provided religious instruction for more than 1,100 public school children.

The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet ended up running a total of six Catholic schools in Hawaii — two on Maui and four on Oahu — and brought their educational skills to at least seven more.

Here are the schools they administered and the year they started.

• St. Theresa, Honolulu: 1938
• Holy Rosary, Paia: 1939
• St. Joseph, Waipahu: 1946
• St. Anthony, Kailua: 1952
• Christ the King, Kahului: 1955
• Holy Trinity, Honolulu: 1965

The Sisters of St. Joseph, at one time or another, could also be found on the faculties of St. Anthony Grade School and St Anthony Junior-Senior High School in Wailuku; Star of the Sea, Honolulu; St. Patrick, Honolulu; Sacred Hearts Academy, Damien Memorial School and Chaminade University.

With the Hawaii community’s numbers and assignments growing, it was elevated to the status of vice province in 1965, and longtime teacher Sister Regina Catherine Brandt was named vice provincial.

From the late 1960s, the Hawaii congregation expanded its horizons sending sisters to mission in Peru, the Marshal Islands, Johnston Atoll, Christmas Island, Chile, Samoa and Japan. Back in Hawaii, some also found assignments on Lanai and the Big Island.

Outside the classroom, the work has been varied and diverse. The sisters have lived among and advocated for the poor, volunteered in homeless shelters, worked in communications, catechetics and counseling and have ministered to the sick, the imprisoned, the elderly and the homebound. They have served in parishes as religious educators, eucharistic ministers, lectors, choir directors, RCIA team leaders and outreach coordinators.

Today, advancing age has added for some Hawaii sisters a ministry of “prayer and witness,” while others have welcomed the responsibility of caregiver for their elderly companions.

Hawaii is home for 25 Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, while two more members of the vice province live on the Mainland.

CSJ Ohana

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the CSJ Ohana, a group of laity who share in the spirituality and collaborate in the ministry of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. On May 1, 1988, the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, after the sisters and friends had developed a formation plan and a statement of responsibilities, the first Ohana members, all on Oahu, made their commitment.

Two years later, more members joined from Maui. “Prayer partners” were also added.

The CSJ Ohana harken back to an earlier time and another lay group called The Carondelet Guild, founded by the sisters and their parents in 1968 to assist the sisters financially and materially, especially in the areas of education and retirement. The Guild was discontinued in 1973.

For 75 years, as educational leaders and missionaries, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, helped shape the modern church in Hawaii educating and ministering to three generations of Catholics. In the process, they also attracted many local women to the religious life.

Although their work has changed and lessened over the years, their mission is not diminished, said Sister Claudia Wong, director of the congregation in Hawaii.

“As Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, we are called to unifying love that impels us to manifest Jesus in our world today as we work for right relationships among all people,” she said.

“Over the past 75 years, we continue to reach out and receive from the people of God, our call to minister to those whose lives we touch each day. And as the congregation of the great love of God, our loving presence and prayers will transform a world in need of healing and hope, especially in our Hawaii nei.”

Catholic School educators pray at the Mass of the Holy Spirit Aug. 19 at St. Ann Church in Kaneohe. (HCH photo | Darlene Dela Cruz)

“Deliberate effort” is required for Catholic school instructors to continue their important mission of education and evangelization, said Bishop Larry Silva during a special Mass of the Holy Spirit, Aug. 19.

About 600 teachers and administrators from Hawaii’s Catholic schools gathered at St. Ann Church in Kaneohe for the annual liturgy. The Holy Spirit Mass is part of a morning of fellowship and discussion aimed at preparing educators for the start of a new academic year.

Joining the Catholic school educators at St. Ann Church were diocesan staff members from the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry, Augustine Educational Foundation and Office of Religious Education. Several priests representing parish schools and the Diocesan Board of Education concelebrated the Mass.

Bishop Silva in his homily focused on the daunting task Catholic schools face to proclaim the Gospel in today’s secularized world. Earlier this year, the bishop engaged in talks with Gov. Neil Abercrombie about a possible bill that would create some public funding for Catholic early learning centers. This money, however, would only apply to secular subjects, Bishop Silva said.

But in Catholic schools, it is impossible to separate the secular from the non-secular, he said. God is rooted in all that teachers share with their students.

“Such a dichotomy is simply not in our way of thinking,” Bishop Silva said. “Every subject is religious because its beauty and truth reflect the one who is beauty and truth itself.”

This notion is a “good place to reflect upon our mission,” he said. “It is the Holy Spirit that leads us to all truth, but we need to listen to the Word of God and to keep it.”

The bishop acknowledged the diligence of Catholic school teachers and administrators in establishing a solid faith foundation for students, in addition to providing them with advanced academic training.

“We are inspired always by your total dedication and the many hours that you give to this important work,” he noted.

Following the Mass, Hawaii Catholic Schools superintendent Michael Rockers served as the keynote speaker in a talk about Catholic identity.

Sister Rochelle Liu, left, and Sister Joan Roddy, Hawaii’s Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. (HCH photo | Sister Malia Dominica Wong, OP)

Boxes have been mailed; a palette shipped. Hawaii’s only two Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia left this week for Tacoma, Wash., leaving the Diocese of Honolulu minus another religious order.

“You need to take your health records, paper work, social security, the computers, etc.,” said local-born Sister Rochelle Liu of the big move. “Of course, we are not taking the pots and pans,” she chuckled.

The other sister leaving is Sister Joan Roddy.

Their departure creates an emptiness as the Islands are left with one fewer religious order whose purpose was, as the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia’s directional statement says, “to be a hospitable face of our church, support its mission and challenge its failures.”

Dominican Sister Malia Dominica Wong spoke to the sisters before they left. Here are excerpts from their conversation.

Sister Malia Dominica: What brought the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia to the islands and how long have you been serving here?

Sister Rochelle Liu: I came home 26 years ago. My mom was ill and I stayed partially to be close to her and help my family caregive. I started ministry at St. George Church, Waimanalo. Later, I went circle island engaging in different places and services. These included working with the homeless at Sts. Peter and Paul; sponsoring a boat (refugee) family and opening an AmerAsian guest house; chaplaincy at the Women’s Correctional Center; religious education at St. Philomena Church, Salt Lake; overseeing the dormitory at St. Francis, Manoa, for students; working with the suffering children and families at Kapiolani Children’s Medical Center, and more.

Sister Francis Calhoun and Sister Joseph Grennion and others came over time to create community and join me in expanding the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia presence to include teaching at Chaminade University, ministry to the homebound, art work and parish outreach. As religious members of the OSF Philadelphia, we answered the call: “With Jesus Christ as Brother, we live as sister with one another, with the entire human family, and with all creation … We respond with diverse gifts in a spirit of collaboration and of mutual service to the needs of others, especially the economically poor, the marginal and the oppressed.” (mission statement)

Sister Joan Roddy: Sister Rochelle and I entered the convent at the same time and belong to the same group. Before coming to Hawaii five years ago, I served as a chaplain in Tacoma, Wash. After retirement I came to Hawaii to volunteer my services.

Sister Malia Dominica: What would be one of the highlights, or greatest memories, you have of being here?

Sister Joan: The most real and impressive experience I have revolves around Mother Marianne Cope and her ministry with the patients in Kalaupapa, Molokai. I had heard about Father Damien and the patients and knew the sisters were out there somewhat vaguely. But being here with the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities, who were once a part of our own Franciscan community, was amazing.

There is another impression I will carry with me. When I ride the bus I can never tell who I will be sitting next to. I might be rubbing shoulders with a Japanese, Chinese, Samoan or someone of mixed blend. In Tacoma, we had only Caucasians and African Americans in small doses. This was very exciting to me. I think this patterns how America should be.

Sister Rochelle: It is difficult to express the gratitude I have for just being able to be home, to minister in my birthplace. It was a time to get in touch with who I was on another level, and to be close to family and friends. I left the islands in 1957 to enter the convent. I only really returned, came home shortly after my 25th jubilee. I was able to celebrate my 50th anniversary of religious life here.

Sister Joan: One of the things Sister Rochelle often talks about is the experience of blending a brand new ministry for her, massage, with helping the hospice patients and staff to bring a soothing comfort to them.

Sister Rochelle: My mother knew the art of Hawaiian massage, lomilomi. We grew up with it. Ten years ago I ended up in the healing ministry of St. Francis Healthcare Systems offering massage to those in hospice care. It is like no other ministry that I have ever had. You become in touch with the people that you are serving. There aren’t many words exchanged, but there is deep communication and a bonding that lasts a long time. I feel like I have now come full circle.

Sister Malia Dominica: You have truly braided a beautiful lei around the people of Hawaii through your diverse ministries in the Franciscan tradition. Where will you be going from here?

Sister Joan: We are going to St. Anne’s convent in Tacoma, Wash., where I was in hospital ministry for 18 years prior. It is a little like returning home. The surroundings are lovely. It is in a beautiful, simple setting. We find that many of our sisters are aging, sick and dying, and we want to be closer to them to help them.

Sister Rochelle: The complex of St. Anne’s consists of three cottages for the semi-retired and one for those in need of skilled care. I will still be able to do massages there.

Sister Malia Dominica: As you go forth, is there anything else you would like to say to the people of Hawaii?

Sister Joan: We are grateful to the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities. They are our closest “cousins” and have been very accepting of us. I will also miss this unity of different cultures and backgrounds, people accepting you just as you are. I will also miss the yearly Marianist gathering on Kalaepohaku and BILAC. Aloha to all the people of Hawaii. Thank you for this nice experience to walk among you.

Sister Rochelle: As a graduate from St. Francis School, Manoa, I have always been close to the Franciscan Sisters. They helped to nurture my vocation. Their friendships and including of us in their mission and outreach to the people of Hawaii have been tremendous. I am also grateful to all those I have met serving on various committees. How do you say thank you to our Bishop Larry (Silva) and to the family of all of the religious sisters and brothers here? We are choosing to leave while we can. I have witnessed many births and deaths. I will … (Sister Rochelle chokes up and tears begin to roll down her face) miss our island, the people and family. We will come back again. Mahalo and ahui hou.

August 22, 2013

To: Senators and Members of the House of Representatives of the State of Hawaii

Subject: Possible legislation regarding same-sex marriage

Honorable Senators and Representatives:

Aloha! It is my understanding that the Hawaii State Legislature is planning to take up the issue of legalizing same-sex marriage. I would like to present some thoughts for your reflection, since this is a matter that will have a profound effect on our community for generations to come. I appreciate your reading this lengthy letter and pondering the points I am about to present. Although there are theological reasons from a Catholic perspective for limiting marriage to one man and one woman, the reasons I present go beyond sectarian doctrine to the fundamental core of our human nature, to the way we are built and made. They go to the foundation of civil society itself.

1. Marriage is not a private but a public institution. Although there are aspects of marriage that demand privacy, the state has regulations for marriage because there are compelling reasons for this special relationship to be regulated. The most compelling is the nature of the family, especially as a foundation for the procreation and education of children. It is the family that lends stability to society and culture itself. Public commitment to permanence — “until death do us part” — actually helps to support an often difficult commitment and to keep it together in bad times, in sickness, and in poverty or adversity. Some argue that this is a reason also to justify why same-sex couples should be allowed the same civil recognition in a state-sanctioned, marriage-equivalent institution. But this argument overlooks another key compelling state reason, which is to foster the complementary nature of the sexes by institutionalizing marriage as only between a man and a woman. Thus children, even though they can be loved by a same-sex couple, are denied the benefit of a daily experience of the complementarity of the sexes for their own psycho-sexual formation. Furthermore, the complementarity of the sexes brings unique benefits to the couple themselves.

2. Equality of persons is a value we all hold dear. But we have often allowed ourselves to think that equality means sameness. However, the two concepts are quite different. An apple enjoys equality to an orange as a fruit, but they are not the same. A female enjoys equality to a male, but they are not the same. Same-sex unions blur the essential distinction between male and female and their complementary nature. While every person enjoys equality to every other person, there are differences. You and I are equal, yet I am not a legislator, nor are you the bishop. Respecting the differences is essential to our culture. Equality of persons in dignity, whether heterosexual or homosexual, is foundational. Sameness is not. Therefore institutions, such as marriage or civil unions, should also reflect the fact that the union of a man and woman in marriage is not at all the same as a union of a same-sex couple, and therefore should not be treated the same in the law. The word “discrimination” has much negative emotional baggage attached to it, because history is replete with examples of unjust and oppressive discrimination. Yet it must be stated that discrimination is, by definition, making distinctions, some of which may be unjust, but some of which are quite just. We discriminate quite wisely, for example, between adults and minors. Our penal system discriminates justly between those who are presumed to be upright citizens and those who have proven themselves to pose some threat to society and its values, and our discrimination is not based on robbing the latter of dignity but on protecting the common good. Again, while you and I enjoy equality as citizens of this state, the law discriminates between you and me, giving you and not me the authority to make a decision such as the one that now faces you regarding same-sex marriage. There is no injustice in such discrimination, because it recognizes true differences ordered for the common good.

3. The proponents of same-sex marriage have claimed it is a constitutional right. I would submit that this is a manufactured right that is not guaranteed by the constitution. If we concede one manufactured right, then we open the door to others. If same-sex couples have the right to marry, should not polygamists have the same right? Close relatives? Adults with consenting adolescents, without the permission of the adolescents’ parents? (If that seems far-fetched, think of minor females who can now receive birth control aids or abort their babies without their parents’ knowledge or consent.)

4. For centuries civilizations throughout the world have valued the special relationship of marriage between one man and one woman as the foundation of family and culture. Religions have embraced and blessed this special relationship, but they did not invent it. In these days in which we lament short-sighted and self-serving decisions we made regarding our environment and are paying the price for those decisions, let us not make decisions now that ignore our social environment or experiment with its well-being. Love and friendship are realities that all people can share, regardless of sexual orientation. Marriage, however, as a bond between one man and one woman, has proven, despite its challenges and failures, to be one of the most stabilizing factors in the body politic. It would be self-destructive to further erode its value when there are already so many factors that threaten it.

5. While it is certainly not your role as legislators to espouse any particular religious doctrine in your decisions, I believe it is definitely your role to protect the constitutional right to religious freedom of the citizens of this State. There are cases of repression of religious freedom in other countries and states that have passed same-sex marriage laws. Some preachers have been sued for preaching about their faith’s adherence to the belief in the sacredness of marriage as between one man and one woman, accused of “hate crimes.” Churches that find same-sex marriage repugnant to their beliefs have been sued for not allowing same-sex couples to use their facilities for “wedding” receptions. Religious adoption agencies with reputations for placing many children in stable homes have had to cease operations rather than be forced to place children in the homes of same-sex couples, contrary to deeply held religious convictions. Employment issues, especially with regard to hiring teachers for religious schools who hold the values of the respective faith community, will certainly become more challenging if same-sex marriage becomes the law of the land. If nothing else, religious freedom needs to be guaranteed in any law that is passed in this regard.

As legislators you have a formidable task and a very heavy decision to make. Please know that you are in my prayers, and that the Catholic community of our beloved Hawaii is also praying for you, that you will be given wisdom, guidance, and courage in your leadership.

Sincerely yours,

Most Reverend Larry Silva

Bishop of Honolulu

Passersby may not think much of the humble one-story residence on Keolu Drive. Nestled in the quiet suburb of Enchanted Lake, shaded by palm trees and set against a backdrop of the Koolaus’ lower slopes, the house seems like your typical Windward Oahu family abode.

For Daphne Hookano, however, it is a place where she hopes to make miracles happen.

As she sits on a soft leather sofa in the living room, Hookano looks around at the artwork on the home’s walls. Her eyes admire the newly upholstered chair gracing the dining room table. There’s some dust on the furniture, she notes, but that’s alright — the skylight above bathes everything in a warm glow that makes such little imperfections almost unnoticeable.

“It feels like God lives here,” she said.

Hookano is a parishioner at St. John Vianney Church in Kailua. She is also a former inmate of the Women’s Community Correctional Center in nearby Olomana. The house on Keolu Drive is the site of a new initiative Hookano has launched to help other former inmates find their way back into the community.

A lifelong Catholic, the 50-year-old Hookano has an inspiring story of ups, downs and turn-arounds. Born and raised in Enchanted Lake, she grew up around the corner from the Keolu transitional house she now runs. Her father was a Portuguese-English-Irish fireman; her mom a Hawaiian-Caucasian schoolteacher. She has two older siblings.

Her mother was a catechist at St. John Vianney. The Catholic faith was a major part of the maternal side of her family, as Hookano’s grandmother passed the faith on to all of her 21 children.

“I come from this long line of Catholics,” Hookano said. “I had good morals and values.”

Despite her positive upbringing, Hookano began to experiment with drugs and alcohol as a youth. Her substance abuse progressively worsened — she got into drug dealing at age 12. When she became pregnant with her son, who is now 30, Hookano made an effort to get sober. That attempt didn’t last.

“Because I didn’t have a program for recovery, I didn’t know how to stay clean,” Hookano said.

Several years ago when her father died and her husband wanted a divorce, Hookano said “that was when I was doing my most damage.” At age 43, she was arrested on four counts of meth trafficking and other felonies. Her crimes could have netted up to a 20-year prison sentence.

Going to prison ironically turned out to be “the biggest blessing,” Hookano said. Immediately, she set about working on her recovery. She stayed at Oahu Community Correctional Center for roughly eight months before going on supervised release to a treatment program.

“I loved recovery when I got there,” Hookano said. “I learned that that’s probably why I went through all those years of addiction, because God had another plan for me. I knew that was my niche.”

In 2007, she was given a reduced sentence of three years and eight months. During her prison time, Hookano was driven to become a better person.

Chronicling her journey

She immersed herself in classes to heal from the substance abuse and domestic violence. She began to write prolifically, chronicling through creative prose the anger, pain and redemption in her prison journey. Hookano was one of the first inmates to share her story in a presentation called “The Prison Monologues.”

“Anybody can do prison time, but it’s what you do with your time in prison that counts,” Hookano said. “It helped guide me; brought back all my morals and values that my parents instilled.”

After being released on parole, Hookano dove back into community life. She got a job at United Cerebral Palsy. WCCC warden Mark Patterson invited her to join his “trauma informed care initiative team.” Hookano traveled to conferences on the mainland to learn more about mental health and other issues. In addition, she served as a peer specialist at the women’s correctional center.

Now Hookano is working on getting a substance abuse counseling certificate from Leeward Community College. She hopes to go to the University of Hawaii at Manoa in January to study social work.

It has long been her goal to create a peer mentorship program for women just getting out of prison. The transitional home on Keolu Drive was an unexpected blessing for this mission. Hookano connected with Kailua United Methodist Church pastor Sam Cox, owner of the house, on the project. Cox, a social worker by trade, had been considering a community re-entry program for women as well.

Pastor Cox leased the house to Kailua United Methodist Church instead of following his original plan to sell it. Hookano was given a grant from the Castle Foundation to serve as the program’s facilitator. She now oversees the initiative called the “Beacon of Hope House.”

“We have the exact same visions,” Hookano said. “I think that support is one of the biggest things you need for women who are coming out.”

The house was open in January and currently has three residents. Hookano said she hopes to accommodate about five to eight women at a time. They are allowed to stay up to one year, she said, but situations can be flexible.

Women who want to live at Beacon of Hope must demonstrate to Hookano a determination for recovery. She asks for recommendations from parole officers and prison staff. She personally interviews candidates about their plans and goals after incarceration.

The women who are accepted to the house must follow its rules. They are required to attend support meetings and assist with household chores. No swearing and no male visitors are allowed. A nighttime curfew is strictly observed. Women must also be employed or go to school.

There is a $400 a month charge for rent — a reasonable amount, Hookano said, that gives the women a change to save money for the future.

“We want to help them get established and hopefully move on to the next stage,” she said.

Hookano’s program is still in its pilot stage, but already she has seen a difference in the women who have been living at Beacon of Hope. Neighbors and the surrounding community have been very supportive. One day, Hookano said, the women in the house will go out and be “beacons of hope” for others.

Although Beacon of Hope House is not primarily faith-based, Hookano said it is “faith-supported.” With her ties to Catholic and other churches, she tries to bring the women to different religious services if they are interested.

Hookano is grateful for the chance to give back through this program. Her own life has been redeemed through a strong sense of faith, and she hopes to provide that same opportunity for change to more women.

“My life has turned around tremendously,” she said. “I always tell (the women) all things are possible with God.”

Bishop Larry Silva sent an “urgent request” to pastors Aug. 22 to include in parish bulletins over the weekend of Aug. 24-25 a “very important” letter that urges parishioners to ask their state legislators to oppose same-sex marriage.

The letter also asks Catholics to pray the rosary daily over the next several weeks, “if possible” while walking around the State Capitol block, “so that just as God tumbled down the walls of Jericho, he will be able to do so through the prayers and action of his beloved people.”

The bishop said quick action is required because Gov. Neil Abercrombie “is considering calling a special session of the legislature to consider the issue of same-sex marriage.”

“This could happen any day,” the bishop said.

The bishop himself sent a separate 1,000-word letter to state senators and representatives on Aug. 22 urging them to reject any effort to legalize same-sex marriage in Hawaii, to protect traditional marriage and to prevent religious freedom from being eroded by same-sex marriage legislation.

Bishop Silva also sent state lawmakers a copy of his letter to parishioners.

The bishop said that his letter to parishioners, at more than 1,200 words, was long because it was necessary to “clarify certain issues.”

Bishop Silva argued that the prohibition of same-sex marriage was a “just” form of legal discrimination (as opposed to “unjust discrimination”) necessary to protect the true nature of marriage.

“If same-sex marriage becomes the law, it will become ‘normal’ or the norm for our land,” he said, leading to school textbooks that will portray homosexual attraction as “normal.” Anyone who believed otherwise could be identified as bigots, he said.

The bishop also suggested that same-sex marriage could lead to the legalization of other variations of marriage, including polygamy and incest.

Bishop Silva indicated that the legalization of same-sex marriage would threaten religious freedom.

“Would churches that refuse to celebrate same-sex marriage because of deeply held religious convictions be deprived of the freedom to live those convictions?” he asked.

“Would Christians, Muslims, and others who believe that homosexual ACTS are contrary to God’s law be persecuted for holding on to those beliefs?” he said.

The bishop also issued a grim warning about children.

“Children will be the greatest casualties in that they will be deprived of being raised in a loving home by a mother and a father who loves them and whose love cooperated with God’s plan in creating them,” Bishop Silva wrote. “When children are deprived of such a home, there will be more poverty, more social ills, more juvenile suicides, and more problems than we can imagine.”

Bishop Silva likened the “language of the proponents” of same-sex marriage espousing “civil rights” to the “serpent’s manipulative promise” to Adam and Eve that led to original sin.

“Do not be led astray with such language, and do not allow yourself to be bullied by it,” the bishop said.

He concluded by asking for prayers and action in contacting lawmakers.

“IT IS TIME FOR OUR FAITH COMMUNITY TO MOBILIZE INTO ACTION,” Bishop Silva wrote in all capital letters. “YOUR LEGISLATORS NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU NOW!”

He encouraged courtesy and charity toward senators and representatives.

“Pray for a change of heart and the formation of an informed conscience, and let your love be the most powerful agent of change,” he concluded. “After all, God is love!”

August 22, 2013

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

The issue of same-sex marriage is in the limelight once again in our community, with a move for a special legislative session to vote on a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage in Hawaii.

While the Catholic Church is clear in its insistence that true marriage can only be between one man and one woman, there are many people, even among Catholics, who perceive such insistence as unjust discrimination against our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters. Therefore, it is urgent to clarify certain issues.

People with same-sex attraction are a part of our community, even our Catholic community, and they deserve dignity and respect. Unjust discrimination against them is not acceptable. However, not all discrimination – that is, making distinctions – is unjust. We discriminate quite justly between adults and minors, even though both have equal dignity. We justly discriminate between those who are married and those who are not, because marriage is a special societal bond that assures the continuation of the race in the context of raising children in the loving environment of that appreciates the complementary nature of male and female. (If there were no such discrimination, same-sex marriage would not be an issue, since anyone who wanted to apply for any benefits could do so, whether married or not.) There is just discrimination between parents and children, professors and students. While they are all equal in dignity as persons, they are not equal in their roles. We must therefore be discriminating about the very language of discrimination, because there are those who demonize the word and who presume that any kind of discrimination is unjust. To discriminate between heterosexual and same-sex couples regarding marriage is not, despite the hype on the streets, unjust discrimination.

If same-sex marriage becomes the law of the land, its implications will go far beyond the relationship of this or that couple. There will be long term and definitive changes in our entire culture. If same-sex marriage becomes the law, it will become “normal” or the norm for our land. If one may marry without discriminating whether the partner is of the same sex or the opposite sex, then such “non-discrimination” will become the norm in other areas, too. Our school textbooks will have to portray sexual attraction as normal, no matter to whom one is attracted. When schools have dances, boys will have the choice of inviting a girl on a date or another boy on a date. Our youth, whose sexual identity is formed over time, will be forced to decide prematurely if they are heterosexual or homosexual, thus curtailing normal sexual maturation, with all its stumblings and challenges.

If same-sex couples are given the legal right to marry under the pretence that discrimination that excludes them from marriage is unjust, why would people who prefer several spouses at the same time not be afforded the same right? Why would we taxpayers be exempt from paying for marital benefits for all those spouses? Why would there be discrimination against those who decide to marry their mother or father, brother or sister, so that they can gain spousal benefits for them? Once we give in to the false notion that same-sex couples have a right to marry, how can we reasonably deny the same “right” to anyone who chooses to enter a “marriage” with a close relative, a minor (with consent)?

If same-sex marriage becomes “norm”-alized, would parents be considered bigoted if they raised their daughters to be attracted to boys and their sons to be attracted to girls? Or must parents now be completely neutral in steering their children toward the choice of a mate?

Would people who firmly believe that God made us male and female, and that God has revealed that homosexual ACTS are sinful be allowed to hold such beliefs? Or would they have to be “re- educated” to think as “normal” people think? Would churches that refuse to celebrate same-sex marriage because of deeply held religious convictions be deprived of the freedom to live those convictions? Would Christians, Muslims, and others who believe that homosexual ACTS are contrary to God’s law (the law that governs those whom God himself has created in such wonder) be persecuted for holding on to those beliefs that have been so sacred to us for centuries? Will the religious freedom we treasure be only a paper freedom, while we will be told what we may or may not believe?

Children will be the greatest casualties, in that they will be deprived of being raised in a loving home by a mother and a father who loves them and whose love cooperated with God’s plan in creating them. When children are deprived of such a home, there will be more poverty, more social ills, more juvenile suicides, and more problems than we can imagine.

The issue goes far beyond simply the private relationship of this or that couple, and its implications will be far reaching and profound. The language of the proponents is meant to convince us that this is a civil rights issue and that anyone who does not agree is bigoted. Do not be led astray with such language, and do not allow yourself to be bullied by it. Remember, Adam and Eve themselves fell for the serpent’s manipulative promise that they would be like gods, knowing good from evil, if they just ate the fruit God had forbidden them to eat. The fruit might have been tasty at the moment, but it ultimately brought us all into a very sorry state.

Several legislators who are not in favor of same-sex marriage have told me that the loudest voices on the issue are those who favor it, while those who say they are opposed are relatively silent. They pointed out that legislators do respond to their constituents and do care what they have to say, but if they only hear from one side of the issue, they presume that everyone is fine with same-sex marriage.

IT IS TIME FOR OUR FAITH COMMUNITY TO MOBILIZE INTO ACTION. The timing is critical, since this issue may be presented in a special legislative session within the next couple of weeks. YOUR LEGISLATORS NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU NOW! I therefore ask everyone to do the following within this coming week:

Contact both the State Senator and Representative who represent your district, and let them know how you want them to vote on this critical issue for our community. A list of legislators by district is attached to this letter, along with phone numbers and email addresses. Please be courteous, thanking them for the very difficult work they do, but be clear. It is said that some have already made up their minds, and that may be so. But minds and hearts can be changed with the influence of constituents.

Ask your friends and neighbors who believe that marriage should only be between one man and one woman to contact their legislators as well.

Pray for your legislators. (But do not let your prayers be mere words! See above.) Pray for the wisdom, courage, and commitment to contact your legislators and let them know what you think. I recommend that all Catholics offer ONE ROSARY (or at the least a decade of the rosary) each day in the next several weeks, so that the power of prayer will shape the discussions and deliberations about this critical issue. If possible, pray at all hours, walking around the block that surrounds the State Capitol (without forming an assembly that would need a permit), so that just as God tumbled down the walls of Jericho, he will be able to do so through the prayers AND ACTION of his beloved people.

Be understanding and loving toward those who do not agree with you — even Catholic legislators who have committed to vote for same-sex marriage. Pray for a change of heart and the formation of an informed conscience, and let your love be the most powerful agent of change. After all, God is love!

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Most Reverend Larry Silva

Bishop of Honolulu

HCH photo | Darlene Dela Cruz
The cathedral with Kamiano Center on the right

The Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace will move its weekday Masses and confessions next door to the Kamiano Center from Sept. 23 to Dec. 1 while “phase one” of the interior renovation work takes place in the historic church.

Daily Masses are at 6:30 a.m. and noon. Confessions are offered every Wednesday 11-11:30 a.m.

Workers will be restoring one “bay,” or vertical section between pillars from ceiling to floor, of the cathedral. The church has 12 bays.

Construction will begin on Monday mornings and continue through Friday when the church will be cleaned and readied for regular weekend Masses.

According to cathedral rector, Father John Berger, writing in the Sept. 1 parish bulletin, the partial renovation “will yield two huge benefits: a foretaste of the dynamics and challenges of the entire building, and an actual finished swath to whet our appetites to complete the rest of the renewal project.”

The cathedral scheduled a “blessing and kick-off” of the work on Sept. 12.

The large space on the ground floor of the Kamiano Center, the building just makai of the cathedral on the Fort Street Mall, will be reconfigured into a daily “worshipping environment.”

HCH photo | Darlene Dela Cruz
A segment of the cathedral’s interior that is slated for renovation.

The center is normally used for meetings. During the cathedral construction, large meetings will be moved to other venues while small meetings will remain in the building’s smaller back rooms.

According to a memo from the office of the vicar general, Father Gary Secor, the cathedral should be back in full use by Dec. 2 when scaffolding will no longer be needed.

The finishing phase of the project will continue until Feb. 7, 2014.

The Kamiano Center is a remnant of the first girls school opened by the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts more than a century ago. The building used to extend about two-thirds of the way down Fort Street toward Hotel Street. The small remaining segment had several previous commercial owners before the Diocese of Honolulu bought it a few years ago and renamed it. Kamiano is Hawaiian for Damien.

The subject is a popular one: food.

But the discussion will not be so much about its enjoyment as about its absence.

It’s called food poverty — the lack of a nutritionally adequate diet and its impact on health and daily life.

Lunch lines, food pantries, meals-on-wheels and canned good drives are becoming more and more a part of the Islands’ social fabric. Every Catholic parish in Hawaii has some form of food ministry to the poor, according to Carol Ignacio, director for the Office of Social Ministry.

But can these efforts be improved? Can parishes doing good, do better?

Old and new approaches to combating food poverty will be the topic of four September workshops, two on Oahu and two on the Big Island, sponsored by the Office for Social Ministry.

Here is the workshop schedule:

Oahu

• Sept. 17, 10 a.m.-noon, St. Stephen Diocesan Center, lunch to follow
• Sept, 24, dinner 5:30 p.m., workshop 6:30-8:30 p.m., Our Lady of Good Counsel Pastoral Center

Big Island

• Sept. 21, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., Annunciation Parish, Waimea, lunch will be served
• Sept. 28, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., Malia Puka O Kalani Parish, , lunch will be served

According to the Office for Social Ministry, one in five people in Hawaii faces food poverty.

The workshops, which are open to anyone, will recognize how Hawaii’s Catholic parishes are responding to this problem and discuss ways to support and expand these efforts. The workshops will also address ways to help people provide for themselves.

The workshops will be presented by Bob Agres, executive director of the Hawaii Alliance for Community-Based Economic Development and an expert in sustainability who is also a Catholic.

“We need to continue what we are doing,” Ignacio said, acknowledging the dedication and sacrifice of parish food ministry volunteers.

“But it is also a time to step back,” she said, and look toward new efforts that will provide food that is healthier, sustainable and locally produced.

The Office of Social Ministry recently conducted a limited study of parish pantry operations in Hawaii which concluded that the church is providing an enormous and often under-acknowledged service, which could be improved after further study and re-evaluation.

Ignacio said improvements are possible in food distribution and nutrition. Some parishes are already acquiring freshly grown produce and supporting local farmers, she said.

She said her office hopes to “launch new initiatives” addressing distribution, nutrition and sustainability. It’s a three-year plan, she said.

“We have the pieces in place to help raise the awareness of those now in these ministries,” Ignacio said.

“If we can accomplish this, it will be a major step in the way the church is doing food,” she said.

For more information, call Carol Ignacio at 938-8631, or email cignacio@rcchawaii.org.

St. Marianne Cope

Hawaii’s Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities better start stocking up on cake candles. They are going to need a lot of them with all the anniversaries they’ll be celebrating shortly.

November is a quadruple-header month, marking St. Marianne’s 175th birthday, the 130th anniversary of the sisters arrival in Hawaii, the 125th anniversary of their arrival in Kalaupapa, and the 90th anniversary of the opening of St. Francis School in Honolulu.

The community will remember these milestones appropriately with the re-staging of “November’s Song,” a play by George Herman based on the life of St. Marianne Cope, who brought the Sisters of St. Francis of Syracuse to Hawaii in 1883 and who served the Hansen’s disease patients of Kalaupapa for 30 years until her death in 1918.

The play, to be performed Nov. 8, 9 and 10 at St. Francis School, will be the centerpiece of a three-day celebration that will include a fundraising reception, bake sales and donation ticket prize drawings.

The proceeds will go toward the care of Hawaii’s retired and infirmed Franciscan Sisters and renovation of their residence, St. Francis Convent Care Center in Manoa.

For the anniversary commemorations, the sisters are offering four major sponsorship opportunities: the $5,000 Saintly Sponsor, the $1,000 Gold Sponsor, the $2,500 Platinum Sponsor and the $500 Silver Sponsor.

Sponsors earn a number of tickets to the play, invitations to a Nov. 9 donor reception and different levels of recognition.

Individual tickets to “November’s Song” cost $20. Donors may also sponsor a sister to attend.

Two framed lithographs from Wyland Galleries and an aluminum scenery print will be the prizes for a special drawing at a $25 donation per ticket or five tickets for $100.

“November’s Song” was last produced last November, for the first time in more than 25 years, to celebrate the Oct. 21, 2012, canonization of St. Marianne.

The play is performed as an introspective monologue by St. Marianne, played by Eva Andrade, backed by a silent support cast of sisters, patients and at one point, Father Damien.

For more information regarding the anniversary celebrations, contact Sister Alicia Damien Lau, 348-7701, or email adlau@sosf.org. Or visit www.sosf.org.

Stepping inside the perpetual adoration chapel at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church is like entering an oasis for the soul. The busyness of the world fades away. Silence opens the heart to meditation, prayer and simply being. Jesus, present in the exposed Blessed Sacrament, has your undivided attention — and you, also, have his.

Hundreds of faithful have come since 1998 to adore the Blessed Sacrament at the Pearl City parish, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This year marks the 15th anniversary of the devotion, a milestone that will be commemorated with a special weekend of events at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church Sept. 28-29.

The parish’s Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament ministry team will host a “Life in the Holy Spirit” retreat on both days. Bishop Larry Silva will celebrate Sunday Mass at 5 p.m.

According to Pearl City parishioner Pat Pait, there are currently more than 400 registered devotees of the perpetual adoration chapel. “Committed” participants maintain regular adoration hours during the week. “Non-committed” participants serve when they are able. There are also numerous “walk-ins” who have not signed up with the ministry, but whose names fill the chapel’s guestbook.

Pait has seen the devotion grow from its first days at the church. Prior to the opening of the tiny chapel, the parish offered eucharistic adoration with very few people. It was “the Lord,” she said, who suggested to her the need for round-the-clock exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.

With the help of a friend who frequented adoration at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa, Pait worked on a proposal for perpetual adoration at Our Lady of Good Counsel. After a preliminary run, she was inspired by the number of people eager to take it on.

“I think there were about 150 adorers at that time,” Pait said.

They received approval from then-pastor Father Dan McNichol and began perpetual adoration on Oct. 2, 1998.

Adorers initially gathered at the empty convent near the parish school. Later, Capuchin Franciscan Father Jack Niland — a pastor known for his love of the Eucharist — suggested bringing the Blessed Sacrament up to the church. Parishioners worked to convert a crying room into the chapel there today.

“This is where our Lord has been housed since then,” Pait said.

Community members turned the chapel into a spiritual sanctuary with donations of rugs, flowers, religious statues, curtains and a wooden case to display the Blessed Sacrament in its gilded monstrance. Shelves in the chapel’s foyer are filled with prayer books for adults and children.

The chapel seats about a dozen faithful. On some occasions, like the monthly gathering for homeschool kids and their parents, it’s standing room only.

Four shifts a day

Unlike adoration chapels where the Blessed Sacrament is stored in a tabernacle, perpetual adoration exposes the Eucharist in a monstrance and requires at least one person to be present with it at all times. To ensure this is being done at Our Lady of Good Counsel, the day is divided into four shifts: 6 a.m.-noon; noon-6 p.m.; 6 p.m.-midnight and midnight-6 a.m. Each shift is overseen by two or three “shift leaders,” whose job is to make sure an adorer is assigned for each hour.

According to shift leader Lisa Santos, it is most difficult to find volunteers to cover 10 p.m.-4 a.m. Nonetheless, there are faithful who have committed to being with the Blessed Sacrament even at those times.

Lisa’s husband Robert served as an adorer at 3 a.m. It is a sacrifice, he said, but he has seen people come in that early and appreciate the consolation of Jesus’ presence.

“You see people who look like they’ve lost family members in the hospital,” Robert said. “You see brokenhearted people that come here for comfort. I think that’s what I find is the beautiful part, because you have to schedule the adorers who actually give the chapel that availability for anybody.”

Perpetual adoration at the Pearl City parish has drawn people of other faiths as well. Lisa Santos said two non-Catholic sisters once came to the chapel during her shift. She walked them through the practice of adoration, and after frequent visits to the chapel, the sisters eventually converted to the faith.

Adoration is a powerful devotion, Lisa said. Even a few minutes alone with the Blessed Sacrament can have a profound impact on your spirit.

“God gives us 24 hours a day; what’s one hour” to spend with him, she said. “It’s a holy hour to just be.”

‘One hour with me?’

For parishioner Gina Maki, the importance of adoration comes from Jesus’ question to his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Could you not watch one hour with me?” Maki is a shift leader and also volunteers as an adorer on Thursday evenings. She uses her time in the chapel to reflect and writes a weekly letter to Jesus, which she places in the chapel’s prayer box.

“I call it my respite,” she said.

Pait said a younger generation is also learning the value of adoration. She has heard stories where children have seen the face of Jesus in the Eucharist at the chapel. Several parish youth and young adults have formed the Ambassadors of the Blessed Sacrament group to spread word of the devotion.

Those involved in the adoration ministry at Our Lady of Good Counsel are grateful for the decade-and-a-half of prayers and personal miracles they have been able to be a part of. They hope that as they celebrate the chapel’s 15th anniversary, more faithful will sign up to keep going an unending cycle of love for Jesus in the Eucharist.

“I tell people this is where heaven meets earth, when you’re there in the chapel,” Pait said.

The Marianist Big Island Liturgical Arts Conference — or Marianist BILAC — will offer dozens of workshops on music, Scripture, prayer and liturgy Sept. 26-28 at Chaminade University in Honolulu.

As it has for more than 30 years, BILAC brings to the Islands the writers and composers of some of today’s most loved liturgical hymns. The Hawaii Catholic Herald caught up with two of this month’s presenters — Father Jan Michael Joncas and Marty Haugen — and asked them how they penned songs that have become church standards.

‘On Eagle’s Wings’

Father Michael Joncas

Father Joncas, 61, of the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis in Minnesota, is the composer of the song named by hundreds of voters in a 2006 poll sponsored by the National Association of Pastoral Musicians as their No. 1 liturgical hymn.

The diocesan priest wrote “On Eagle’s Wings” in 1979. Since then, it has become a staple at Sunday Masses, funerals and memorial events as a reminder of God’s uplifting presence in times of sorrow.

“I’ve actually composed over 300 pieces of liturgical music, but most people associate me with this single piece,” Father Joncas told the Herald via email.

According to Father Joncas, the song was created more than three decades ago when he was visiting a friend at the major seminary in Washington, D.C. One evening, after the two returned to the seminary dorms from dinner, Father Joncas’ friend got word that his father had suffered a heart attack. Father Joncas wrote “On Eagle’s Wings” in the days that followed.

It “was sung for the first time in public at my friend’s father’s wake service,” he said.

The song is based on Psalm 91, its lyrics drawing directly from the Scripture’s vivid descriptions of God’s protection and providence. Verses include the lines “You need not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day,” and “For to his angels he has given a command to guard you in all of your ways.”

Although there are no mentions of eagles in Psalm 91, the chorus written by Father Joncas uses the metaphor to depict God’s high, secure places described therein. Catholics are familiar with Father Joncas’ refrain, “And he will raise you up on eagle’s wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, make you to shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of his hand.”

“I have been humbled by the number of times people have spoken or written to me about how God has used the song to bring them comfort and peace,” Father Joncas said.

There has been debate about the song’s title: where to place the apostrophe after “eagle.” Father Joncas initially wrote the title “On Eagle’s Wings,” which he said “would apply the single eagle image to a monotheistic understanding of God.” However, “On Eagles’ Wings,” with the apostrophe after the “s,” could be appropriate as well.

“Either can work grammatically,” the priest said. “‘On Eagles’ Wings’ would instead speak of the manifold ways that the one God has drawn people to himself.”

The song’s colorful imagery is woven together by a melody with airy highs and a crescendo refrain. According to Father Joncas, the verses were meant to be sung by a cantor able to handle the wide range of notes and “more sophisticated rhythms and harmonic movement.” Congregants would join in singing the simpler chorus.

“I have been amazed to find congregations singing the entire thing, because I think the verses are somewhat difficult,” Father Joncas said.

Father Joncas will be performing a special concert at Marianist BILAC. He has been composing new material over the past several years since his recovery from Guillain-Barre syndrome. The illness paralyzed him in 2003, but he has recuperated well. Despite some nerve pain, Father Joncas said he still plays piano and sings. Through “On Eagle’s Wings” and other pieces, he continues to bring alive an experience of God, combining his favorite music genres of classical, folk and ecclesiastical into his own signature liturgical sound.

“In some ways these influences continue in my work today,” Father Joncas said.

‘Shepherd Me, O God’

Marty Haugen

Psalm 23, which begins with “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want,” is a popular passage covered by musicians. A composition created by BILAC presenter Haugen has put a unique take on the psalm simply by repurposing one of its key words.

“Shepherd Me, O God” is a moody, meditative piece Haugen wrote in the mid-1980s. Speaking by phone Sept. 6 from his home in Minnesota, he explained that a small shift in depicting “shepherd” as an action instead of a noun brought forth the now famous song.

“I have never met a shepherd,” Haugen said. “My wife was finally the one who suggested … make it a verb. That sort of was a breakthrough.”

Haugen, who is not Catholic but has worked in Catholic parishes, said he was living at an ecumenical retreat center in Washington State with his family when “Shepherd Me, O God” was written. During a snowy winter, he was commissioned to do a version of the 23rd psalm. Haugen said he knew it would be a challenge.

“It’s hard to write something that everybody knows the text to,” he said. “I was trying and trying — you get stuck sometimes.”

The retreat center community held vespers every night. Haugen said they would regularly integrate his new music into prayer time. With little else to do on snowed-in evenings, the community also spent time critiquing his work. “Shepherd Me, O God,” Haugen joked, is one of three or four settings he wrote for Psalm 23 that received the least amount of criticism.

“That piece, like everything I wrote up there, went through the grill of the community,” he said. “I think that’s really valuable.”

“You don’t really know if a piece is going to be helpful or not until a congregation has sung it a number of times and they’ll tell you,” he added.

“Shepherd Me, O God” stays close to the words of the psalm, with verses such as “Surely your kindness and mercy follow me all the days of my life; I will dwell in the house of my God forevermore.” Haugen’s tight lyrical adherence to Scripture comes from a pastoral studies degree he earned at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota.

“If you’re writing liturgical music, your two main sources are the rite and the Scripture,” he said. “The more you can know about both, the more you feel you have something to offer when you start to write.”

In a song like “Shepherd Me, O God,” where the words are already familiar to many, Haugen said “the melody is at the service of the text.” He is careful in these cases to create easy-to-follow chord progressions “to make the person hearing it or singing it hear the text as closely as possible.”

“You want people to remember the music because if they remember it, then they’re remembering the words,” he said. “Then when they need to pray that, they’ll have something to use.”

Haugen has a diverse range of musical influences, which he said includes everything from classical to pop to reggae and “a lot of folk music.” He will be presenting a workshop at BILAC titled “Praying the Psalms in Liturgy.”

For more information on Marianist BILAC, or to register for the event, visit http://marianistbilac.wordpress.com.

Pope Francis leads a vigil to pray for peace in Syria Sept. 7 in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. (CNS photo by Paul Haring)

VATICAN CITY — Leading a crowd in prayer for peace in Syria, Pope Francis said that war is ultimately caused by selfishness, which can be overcome only though expressions of fraternity and never with violence.

“Leave behind the self-interest that hardens your heart, overcome the indifference that makes your heart insensitive towards others, conquer your deadly reasoning, and open yourself to dialogue and reconciliation,” the pope said Sept. 7 before an estimated 100,000 people in St. Peter’s Square.

The pope had called the prayer vigil less than a week earlier, as the central event of a worldwide day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria, the Middle East and the world.

The Vatican called the vigil an unprecedented papal gesture for peace, by virtue of its scale and prominence of location. It took place the same day that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with European leaders to make President Barack Obama’s case for a military strike on the government of Syria President Bashar Assad, as punishment for the alleged use of chemical weapons in the ongoing civil war there.

The pope’s homily, which took up about 15 minutes of the four-hour liturgy, did not refer to contemporary events but spoke in biblical terms about the nature of war, whose origins he traced to the fall of Adam and the first murder, by Cain of his brother Abel.

Answering Cain’s famous question to God — “Am I my brother’s keeper?” — the pope replied: “Yes, you are your brother’s keeper! To be human means to care for one another.”

“We bring about the rebirth of Cain in every act of violence and in every war,” the pope said. “All of us!”

War’s ultimate source, Pope Francis said, is the original sin of disobedience.

“When man thinks only of himself, his own interests and places himself in the center, when he permits himself to be captivated by the idols of dominion and power, when he puts himself in God’s place, then all relationships are broken and everything is ruined,” the pope said. “Then the door opens to violence, indifference and conflict.”

The pope concluded on a hopeful note, asking the crowd: “Can we get out of this spiral of sorrow and death? Can we learn once again to walk and live in the ways of peace?”

“Yes, it is possible for everyone!” he said, drawing applause, and he then invoked the image of Christ’s redemptive sacrifice as the ultimate symbol of peace.

“How I wish that all men and women of good will would look to the cross, if only for a moment,” he said. “There, we can see God’s reply: violence is not answered with violence, death is not answered with the language of death. In the silence of the cross, the uproar of weapons ceases and the language of reconciliation, forgiveness, dialogue and peace is spoken.”

The pope’s homily was followed by a period of eucharistic adoration, including several stretches when all present stood or knelt in silence, without any musical accompaniment.

At other times, as during the praying of the rosary in the first half of the vigil, prayers and readings alternated with music or performances on the organ, the harp and other string instruments.

During the adoration, people representing five different countries or regions with direct or indirect links to the Syrian conflict — Egypt, the Holy Land, Russia, the United States and Syria itself — brought up incense to burn in a brazier beside the altar. Ten students from the North American College, the U.S. seminary in Rome, served as attendants.

The ancient icon of Mary known as “Salus Populi Romani” (health of the Roman people), which had been transported for the occasion from Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major, stood on an easel beside the altar. The icon has special importance for Pope Francis, who went to pray before it on the first morning of his pontificate in March.

The atmosphere in the square was solemn, with none of the festivity of a Sunday Angelus or Wednesday public audience. Security guards confiscated flags and placards, though some Syrian flags and signs criticizing Obama could be seen on the periphery of the square.

For more than an hour prior to the vigil, and then for the duration of the event, priests heard confessions in the square, sitting face to face with penitents on simple wooden chairs.

Many in the congregation clapped and cheered when Pope Francis came out of the basilica at 7 p.m., but soon fell silent when they noticed his serious demeanor and his failure to wave or smile.

At the end of the liturgy, just before 11 p.m., after the pope had returned to the basilica, the crowd applauded again. Pope Francis came out to offer a few final words, thanking the congregation for their company and asking them to continue praying for peace.

“Good night and have a good rest,” he said.