Members of the new Stewardship Task Force held a meeting at the diocesan chancery Oct. 26. In front from left to right are diocesan finance systems manager Diane Lamosao, task force co-chair Brandon Elefante, Sam Knepper, Office of Stewardship and Development coordinator Gloria Romuar, Father Stephen Macedo and Dale Webster. In the back row are Office of Stewardship and Development director Mark Clark, diocesan vicar general Father Gary Secor and Ray Lamb. (HCH photo | Darlene Dela Cruz)

The diocesan Office of Stewardship and Development has recently been making strides in planning for stewardship education and implementation in local parishes.

Stewardship — the spiritual practice of contributing to the church time, talent and “treasure” in the form of a tithe on one’s income — is being encouraged by Bishop Larry Silva as a means of financing programs and parishes in the future.

Since 2008, the diocese has been collecting and using funds from the “With Grateful Hearts” capital campaign. More than $29 million has been netted in parishioner contributions to the campaign as of this June. As the five-year fundraising initiative draws to a close, the diocese hopes parishioners will move toward stewardship as a way to continue the generous support it has garnered for ministry needs.

In February, the Office of Stewardship and Development hosted its first-ever “Stewardship Day.” More than 100 local parish staff and clergy gathered at the Airport Honolulu Hotel to learn about the biblical roots of parish volunteerism and tithing. Since then, the Office of Stewardship and Development and a nine-member Stewardship and Development Commission have been meeting with vicariate leaders and parishioners on stewardship implementation strategies.

Mark Clark, director of the Office of Stewardship and Development, has been spearheading these initiatives. The first step in creating a diocese-wide movement toward stewardship, he said, has been re-introducing the practice as a sharing of gifts and trust in God’s provision.

“We want the spirituality of stewardship to be front and center,” Clark said. “There has been some enthusiasm. Overall it’s been very positive.”

Clark traveled in September with a group of 22 clergy, lay leaders and diocesan staff to the International Catholic Stewardship Council, or ICSC, conference in Dallas. The annual event, which draws about 1,000 attendees from all over the world, featured more than 100 presentations and workshops. Among the conference speakers were the bishops of the Dallas and El Paso, Texas, dioceses, two advocates of stewardship.

Clark said the Island delegation came away from the conference with many resources and contacts. New ideas they learned include integrating stewardship in Catholic faith formation and incorporating online giving in parish offertory collections.

“Not only did the speakers have great tips,” Clark said, “there was also a lot of networking going on.”

After the Hawaii group returned from the conference, the diocese took another step forward in its stewardship planning. On Oct. 10, Bishop Silva established a special Stewardship Task Force. The task force has five members from different vicariates who will draft a stewardship implementation plan aimed for completion in mid-January 2014.

Clark and diocesan Stewardship and Development coordinator Gloria Romuar, along with finance systems manager Diane Lamosao, will be involved in the task force work.

Diocesan vicar general Father Gary Secor will co-chair the group with Brandon Elefante, a parishioner of St. Elizabeth Church in Aiea.

Elefante has been involved in various parish ministries and works full-time for the Honolulu City Council as a research analyst. He said that while the timeline for the task force to craft a stewardship implementation plan is “ambitious,” getting parishioners to fully embrace service and tithing actually “can be a long process.”

“The most challenging task is striking a balance and crafting a plan that is easy to understand,” he said. “Other dioceses and parishes across the nation have taken years to formulate successful stewardship programs and initiatives.”

“It will take a cultural shift and the leadership of all of us working together,” Elefante added. “I have full faith and confidence that we can accomplish our goals.”

Other lay members of the task force include Sam Knepper of St. Catherine Church on Kauai, Ray Lamb of St. John the Baptist Church in Kalihi and Dale Webster of St. Theresa Church on Maui. All have been heavily involved in finance, development and stewardship work at their parishes.

Father Stephen Macedo of Annunciation Parish on the Big Island is the group’s clergy representative. When he had been the pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Naalehu and Holy Rosary Church in Kau, he oversaw tithing from his parishioners for 10 years. They were continually successful, he said, in generating enough finances to give 10 percent of their collections to the diocese, and to local and national charities.

“That doesn’t mean just give 10 percent to the church, but return 10 (percent) to the Lord’s work of your time, talent and treasure,” Father Macedo said. “It took a lot of trusting God, but it worked and we were able to pay our bills.”

Father Macedo and the other task force members will be meeting with the Presbyteral Council, Deacons Council, Diocesan Pastoral Council and diocesan department heads in the coming months to provide progress updates and receive feedback on the stewardship implementation plan.

The task force is also available to answer parishioners’ questions about stewardship. For more information on the task force and other stewardship news, visit the diocesan website at www.catholichawaii.org/stewardship.

Sign-holders spread the word to passing vehicles on Beretania Street in front of the state Capitol Oct. 28. (HCH photo | Darlene Dela Cruz)

The special state legislative session, called by Gov. Neil Abercrombie on Oct. 28 to add Hawaii to the list of 14 Mainland states that have legalized same-sex marriage, awakened a giant of populist opposition.

Organized mostly by churches but moved by their own personal convictions, thousands of Hawaii citizens opposing same-sex marriage have showed up at rallies and Capitol hearings, delivered opinions in written testimony, called and emailed their lawmakers and joined in postcard campaigns.

An estimated 8,000 joined an Oct. 28 rally at the state Capitol. Thousands registered to speak at state House hearings resulting in four long days of testimonies. More than 11,000 filled out postcards at Catholic churches which were sent to state lawmakers.

Their main message: “Let the people decide!”

It’s a call for a referendum to change the state constitution that harkens back to a similar grassroots movement 15 years ago, in 1998, that resulted in 69 percent of the voters passing a constitutional amendment giving the state Legislature the power “to reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples.”

The 1998 referendum was a fight-back to a 1993 Hawaii Supreme Court decision that ruled that the state could not deny marriage to same-sex couples.

Hawaii legislators passed a law in 1997 recognizing marriage as being between one man and one woman, but needed the constitutional amendment to back it up.

THE RALLY

Hawaii Family Forum’s Eva Andrade addresses the crowd.

According to Eva Andrade, executive director of Hawaii Family Forum, whose legislative action arm, Hawaii Family Advocates, sponsored the Oct. 28 Capitol rally with the Hawaii Catholic Conference, said the number of people who came “shocked” some of the legislators. She estimated 8,000 over the course of the three-hour event.

“I don’t think they expected that many,” Andrade said.

Even she was surprised by the large turnout, though she realized it might be big when “we started to get inundated by community leaders” seeking information about the event.

Sign-wavers lined both sides of Beretania Street fronting the Capitol, from Punchbowl Street to Richards Street, shoulder-to shoulder most of the way.

The bulk of the people, most wearing dark blue as requested by organizers, were packed tightly around the speakers’ stage set up in the Capitol rotunda. Others relaxed under clear skies on the grassy areas around the Capitol.

The event mixed politics, religion and a little fun. The opening band included in its lineup of songs Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman.”

Francis Oda, pastor of New Life Church in Honolulu, exhorted the crowd to “lift our hands in prayer.”

“We are called together to use the keys of the Kingdom to bind the forces of Satan from coming against Hawaii,” he said.

The crowd was primarily church-connected, Andrade said — mostly Catholics, Mormons and members of New Hope and other evangelical congregations. The Catholics showed up, some by the busload, she said, even though the rally wasn’t heavily promoted by the diocese.

Bishop Larry Silva was one of the main speakers. Also present was Father Gary Secor, who had earlier given testimony at the state Senate hearings. Besides parish groups, Catholic lay organizations like the Knights of Columbus and Basic Christian Communities Hawaii were well represented.

The event’s rallying call, carried on placards everywhere and cheered on by nearly every speaker, was “Let the people decide!”

Andrade said it’s more than a catchy slogan. The enormous passions raised on both sides of the debate should persuade the Legislature to “do the right thing” and put the decision to the people in a referendum, she said.

Bishop Silva urged the crowd to “consider the big picture” beyond simply allowing two people in love to get married.

“It is much more sinister than that,” he said. The negative effects of same-sex marriage on traditional marriage will be “devastating.”

The bishop said that an editorial cartoon in favor of same-sex marriage caused him to envision “an invisible noose and Satan smiling widely to take away all our freedoms.”

“Our deeply held religious beliefs are revealed to us by God,” he said. “Male and female he created us in his own image and likeness.”

“God is the one who wrote the owner’s manual,” he said to applause.

“An issue of such great importance should be decided at the highest level of authority,” the bishop said, which is not the governor, Legislature or courts, but the people.

But even higher than the people is God, he said.

THE TESTIMONY

The thousands who signed up to speak at the state Senate and House hearings on the bill were overwhelmingly against the same-sex marriage bill. Marathon hearings before the House Judiciary Committee stretched from Thursday, Oct. 31, into the weekend, and continued on Monday.

Much of the testimony argued in favor of giving the decision to the people.

“This is too important to allow the legislative body to be the determining voice for this issue,” wrote one testifier who represented the thoughts of many. “I support the option of having Hawaii’s people vote … it’s the right thing to do.”

Other testimony objected to same-sex marriage on traditional, cultural and religious grounds.

“This bill will alter our island lifestyle and culture,” said one. “We are all products our kupuna and our parents. Our earliest concepts of male and female characteristics come from our ancestors. This bill will change our definition of family.”

Other arguments pointed to the bill’s lack of religious freedom protection for churches that could be forced to open their facilities to same-sex ceremonies and receptions.

“This bill fails to protect the rights of religious organizations” to make their own decisions as to how their facilities are used, one wrote.

Another warned of “lengthy and costly lawsuits that could lead some churches to eventually close down,” ending “important community programs that help feed the hungry and provide a wide range of support to Hawaii residents in need.”

Other arguments worried about the loss of personal liberties. “I also stand to lose the right to express my religious views on traditional marriage between one man and one woman, whether in the workplace or in public, just as others are able to express their differing views.”

One testimony came from public school teachers who feared they would be required to teach concepts that violate their beliefs. “With this new bill, if it passes, we feel that we may be forced to teach that marriage can be between people of the same gender. Is that what we want our children to learn?”

THE BISHOP’S VOICE

The primary voice of the Catholic Church in this debate belongs to Bishop Silva whose public letters and talks urged everyone to look at the “big picture.”

He warned of same-sex marriage’s “long-term and profound societal implications” that would infect everything from school textbooks and school dances to childrearing and adolescent sexual development.

The bishop also said that a redefinition of marriage would open the door to the legalization of polygamy and incest.

Religious freedom would also be “seriously threatened, no matter what safeguards may be built into the bill,” he said. And the rights of parents will be “seriously undermined.”

Bishop Silva said that the “greatest casualties” of same-sex marriage will be children who 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 bishop said.

In each of his letters, Bishop Silva emphasized that one can respect the equality of human beings while acknowledging the difference between sexes and the distinctions between same-sex and opposite-sex relationships.

Efforts to preserve marriage “are an expression of our love,” he said.

THE CAMPAIGN

The campaign against same-sex marriage has also been waged on newspaper pages and in mailboxes, both physical and electronic.

A coalition of churches argued in full-page full-color newspaper ads that the issue should be left to a general referendum. “The legislature is going up against the will of the people,” the ad read. “This controversial issue deserves the full democratic process.”

Direct-mail postcards from churches such as New Hope Leeward and First Assembly of God called upon residents to contact their representatives and “let your voice be heard.”

Hawaii Family Forum sent out email messages promoting 21 days of prayer during October offering Scripture passages and questions for reflection “to seek God and intercede on behalf of the needs of our city, nation, families and homes.”

The final day of prayer, Oct. 27, entitled “Having Done All Else, Stand!” encouraged readers to “pray for the Heavens to be opened and God’s glory to be poured out upon the State Capitol as we move into this coming week.”

The Hawaii Family Forum website also assisted in channeling thousands of email messages from constituents to lawmakers, Andrade said.

According to Deacon Walter Yoshimitsu, director of the Hawaii Catholic Conference, the diocese’s public policy arm, a parish postcard campaign in October collected more than 11,000 cards expressing opposition to same-sex marriage addressed to individual members of the state House of Representatives.

The cards were picked up by the Knights of Columbus and hand-delivered to the Capitol, he said.

THE BACKGROUND

On Sept. 9, Gov. Abercrombie called for a special session of the state Legislature to pass a bill legalizing same-sex marriage. Leaders in both the state Senate and House claimed to have the votes to pass it, although the tally in the House was close with a small number undecided.

In a news release announcing his decision, the governor said the session, to start on Oct. 28, was necessary “to focus squarely on this important issue, without having to divert attention to the hundreds of other bills introduced during a regular session.”

The regular session starts in January.

“In addition,” he said, “if full advantage of various tax and other financial issues is to be achieved for citizens, passage before the end of the calendar year is essential.”

Opponents to the special session argued that its limited duration did not allow enough time for full discussion of the issue and that it would be a waste of taxpayers’ money.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act arguing that the federal government must recognize same-sex marital status when legalized by states.

Subsequently, the IRS and U.S. Treasury Department have ruled that same-sex couples legally married in states will be treated as married for federal tax purposes.

In addition, the Pentagon and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced that married same-sex couples will be eligible for the same benefits as married opposite-sex couples.

Hawaii lawmakers passed a civil-union law last year, which gave same-sex couples the same state benefits and protections given to married couples. However, Hawaii’s civil-union couples cannot benefit from the overturning of DOMA because they are not married.

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

Much of the debate has been centered on religious freedom issues and whether churches, institutions and persons who object to same-sex marriage will be able to practice their beliefs free of government constraints and requirements.

Attorney Jim Hochberg, president of Hawaii Family Advocates, addressed some of these issues at length in an Oct. 17 memorandum to Hawaii state Sen. Les Ihara.

Hochberg said that while the bill protects the clergy from being forced to preside over same-sex ceremonies, “it does not adequately protect churches.”

He said that a church’s right to refuse to host same-sex weddings on its properties is narrow and limited, and that the law will not protect a church “if a same-sex couple asks to use the church buildings for post-solemnization celebrations and anniversary parties.”

“Any church that allows its property to be used by non-members for marriages between a man and a woman will be required to allow same-sex couples to host their weddings on its properties,” Hochberg said.

He added that “churches and religious organizations that allow weddings to be hosted on any of their properties that are not ‘regularly used by the religious organization for its religious purposes’ will almost certainly be required to allow those properties to be used for same-sex weddings.”

Hochberg said the law also does not protect individuals in wedding-related occupations who object to participating in same-sex weddings. These would include licensed non-clergy marriage “solemnizers” such as judges, and wedding photographers, planners and florists.

“This bill, as written, tramples the religious freedom of churches, religious organizations, religious non-clergy licensed solemnizers and people of faith who own businesses in the wedding-industry,” the attorney said. “Hawaii should protect religious freedom, not trample it.”

FOCUS ON HEALING

Andrade, a long-time veteran of this fight, said she is “cautiously optimistic” that good will come of this debate.

Although she has encountered anger and testiness on both sides, she said she has tried to keep her own message a positive one, never denigrating gays or same-sex marriage but consistently calling for the preservation of the traditional family and traditional marriage.

And while she quietly prays for her opposition, she said it is condescending to tell them directly, “I am praying for you.”

However this issue is concluded, she anticipates antagonism and resentment in its wake.

“We have a lot of healing to do, no matter what the outcome,” Andrade said.

Nov. 13

It is very sad that many of our state legislators and our governor have confused a manufactured civil right with a true civil right based on the centuries-old respect for marriage as a stable union between one man and one woman established and publicly recognized primarily for the welfare of children. This manufactured world view is not what God, our Maker, has revealed to us, and it is symptomatic of a profound misunderstanding of the purpose of human sexuality. This misunderstanding is manifested, not only in this legislation, but in the many ways that we all fail to live as God has designed us. We pray that we will be able to restore marriage and family to their true place in God’s plan for humanity.

I want to thank all who worked so hard to express their opposition to the same-sex marriage legislation, who prayed diligently, and who contacted their legislators. May God bless you all! We pray for all the people of our state, especially for those who supported this bill. Though we disagree profoundly, may we live in peace with one another.

Following a special session of the Hawaii state Legislature that for two weeks turned the state Capitol into a high-spirited exhibition of populous democracy, Gov. Neil Abercrombie on Nov. 13 signed the bill causing all the commotion and made Hawaii the 15th state to legalize same-sex marriage.

In reaction to the bill’s passage, Hawaii Bishop Larry Silva, who had vigorously opposed the legislation, called same-sex marriage a “manufactured civil right” that is “symptomatic of a profound misunderstanding of the purpose of human sexuality.”

“It is very sad that many of our State legislators and our Governor have confused a manufactured civil right with a true civil right based on the centuries-old respect for marriage as a stable union between one man and one woman established and publicly recognized primarily for the welfare of children,” the bishop said in a Nov. 13 statement.

The bill, SB 1, gives married same-sex couples the same benefits and responsibilities as opposite-sex married couples in Hawaii while protecting, to a degree, clergy and religious organizations that oppose same-sex marriage from having to provide services or facilities for same-sex ceremonies.

Couples will be able to get married starting Dec. 2.

Statement from Washington

In a statement released in Washington, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Subcommittee on the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, called Hawaii’s decision to change “the meaning of marriage” disappointing and said it showed “the need for rebuilding a culture of the family in our country.”

“When referring to the family,” the archbishop said, “Pope Francis put it this way: ‘I think first and foremost of the stable union of man and woman in marriage.’ The very point of marriage having the unique status in the law that it has is to promote the right of children to have a mother and a father.

“Only a married man and woman can provide that. The question we need to ask ourselves is this: How can we honestly justify a law that in principle denies children this right?”

Illinois was poised to become the 15th state to legalize same sex-marriage, as lawmakers passed a final measure there Nov. 5, but Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has not yet signed it into law.

In his remarks at the bill’s signing before a gathering of same-sex marriage supporters, Gov. Abercrombie acknowledged the religious component of the debate asserting that the bill balanced personal and religious freedoms.

Quoting the state and U.S. constitutions, plus a couple of the Founding Fathers and others, he called the same-sex bill “the epitome of the first amendment in action.”

He praised lawmakers who, he said, put aside personal beliefs for the public interest.

“We all have special interests,” he said. “This bill is a special interest. It is a special interest that manifests the public interest and not a private interest.”

The state Legislature passed SB 1 on Nov. 12 with a 19-4 vote of the state Senate. The bill had previously cleared the Senate on Oct. 29 and was amended and passed 30-19 by the state House of Representatives on Nov. 8.

Bishop Silva ended his statement on a hopeful note: “We pray that we will be able to restore marriage and family to their true place in God’s plan for humanity.”

He also thanked those who fought unsuccessfully to defeat the bill and called for harmony between opposing factions.

“We pray for all the people of our State, especially for those who supported this bill,” he said. “Though we disagree profoundly, may we live in peace with one another.”

Opposition lawsuit fails

State Rep. Bob McDermott and others had filed a lawsuit to block the new law, but state circuit court Judge Karl Sakamoto ruled against him Nov. 14, denying a temporary restraining order and stating the law was legal.

The lawsuit cited the constitutional amendment passed in 1998 by 69 percent of Hawaii voters that gave the state Legislature the power “to reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples.”

According to attorney Jack Dwyer who represented McDermott, the constitutional amendment should be interpreted as “no more and no less validating the existing and continuing law of Hawaii that said that marriage licenses could only be issued to heterosexual couples.”

“The voters are the ones that adopted it,” he said and it was not their intention to leave the decision to legalize same-sex marriage to the legislature.

But Judge Sakamoto said it was clear that the amendment gave the legislature the power to define marriage anyway it wished.

Attorney Jim Hochberg, president of Hawaii Family Advocates, disputes the claim of the governor, the state attorney general and the bill’s advocates in the Legislature that the new law protects the religious freedom of citizens and religious organizations in Hawaii.

He said the law leaves marriage counselors and persons involved in the wedding industry like photographers and entertainers who have religious or philosophical objections to homosexuality “exposed to claims of discrimination.”

Hochberg also said that, while the law will not force a church or church facility to host same-sex weddings against its beliefs, it does not protect religious organizations that object to their property being used “to host any post-marriage ceremony like anniversary or recommitment ceremonies.”

Protesters by the thousands

Gov. Abercrombie’s call for a special session to legalize same-sex marriage galvanized thousands of people who came to the Capitol to testify and demonstrate, most in opposition to the bill.

Thousands assembled at the Capitol on Oct. 28, the opening date of the session, to protest the legislation. More than 5,000 submitted written testimonies, the large majority in opposition to the bill. More than 1,000 came to the Capitol to deliver their opinions in person, resulting in 55 hours of hearings over five days. The state House spent two days in deliberation before passing the bill.

Those opposing the bill came primarily from Evangelical, Mormon and Catholic congregations. Their main message, repeatedly chanted at every gathering, was “Let the people decide.” It was a call to vote to amend the state constitution to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

The argument, which the legislature rejected, was that the same-sex marriage issue was decided 15 years ago in 1998 by 69 percent of Hawaii voters who passed a constitutional amendment which gave the state Legislature the power “to reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples.”

The 1998 referendum came in response to a 1993 Hawaii Supreme Court ruling that stated that the constitutional right to equal protection prevented the state from denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

The Hawaii court decision also prompted Congress to pass the Defense of Marriage Act, which for federal purposes limited marriage to a man and a woman. When the U.S. Supreme Court struck down DOMA in June, arguing that the federal government must recognize same-sex marital status when legalized by states, Gov. Abercrombie pushed for the special session.

The primary voice of the Catholic Church in the public debate belonged to Bishop Silva who, in letters and talks, urged everyone to look at the “big picture.”

He warned of same-sex marriage’s “long-term and profound societal implications” that would infect everything from school textbooks and school dances to childrearing and adolescent sexual development.

In each of his letters, Bishop Silva emphasized that one can respect the equality of human beings while acknowledging the difference between sexes and the distinctions between same-sex and opposite-sex relationships.

Efforts to preserve marriage “are an expression of our love,” he said.

Stories and images of fighting the enemy to his knees or his death, smiting those who oppose us, making them feel the hurt, are imbedded in our brains, whether you tune into the world news, are a movie buff or play video games. Smash them, thrash them, count the wins, count the bodies.

For a few hours in the past few weeks, it looked like the verbal battle of beliefs might turn physical. It didn’t quite escalate into a brawl in the state Capitol courtyard, but there was quite a lot of — what’s the politically correct expression — invasion of personal space. On both sides. At high volume.

“I did not see things ever get out of hand,” said Father Gary Secor, diocesan vicar general, who presented the Catholic Church’s position against same-sex marriage at the Senate committee hearing.

“It was verbal confrontation, to see who could shout louder. I did not see anything physical,” said Deacon Walter Yoshimitsu, director of the Hawaii Catholic Conference. He testified for the diocese at the state House of Representatives hearing.

Yoshimitsu said, “You have overzealous people on both sides, people who can’t separate themselves from the issue.” An example of that was when “in the past we have had people outside telling legislators they are going to hell.”

The two men were among a sizable crowd of Catholics, some bused in from parishes, to join in the Oct. 28 rally of opponents at the opening of the special session of the Legislature.

The priest and the deacon were back in the crowds who occupied the Capitol grounds daily during the session, but there was “only a smattering of Catholics,” said Father Secor, as the demonstration continued over two weeks.

The belligerence meter registered highest when a group of about 100 people from Episcopal, United Church of Christ, Methodist, Lutheran and other mainline Protestant churches, as well as other faith traditions who support gay marriage, armed with a state permit for their gathering, tried to hold a Nov. 6 prayer service in the courtyard.

Their words were drowned out by very loud and some very large opponents, identifiable by their T-shirts as evangelical Christians. It didn’t help that the news photographers were there, leading to an aggressive jostling to preempt the liberal clergy’s photo op. The proponent group gave up on their speeches but cranked up a fair decibel level singing “Amazing Grace.”

State officials stepped in to sidetrack the ideological battle from getting dangerous, setting up barricades to corral the two sides into their respective corners. I think that was a bit of an infringement on freedom of speech, especially when officialdom tried to set limits on who occupies what Beretania Street curbside space. But, hey, I do see it could have degenerated into a security nightmare, and I imagine that’s why Gov. Neil Abercrombie decided to do his ceremonial bill-signing thing away from the Capitol.

Catholics holding back

Do we wonder why Catholics weren’t as avid to take to the front lines in what was seen by some opponents as a religious war? Is it that, with our hierarchical structure, we are lethargically accustomed to laying back and letting the clergy do the talking?

Perhaps we have embedded historical memory of how toxic religious fervor can become when zealots become mobs. In how many centuries and countries, did mobs of ignorant Catholics “celebrate” Easter by killing Jews. Remember the medieval Inquisition which used torture and murder against “heretics” because their beliefs were seen as being evil? That was on us Catholics.

In my own ethnic heritage there’s the bloody history of Protestants versus Catholics clashes that devastated Ireland for centuries and the church in Poland under duress for decades of Communist rule.

I guess it’s that Irish Catholic versus Prods awareness, combined with my learning curve as a newspaper religion writer, that made me find discomfort and irony in the combination of opposition forces at the Capitol.

Evangelical Christians made up the bulk of the righteous horde, with members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also providing a sizable contingent.

For both groups, in their teaching sessions not in the public arena, we Papists with our sacraments, rituals, statues, pope and ordained priests, are seen as having taken Christianity awry. So a little old lady with rosary in hand at the Capitol was in interesting company, indeed.

I can’t help it, I gotta say it: “Politics makes strange bedfellows.” To quote 19th century essayist Charles Dudley Warner, who lifted the thought from Shakespeare.

(No, that is not a comment on the effect of the new law.)

With the shouting over

With the shouting over, people who were divided on this issue are still part of the same wider community. Reconciliation is a goal of church people whatever side they’re on.

“Everyone needs to be treated with love and respect,” said Father Secor, appearing on a PBS Hawaii “Insights” show panel on the same-sex legislation Nov. 13.

“It is not right to treat anyone with disrespect or prejudice that will hurt them as a person,” he said in an interview. “God is forgiving and loving to gay people and straight people.” Nevertheless, whatever the legal situation has become, the church teaching will not change. “Homosexuals have the right to be who they are as a person. The issue is about an activity, it is a matter of nature not something you vote on.”

Moving forward “We have a lot of work to educate our own people. They don’t always agree with us. We need to articulate our ethic in a positive way. There is a pervasive misunderstanding of human sexuality,” Father Secor said.

Bishop Larry Silva said after the bill passed “We need to be at peace, it is a time for peace and reconciliation,” Secor said. “Hopefully at some point we can have a dialogue with people in disagreement with us.”

Episcopal Bishop Robert Fitzpatrick said, “We need to get beyond the one issue.” He was also a panelist on the “Insights” show, along with state Sen. Sam Slom and Rep. Chris Lee. “What we need to do is what we’ve done tonight. You debate, you listen to each other … without anger, without demonizing those who don’t agree with us.

“Homelessness, poverty, immigration and economic justice are issues that press on us as people of God. Going forward we need to care for the broken, the lost and the poor,” said the Episcopal bishop, whose denomination supports gay unions.

“We are not served by standing on opposite sides and yelling mottos.”

Bishop Larry Silva this month is bringing back The Bishop’s Circle, a targeted fundraising appeal started by Bishop Joseph A. Ferrario and put on hold in 2009 when the diocese launched the its With Grateful Hearts capital campaign.

The bishop will send an invitation letter to about 3,000 Catholics over the next few weeks, mostly people who have fulfilled their pledges to the With Grateful Hearts campaign, according to Mark Clark, the diocesan director of stewardship and development.

Also being invited to join the “circle” will be priests, deacons and diocesan employees, Clark said.

The diocesan Office for Stewardship and Development describes the appeal as a way of “honoring the Lord with the fruits of your stewardship of treasure.”

The Bishop’s Circle is primarily an appeal for large donations, although any amount will be accepted. Its five suggested donation levels, or “societies,” range from the $1,000 “Catholic Ohana Society” to the $20,000 or more “Our Lady of Peace Society.”

The Bishop’s Circle donation card explains that the donations will help with the “unexpected and emergency needs of our diocesan ministries,” in particular for clergy, youth and the needy.

The bishop’s invitation letter thanks those who participated in the capital campaign that helped fund the diocese’s 2008-2013 “Road Map” strategic planning programs.

“Much of the progress — made at both the parish level and throughout the diocese — has been powered by the success of the With Grateful Hearts campaign,” the letter states.

“As you may recall, The Bishop’s Circle appeal was started in the 1990s to help the diocese meet unexpected costs, emergency funding needs,” Bishop Silva says.

With the With Grateful Hearts campaign “in its final stages … I am re-launching The Bishop’s Circle and asking you to prayerfully consider a generous gift,” the bishop says.

“I assure you that your decision to join — or re-join — The Bishop’s Circle will make a difference in how we work to accomplish our mission,” the letter concludes.

According to Clark, this will be the first major diocesan appeal allowing donors to make a contribution over the Internet by going to the diocesan website: www.catholichawaii.org.

Bishop Larry Silva has asked each parish to collect donations for Philippines typhoon relief. The money will be sent to Catholic Relief Services, the international aid agency of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Money can also be sent directly to Catholic Relief Services through its website, http://emergencies.crs.org/typhoon-haiyan-help-philippines-survive-and-recover/

David Coleman, director for Catholic Relief Services in Hawaii, said he will be “organizing the response for the diocese through the Office for Social Ministry so that we can do the best we can to have an effective response to the suffering.”

CRS posted on its website the following breakdown of how donated funds will be used for immediate and long-term recovery in the Philippines:

Catholic Relief Services hopes to raise $20 million for this vital emergency response.

An estimated $5 million will be used to cover immediate assistance on the ground, and $15 million for medium-term rebuilding needs (shelter, water infrastructure, sanitation and livelihoods).

Aid is needed to help 100,000 Filipino families (500,000 people) with shipments of pre-positioned tarps, hygiene and water kits. This is the start of broader recovery that will likely span two years or more.

Planned CRS support:

• Emergency shelter for 32,000 families
• Water supply and hygiene for 32,000 families
• Non-food-item kits for 32,000 families
• 45,000 person-days of Cash-for-Work community cleanup and debris removal
• 3,167 Latrines
• 48 bathing cubicles
• 207 water tanks
• 300 waste disposal bins

Where your money goes:

• $8 provides a water kit for a family. This includes 1 jerry can, 1 pail and aqua tabs for water purification.
• $15 provides an emergency shelter kit. This includes tarps and nails that are combined with local materials to create emergency shelter.
• $22 provides household living supplies. This includes sleeping mats, three blankets, utensils, plastics, glasses and a cooking pot.
• $28 provides hygiene kits. This includes a two-month family supply of soap, laundry detergent, toothbrush, toothpaste, feminine sanitary napkins, and towels.

(Dollar amounts cover items only. They do not include costs associated with distribution, training and monitoring.)

CRS reported the setup of a temporary warehouse at the Catholic school gymnasium in Ormoc to service distributions in that area. The organization is increasing its presence in Palo and establishing a satellite office there.

A 747 has been chartered to transport 40,000 tarps. First distributions of temporary shelter, water and sanitation kits were expected Nov. 17.

Typhoon victims wait in line for free rice at a businessman’s warehouse in Tacloban, Philippines. Aid agencies faced challenges getting food and water to the hundreds of thousands of Filipinos. ( CNS photo/Erik De Castro, Reuters)

As heart-wrenching reports of Super Typhoon Haiyan’s unprecedented toll on the Philippines circulated last week, Hawaii’s Filipino Catholics did their best to make contact, pray and demonstrate solidarity with their brothers and sisters across the Pacific.

The Hawaii Catholic Herald spoke to several local religious, clergy and parishioners who have ties to the central Philippine region hit by the storm. They recounted stories from friends and family caught in its path — many of whom fortunately survived — and shared ways they plan to help those back home rebuild.

Haiyan was a Category 5 typhoon with torrential rain and winds nearing 200 mph. It made landfall between Nov. 7-9, destroying towns in the northern parts of Leyte and Cebu islands.

About 200 miles west of where the eye of the storm passed is the island of Panay. There, the Dominican Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary, who have five convents in Hawaii, have a motherhouse in the city of Iloilo. Several Dominicans assigned to Hawaii said Haiyan damaged their family homes and flooded the order’s Iloilo schools.

Sister Mary Sixtilles Pillado at St. Elizabeth School in Aiea said she wasn’t able to contact her family for several days after the storm hit. They connected by phone for a few minutes on Nov. 12, but still can’t text one another due to downed power in the region.

“They are all safe,” she said. “I pray for them. I can’t do anything.”

Her two sisters, two brothers and 71-year-old mom live in Iloilo. Sister Mary Sixtilles said Haiyan’s gusts blew the roof off one of their houses and flattened “almost 90 percent” of their neighbors’ homes. Another sister in Manila has been aiding the family.

“My mom said ‘this is the worst (storm),’” Sister Mary Sixtilles said. “She was so scared.”

Sister M. Merle Lebaquin, who resides at the Dominican Center in Waipahu, said her sister reported winds whipping through Iloilo “for two hours.” Thirty banana trees on her family’s property were blown over.

“It was their means of living,” she said.

Photos Sister Merle has seen on Facebook showed the Dominican-run schools in the area devastated. At St. Ann School in Balasan, the roof was lost, and chairs and tables were scattered. At Eucharistic King Academy in Sara, the computer lab was flooded out.

“You can see the keyboards everywhere,” Sister Merle said. “Everything got wet.”

Sister M. Candelaria Perania at St. John the Baptist School in Kalihi said she hopes to get her students and their parents involved in aiding these damaged Dominican schools, financially or in other ways.

“We are trying to help even just a little,” she said.

Typhoon belt

Hawaii has almost two dozen diocesan priests “on loan” from the Philippines. Most of these clergy, however, come from dioceses far north or south of Haiyan’s storm path.

Father Rufino Gepiga, administrator of St. Rita Church in Haiku, Maui, is from the Diocese of Sorsogon. Located in the Central Visayas region, Sorsogon is about 100 miles north of where Haiyan struck in Leyte.

“We just missed the typhoon by a hairline,” Father Gepiga said. “If it moved one degree up, we would’ve been surely hit.”

Father Gepiga said the Central Philippines is often called the “Typhoon Belt.” Residents there are accustomed to roughly 24 typhoons developing annually off-shore, with possibly half of them hitting land.

Storms seem to get stronger each year, Father Gepiga said, perhaps as a result of global warming.

“I know how it is to be victimized by a super typhoon,” said Father Gepiga, who recalled Typhoon Reming in 2006, the strongest storm to hit the Philippines before Haiyan.

“You feel helpless, you don’t know what to do,” he added. “These are calamities of our creation.”

One priest recently retired from service in Hawaii and moved back to his hometown in Leyte just a few months ago. Father Teodulo “Teddy” Gaquit of the Archdiocese of Palo spent 13 years in hospital ministry in the Islands. He had resided and frequently celebrated Mass at St. Anthony Church in Kalihi.

The Herald received a brief email sent from Father Gaquit in the Philippines on Nov. 17.

“I am alive, survived the super typhoon,” wrote the priest.

Father Gaquit recently built a new home in Leyte, one of the areas hardest hit by Haiyan.

“My new house is roofless,” he said. “The place is still in chaos, no institution is functioning.”

Local aid efforts

Bishop Larry Silva has authorized special parish collections to be taken up for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan. The funds, he wrote in a Nov. 12 letter, “will be used to support the efforts of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Relief Services.”

Father Edgar Brillantes, pastor at Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Honolulu, said his parish has already scheduled a special collection for typhoon aid on the second Sunday in December. While each parish can schedule these collections at anytime, Bishop Silva suggested that Thanksgiving Day or Misa de Gallo offertories could be appropriate occasions.

The Diocesan Congress of Filipino Catholic Clubs, or DCFCC, held its annual state convention Nov. 9-10. Father Brillantes, who is also the DCFCC spiritual director, said its members prayed for those affected by the storm and reflected on the tragedy during Mass homilies. Members were also urged to take up collections in their areas.

Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace parishioner and veteran local journalist Emme Tomimbang will be helping to coordinate an upcoming fundraiser for typhoon victims. She will be working with the board of directors from the FilCom Center in Waipahu on the event.

The FilCom Center will be accepting checks and partnering up with a non-governmental organization to help to raise, secure, and disseminate funds directly to the storm survivors. The center is also involved with “Aloha Philippines,” which will receive checks for the typhoon victims through financial institutions such as Bank of Hawaii, First Hawaiian Bank, American Savings Bank and Central Pacific Bank.

The Visayan Catholic Community plans to donate to relief efforts money collected during their Santo Nino celebration in January. Catholic parishioner Lumantas is also spreading word about a benefit concert coordinated by the local Congress of Visayan Organizations, “Kokua for Philippines: A Night of Hope,” 5:30 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 1, in the McKinley High School Auditorium.

“It’s so sad our beloved country was struck with this unimaginable calamity,” Lumantas said. “But we have to brace them all with our prayers and help in some way or another.”

The Diocese of Honolulu is sponsoring Stewardship Day, “a special gathering of Catholic leaders for inspiration, learning and networking with others about stewardship as a way of life,” 8 a.m.-noon, Jan. 25, at Holy Family Church in Honolulu.

The featured speaker for the day, which is open to priests, deacons, lay leaders, parish and school staff and active parishioners, is stewardship expert Father Daniel J. Mahan of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.

The event will also offer an optional “bonus workshop” at noon by Catholic publishing house Our Sunday Visitor on its stewardship products and resources.

Stewardship Day will begin with a continental breakfast, prayer and opening remarks by Bishop Larry Silva.

Father Mahan will give two presentations. The first will emphasize stewardship as a way to holiness. The speaker will discuss the four qualities of a good steward — gratitude, responsibility, generosity and making a return to the Lord — and their impact in the life of the church.

The first talk will be followed by a discussion by local parish leaders on the practice of successful stewardship in their communities.

Father Mahan’s second talk will focus on practical steps to incorporate stewardship successfully into parish life. These steps include personal witness, commitment of leadership, hospitality and accountability.

The Our Sunday Visitor workshop will offer ways to improve parish stewardship communication efforts through the use of parish reports, contribution envelopes, email and websites.

Father Mahan will also offer a workshop for clergy only, 2-5 p.m., Jan. 24, at St. Stephen Diocesan Center based on the more than 35 homilies from his book, “More than Silver or Gold: Homilies of a Stewardship Priest.” Homily titles include “Stewardship Applied to Everyday Life,” “Helping Busy People Grow Closer to the Lord” and “Vibrant Christian Witness.”

Father Mahan is the pastor of two parishes in the Indianapolis archdiocese. He has long been affiliated with the International Catholic Stewardship Council and is a popular speaker in parishes and dioceses around the country. He has also given presentations in China, Africa and the Philippines.

He is also the former executive director of the Center for Catholic Stewardship at Marian University.

The registration cost for Stewardship Day is $10 and covers the continental breakfast. Lunch will be provided for those who register for the bonus Our Sunday Visitor seminar. Call 203-6719 for more information. Those who want to go to the clergy workshop should call 203-6712. The deadline to register for either event is Jan. 17.

There was a time when I wanted to give up saying Masses in English and doing hospital visitations. Being from Colombia, Latin America, English is not my first language. I was so afraid of not being able to fulfill my responsibilities well in English. However, over time I realized that I am only an instrument of God. As I chose for the motto during my ordination “Hemos conocido el amor de Dios y hemos creido en el.” “We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.” (1 John 4:16)

My first experience with an English Sunday Mass took place when I was assigned to St. Michael Church in Kona. It was literally earth-shaking as on that day, as I greeted the people with outstretched arms, an earthquake hit the Big Island damaging the church. Was God trying to send me a message? The pastor had gone to California and left me alone in charge of the parish. I was already nervous due to the large tourist population. My comfort level was definitely different from weekday Masses where the people already knew and accepted me. I followed the people as they ran out of the church. We instantly bonded and finished Mass outside.

That incident was followed by a phone call the pastor received from the hospital asking for a priest. He asked me to go. I had visited the hospital before. Many times I found people alone in their rooms, dying, with just the TV on. It was sad, but easier for me when no one was around. “God,” I commenced my prayers, “you understand all languages.” I would then continue in Spanish.

This time however, when I reached the emergency room I was surprised to see many doctors and nurses working on a little girl. At that moment I felt really uncomfortable due to my English. Turning to me, a doctor said, “Father, do your job.” I began reading out of the prayer book, but when I came to the part where it said, “forgive the crimes and sins,” I had to stop. How could this young girl have committed any crimes or sins? I closed the book and for lack of other words, started saying, “God, you are here among us.” “Dios esta aqui con nosotros.”

At some moment, I opened my eyes and I saw the doctors and nurses with their eyes closed repeating the same, “God you are here among us.” We kept on praying, until one doctor quietly pronounced, “She is no longer with us.” As I left the hospital, I felt that I had done a horrible job. They needed a priest with the English language to say good things which I couldn’t express. I said I will talk to my pastor and not go to the hospital anymore, or say Masses in English.

Later however, the family requested me to do the funeral. They felt I did a wonderful job, that I offered a beautiful prayer. I realized then, that I was only an instrument of God and God does the rest as much as I keep believing in the love God has for us. Dios esta aqui con nosotros.

*God, you are here among us

Oahu Catholics closed out the Year of Faith “Island-style” Nov. 23, with food, music, Mass and a multicultural celebration of ohana.

St. Louis School male hula “kahiko” group performs at the Nov. 23 Year of Faith closing celebration.

Dozens of priests, religious and faithful made their way to Star of the Sea Church in Waialae-Kahala for the day-long event. The parish’s large grassy field was turned into a lively hub of fellowship, with white tents shading information booths for schools, religious orders and diocesan offices, and games for the keiki.

Bishop Larry Silva and diocesan musicians Robert Mondoy and Kainoa Fukumoto began the celebration with morning prayer. Highlighting the diocese’s ethnic diversity, the prayer service included hymns in Hawaiian melodic arrangements and psalm responses in different languages. Congregants were invited to sing parts in Korean, Tongan, Samoan, Japanese, Spanish, Ilocano and Vietnamese.

Comedian Frank De Lima headed the day’s entertainment lineup. Other performers included students from St. Louis School’s male hula “kahiko” groups, local guitarist/songwriter Stephen Inglis, singers from St. Francis School and dancers from the Filipino and Micronesian Catholic communities.

Parishioners from St. Rita Church in Nanakuli and Sacred Heart Church in Waianae shared special hula and chants dedicated to St. Marianne Cope.

As the entertainment rolled into the afternoon, event attendees relaxed and dined under a large canopy. Food was aplenty, with choices representing different parts of the globe — French pastries, healthy Mediterranean fare, Chinese snacks and, of course, the local plate lunch.

Rounding out the festivities was an energizing performance by a five-member mariachi band, courtesy of the Hispanic Catholic community. Members of the audience danced and sang along to renditions of popular standards such as “Cielito Lindo” and “La Bamba.”

Inside Star of the Sea Church, people took advantage of the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament to spend time in prayer.

Bishop Larry Silva celebrates Mass at Star of the Sea Church, Nov. 23.

Priests were also available there to hear confessions during the day.

About 150 people attended the closing Mass at 4:45 p.m. Bishop Silva was the main celebrant of the liturgy commemorating the Solemnity of Christ the King.

The bishop said in his homily that while “we thank God for the opportunity we have been given to deepen our faith in Jesus Christ through the many activities and projects in which we have participated,” it is now time to reflect on “whether this Year of Faith has moved us to witness to Jesus beyond our comfortable circles.”

“There is reason to celebrate, but also reason to realize that this special year was not an end in itself,” he said. “There is still so much to accomplish in making a reality Christ’s kingdom of truth and love.”

Sharon Chiarucci, Office for Parish Resources director, retires Dec. 31.

It has been a pleasure working with Sharon Chiarucci. She is very dedicated and competent, and she is in touch with so many people. I am grateful for the personal support she has given me, especially during my pastoral visits to the parishes. She always prepares the parish well for them, is a kindly and listening presence to the people while I am there, takes great notes of my dialogues with parishioners, and follows up with connecting diocesan services with various needs the parishes express.

Sharon has had a wide scope of work. In addition to coordinating the Welcoming Parish program and my visitations, she has spearheaded a dialogue with Micronesians, worked with the formation of parish pastoral councils and other advisory groups, served as staff to the Diocesan Pastoral Council, participated in the Year of Faith Committee, and worked diligently on the implementation of the Road Map, our diocesan pastoral plan. I am very grateful for her work. I know I speak on behalf of many who have been touched by her throughout her years of service. I know her work will continue to bear fruit for years to come. We wish her many blessings in her retirement.

Sharon Chiarucci in the chapel at St. Stephen Diocesan Center on Nov.  25. (HCH photo | Darlene Dela Cruz)

When it comes to Hawaii parishes, Sharon Chiarucci has seen it all. She is one of the few people who have actually been in every one of the nearly 100 Catholic churches in the state (except for one isolated mission tucked away off a west Maui backroad). She has seen priests and bishops come and go. She has seen parishes open and close, merge and separate. She has talked with thousands of parishioners.

As the director of the Office of Parish Resources, this has been her assignment. It has also been her privilege.

“Getting out to all the parishes and seeing people from one end of the state to the other has been one of the greatest gifts of this job,” she said.

Chiarucci is retiring at the end of this year after working for the church in a variety of ways for more than 30 years, mostly behind the scenes — encouraging, facilitating, guiding, smoothing paths, planting seeds.

Talking with the Hawaii Catholic Herald last week about her ministry, her face scrunches in disapproval when she’s asked to list her “accomplishments.”

“Contributions,” she said, correcting the questioner.

As unpretentious as her demeanor is her office at St. Stephen Diocesan Center. Hers is a one-person department. No secretary, no staff. Her workplace is small, spare and oddly narrow, about 10 feet wide and 20 feet deep. Besides her computer desk, she has a couple of bookcases, two black metal file cabinets and a credenza.

Nearly every book on her shelves has “parish” in its title: “Hands-on Parish,” “Emerging Parish,” “Parishes that Excel,” “Parishes of the Next Millennium.”

San Francisco to Kauai

Chiarucci is originally from San Francisco where she attended Catholic schools “all the way through college” at the Jesuit University of San Francisco, majoring in sociology. Five of those years, right after high school, were spent as a Sister of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was the post-Second Vatican Council ’60s, a time of flux, within and outside the church.

When she left the confines of religious life where she had relished the exciting changes coming from Rome, she discovered outside a dull church, “behind the times,” unenthusiastic about renewal. Disheartened, she left the church altogether.

She worked a few years for the state of California, then took a vacation with friends who lived on Kauai.

“I fell in love with the island. I went back (home) and said, ‘I’m moving.’”

On Kauai, she found a job as a program director and counselor with Hale Opio, a non-profit group home for delinquent teens. She worked there from 1975 to 1982.

“I was not at all involved with the church at that time,” she said of a spiritual hiatus that had stretched to about 15 years.

But God figured that was long enough, she said.

“I was out walking one Sunday and I had been toying with this idea” about returning to church.

“I told God, ‘I know you are there. I just don’t have time for you right now.’ And God said, ‘OK, I’m tired of waiting, you’re coming back.’”

God had the timing figured out. Chiarucci returned to church at Immaculate Conception in Lihue on the day a new pastor was being introduced by the outgoing one. Two memories stuck with her from that day. The first was the image of the “old guard,” a veteran Belgian missionary, “turning the parish over to a new young priest,” a local-born vocation “who wanted to see the parish thrive.”

The second memory was of the church choir – a group of senior citizens with “quavery voices” accompanied by a “quavery” violin and mandolin.

“And I sat there and said if God can have a sense of humor about this choir, I can have a sense of humor about his church.”

“I was hooked,” Chiarucci said. “Within a year I was working for the parish.”

First church job

After volunteering for six months, she asked the young pastor, Sacred Hearts Father James Anguay, to hire her. He was reluctant at first.

“He told me, ‘If I hired you what would I do?’”

As it turned out, both had plenty to do.

“Within a year, he really mobilized that parish,” Chiarucci said. “He had over a hundred people involved in ministry.”

Father Anguay brought in the Parish Renewal Experience, a program designed to rejuvenate parish life. “It set that parish on fire.”

Chiarucci’s faith was ignited when she attended an RCIA training program on Oahu.

“I started reading everything I could get my hands on,” she said. “It was just trying to catch up with all the changes since Vatican II because I missed out on all that as it unfolded.”

She came to realize that the church in Hawaii was liturgically “so far ahead of the game,” thanks to then Bishop Joseph A. Ferrario’s “love for and emphasis on the liturgy.”

She moved in 1988 to Oahu where vicar general Father Clarence Liu gave Chiarucci her first diocese-level job as administrative coordinator of the Diocesan Renewal Committee. She had worked with Father Liu earlier as a member of that committee, which had been created to assist parishes in planning and renewal. Now Bishop Ferrario wanted to give that effort the support and guidance of a full-time diocesan staff person.

“The theme was that renewal can happen through planning,” she said. “The idea was to get parishes to look at their strengths and their weaknesses and through some visioning — where would they like to be five years from now — put a program in place to move in that direction.”

But the office never reached its full potential and, because of a shortage of diocesan funds and other issues, it closed after two and a half years.

So Chiarucci worked for Star of the Sea Parish for three months, then took a year off before landing a position in 1991 with the Jesuit-run Newman Center at the University of Hawaii.

“That was a great job,” she said.

She was learning a lot about lay people in parish administration. “It was new and it was challenging,” she said.

After about two years at Newman, Chiarucci got a call from Tom Dinell, the director of Catholic Charities at the time, who asked her if she would like to take over the office of Oahu Social Ministry.

Bishop Ferrario’s “Faith in Action” conference and pastoral letter had “mobilized the diocese for a more concerted effort in social ministry,” Chiarucci said.

Catholic Charities provided professional social services while the offices for social ministry on Oahu, Maui and the Big Island helped outreach efforts to the poor on the parish level. Chiarucci was back to helping parishes.

Office of Welcoming Parish

Chiariucci’s job changed again in 1997 when Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo, by then at the helm of the diocese for about three years, asked her to create a new office that would help him make the most of his official visits to parishes.

The office took the substance of parish planning and renewal efforts and added an emphasis of hospitality and openness. Bishop DiLorenzo called it the Office of Welcoming Parish.

Chiarucci would coordinate the bishop’s weekend visits to parishes, facilitate discussions with parish leaders and parishioners about the parish’s strengths and challenges, and help them draft future goals. The visits also included liturgies and social gatherings with the bishop.

It was a job in which Chiarucci found much satisfaction.

“That was a great opportunity. Getting out to all the parishes and seeing people from one end of the state to the other has been one of the greatest gifts of this job,” she said.

It was a blessing “seeing the vitality of parishes all over this diocese, in spite of any problems they may be encountering, whether it was financial or leadership issues, whatever it might be.”

The only church she has not seen personally is St. Francis Xavier, a tiny mission in the remote district of Kahakuloa, where Mass is celebrated only on special occasions.

“People love their parish,” she said. “No matter what. There’s a bond there.”

“But there is also a lot of hurt out there and a frustration over the challenges,” she said.

“I think the rapid turnover of priests has been really difficult for many parishes,” she said.

It’s an issue that the Diocesan Pastoral Council, one of the bishop’s advisory groups which Chiarucci helps staff, attempted to address by creating a detailed “pastor transition process.”

“It’s a process that has great potential” but only mixed results so far, she said.

New bishop, new emphasis

Bishop Larry Silva put his own stamp on the Welcoming Parish Office, including changing the name to the Office for Parish Resources.

Chiarucci continued to help the parish visitation process, which gained a slight shift in tone. Rather than asking parishes to assess their strengths and weaknesses, the bishop posed more positive questions: “What are you grateful for and what are your hopes for the future?”

“He got people to stop navel gazing and really look out and see we are not here just for ourselves,” she said.

“That’s been his message. We are not just consumers of the faith, we should be the teachers of it,” Chiarucci said. “I think we are still struggling with how that plays out.”

She is heartened that more parishes are putting more effort into enriching their faith than trying to “fix” things.

“They get it very easily with the finances and with the facilities, but when you start talking about planning for programs, for spirituality, for education — that’s a little bit more of a struggle.”

“I think many parishes have a stronger sense of the importance of faith formation,” she said. “I think there is a hunger for a deepening of the spirituality that is both a strength and a challenge — and an opportunity.”

She sees more diocesan departments “getting out there into the parishes,” providing encouragement and expertise to satisfy these needs.

Her office has provided spiritual retreats for parish leaders, some in collaboration with the offices for social ministry and religious education, which have been much appreciated.

Chiarucci’s contributions include new parish council guidelines, developed with a “great team” of about 10 people. The document has been well-received.

People appreciated its “spirituality” and “pastoral perspective,” she said.

She has been trying to instill in pastoral councils the “importance of prayer, the importance of having periodic retreats on their own.”

“More and more parishes are doing that,” she said.

While Chiarucci’s focus has primarily been “empowering lay people,” she said she has had “wonderful collaborations with many of the priests.”

“I feel for them and think they’ve been put into a difficult situation and get blamed for a lot of situations that are beyond even their control.”

“I think I may sometimes come across as hard on our clergy but I do have a lot of respect for most of them — and have truly enjoyed working with many of them,” she said.

Retirement plans

Chiarucci, who lives in Ahuimanu past Kaneohe and attends Newman Center/Holy Spirit Parish, does not have any specific plans for retirement other than to spend more time with her family and maybe do a little traveling, perhaps to Italy.

But she has stopped worrying about how she is going to keep busy.

“I look back on my life and I realize that every job that I’ve had has been a gift. They just sort of come to me. And I think if God has been watching out for me that way, why would I think it is going to stop?”

“The Virgin of the Immaculate Conception,” a painted and gilded statue attributed to Juan Martinez Montanes. (CNS photo/courtesy of National Gallery of Art)

Local Catholic educators and religious find in Our Blessed Mother a luminous example to follow as we prepare for Christmas

Young, poor, in her final weeks of pregnancy, forced on the road by a foreign occupier’s census law, shelterless and vulnerable. The Blessed Virgin Mary endured much in her journey to Jesus’ birth. Yet through her humble “yes” to God’s plan for the Incarnation, Mary changed salvation history forever.

Mary can serve as a beautiful figure for reflection as Hawaii Catholics celebrate the season of Advent. Awaiting Christ’s arrival is a time of prayerful anticipation, faith, hope and love. Mary embodied these virtues and can help us grow in them too, as several local Catholics with a fond devotion to her explain.

Peace amid chaos

According to tradition, Mary was a Jewish girl from Nazareth in Galilee. Her parents were the elderly St. Joachim and St. Ann. She is said to have been a teenager when she was engaged to marry Joseph, and when the angel Gabriel announced that she would conceive Christ through the Holy Spirit.

While traditional art often depicts Mary as wearing blue and living with a small family, Marianist Brother Dennis Schmitz at Chaminade University said that was unlikely the case. Anthropologists, he said, have noted that blue garments “would’ve been exceedingly expensive” for the peasant girl. Mary also would have shared her humble dwellings with a large extended clan, as was the Jewish norm then.

“The unwed Mary’s pregnancy would’ve caused more than a minor family ruckus in a multigenerational household of grandparents, parents, in-laws, cousins and nieces and nephews,” Brother Schmitz said.

Brother Schmitz envisions that Mary was surrounded by familial “chaos,” but kept her peace “by finding brief moments of quiet … to turn to God.” Catholics can do well to follow that example amid the hustle and bustle of the Advent season.

“Although most of us don’t live 24/7 in an extended family dwelling, we all deal with the noise and the ruckus of family preparations for Christmas,” Brother Schmitz said. “Mary, however, lived in the confusion yet maintained her spiritual focus.”

“If we reflect on Mary’s example, we can both consciously and sub-consciously be formed to live like she did,” he said.

Humble servant

“Mary may not have had many worldly comforts, yet she glorified the Lord in reflecting and magnifying his goodness and love,” said Jayne Mondoy, diocesan religious education director.

Mondoy said Mary is a “model of faith because she reminds us of the essential link between humility and holiness.”

At the angel Gabriel’s visit, Mary accepted God’s will with the humble response, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38). Mary demonstrated her loving servitude after the Annunciation, Mondoy said, by assisting her pregnant cousin Elizabeth.

“Advent is a fitting season to ask ourselves, ‘Does my soul magnify the Lord?’” Mondoy said. “When faced with life’s challenges, can I be more like Mary, letting God work within me to accomplish his will and responding to the needs of others?”

Sacred Hearts Sister Regina Mary Jenkins said Mary’s humility “opened the way to her wholehearted ‘yes’ to the awesome invitation of God.”

“It fueled her obedience to the many demands placed upon her as a woman of her culture and time,” Sister Regina added.

Faithful and trusting

Sister Laura Fidelis Nolin and Sister Mary Joane Caritas Gepitulan of the Daughters of St. Paul said Mary’s tremendous trust in God also guides Catholics through Advent.

“No matter what obstacle came her way, whether it was not having a place to give birth, being poor, or having to constantly pick up and move on to another town,” Sister Laura said, “(Mary) did it with great faith and great trust that God would provide for her every step of the way.”

According to the Gospel of Luke, while Mary was pregnant with Jesus, the Roman emperor Caesar ordered a census to be taken. Joseph and Mary traveled for days to Joseph’s hometown of Bethlehem to be enrolled. There, Mary gave birth to Jesus in a stable because there were no vacancies at local inns.

Sister Mary Joane said she admires how even in those circumstances, Mary never wavered in her faith.

“Mary knows confusions, anxieties, and sometimes feels real anguish as she tries to understand God’s plan,” she said. “Mary tells us that faith is profoundly meaningful when it is difficult to believe.”

During Advent, Catholics can learn to root themselves like Mary in God’s providence.

“We must have trust that God will provide for us, will take care of us, will love us no matter what comes our way because it is the truth,” Sister Laura said.

“Mary’s example of faith gives us hope and helps us embrace life’s challenges with graciousness, serenity and peace as we welcome Jesus into our world and into our own hearts,” Sister Mary Joane added.

Eucharist

Diocesan hermit Sister Bernadette Meno and Sister Marykutty Kottuppallil of the Missionary Sisters of Mary Help of Christians said Catholics have Mary to thank when they receive the Eucharist.

“Mary, God’s chosen one, in her littleness, must have felt a sense of wonder and awe that she carried within her body, the Son of God, held close to her heart,” said Sister Bernadette. “We too carry the Son of God within us when we receive him in the Eucharist.”

Sister Bernadette, who lives a life of solitude and prayer on Maui, said at Advent, Catholics should ponder the question, “Do we feel a sense of wonder and awe that we, in our littleness, can be so privileged to have the Son of God within us?”

We can learn from Mary, Sister Bernadette said, “to lift our spirits in joy and gratitude” for the gift of Jesus.

Sister Marykutty called Mary “a chalice of salvation for all.”

“Nothing was certain to her, and yet she felt that her burden was light and her yoke was sweet, and she carried her cross out of love for Jesus,” Sister Marykutty said. “She made it possible for all of us to receive her Son in the form of broken body and blood.”

Fulfilling our longing

Kristina DeNeve, adult faith formation coordinator for the diocese, said Mary’s patient waiting for Jesus’ birth mirrors our own anticipation for a savior.

“Waiting and longing for a better tomorrow is such a big part of what makes us human,” DeNeve said. “Like Mary, we each yearn for wholeness, for completeness, while we are in the midst of our less-than-perfect lives.”

Mary was not satisfied until her heart and soul were united with God, DeNeve noted. Understanding that only God can make us whole draws us closer to Mary’s example of perfect grace and love.

“The more we grow in awareness of our own incompleteness … the more our hearts are united with Mary’s most gracious heart,” she said. “At Advent and beyond.”

The house always had to be shining clean for Christmas and since Mom ruled, we the children took the vacuum cleaner nozzle into the deepest corners and the dustcloths to the tops of all those many framed things on the walls.

That wasn’t quite going where no kid had been before, but it was shifting to a higher gear than the usual Saturday morning cleaning. I was reminiscing with my friend Mary Hill, also the child of an Irish mother with the “clean house for Sundays and holy days” obsession. We agreed that it fit with the whole Catholic thing about suffering, doing penance to clean the sin from your soul. It’s a concept which was imposed more heavy-handedly back in the day. Never mind saying 10 Hail Marys and Our Fathers, we were on our knees applying oily furniture polish to an ornately carved stairway bannister. Every Saturday. For hours. While other kids were free to play.

But I exaggerate. Weekly housecleaning devotions were widely practiced in the Midwest then, and it still is a custom today. The neighbor kids were Lutherans, and their Norwegian and German mothers were even more fanatical about it than me own Mother Machree.

When I moved to Hawaii, I discovered that housecleaning as a tenet of a belief system is also rooted in Asian Buddhist culture. They’ll be cleaning house to prepare for the New Year. And, sad for me to see, that includes putting the Christmas tree in the trash while the real 12 days of Christmas are still underway.

The Christian theology of housecleaning, as taught to me as a child, begins with loving Jesus. We polish our souls, and clear out the dirty, nasty stuff from our minds and hearts, to prepare to welcome God into our lives. Cleaning out the dirt, dust and debris from your home is a metaphor for the spiritual tending we do, and it needs to be continued throughout our lives.

Before I soar too high in the clouds, of course cleaning is absolutely a practical necessity in life. As a matter of self-pride, you set limits on what makes your habitat tolerable. If you are a social creature, you’ll make your space comfortable and welcoming to family and friends. Proud of your possessions, you want to show them off shiny and not hidden under a layer of dust.

In my decades in Hawaii, I’ve seen many variations of the secular practice of cleaning, and adjusted my views of its spirituality. I have experienced some extremes. I knew a Portuguese grandmother whose expectations would have exceeded my mother’s. I’ve been comfortable in homes where love thrived amid phenomenal clutter, dust and pet hair. I’ve been uncomfortable in homes where the sparkling possessions were household gods. Generally speaking, we take it easy on ourselves in a warm climate, with windows and doors open to the outdoors all year long, geckos and roaches and other wildlife having easy access, beach sand carried home, people comfortable in unpretentious, hospitable surroundings. Winter weather doesn’t confine us indoors up close with the stuff that needs sorting or polishing.

As someone who has really, really taken it easy on herself, housecleaningwise, I can testify that it is very painful to try to redeem yourself from years of backsliding. With visitors coming for Christmas, it’s a been an Advent of bigtime penitential cleaning. After months of ignoring crusted louvers — because they are always open anyway — mildew patches on the walls and lizard droppings on the lanai — because they’ll just do it again — I’ve found doing penance on a ladder is as painful as on the knees.

While suffering so deeply, I’m hearing my mother’s voice nagging about why I didn’t continue the weekly devotions of cleaning house for the Sabbath. Singing a duet with Mom is her other daughter, primary hostess for the visitors, whose suffering is greater because she has a bigger space and less inclination to cut herself some slack. After they sing the verses, our impending visitors are singing the refrain (imagine the “Hallelujah Chorus”): “Don’t bother. It doesn’t matter. You’re what’s important. We’ll be together. We love you.” Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

I’m revisiting the logical and theological arguments we kids developed. Why clean the upstairs when the visitors will be in the living room looking at the Christmas tree? Santa will get all sooty coming down the chimney — we had one of those, but he nevah — so why bother to clean the rug? If Jesus, or Santa, looks into my heart and soul, he’ll see I am a shining star, he won’t care if I’m in a slightly dim setting.

My personal favorite of childhood theology: Jesus was born in a stable. It was no clean, sparkling place. Animals pooped in there. It didn’t keep the angels from singing, the shepherds and their animals from dropping in and the Wise Men from bringing presents. And God wrote the whole script; He didn’t choose a palatial birthplace for His Son. Honest, Mom, He won’t be mad if I didn’t wash the screens.

By the time this is published, hopefully the suffering will be over. Some of the stuff — why can’t I throw away any book or paper or shred things — will be stashed in a closed-door room. I’m planning a dim lights strategy to disguise untouched corners. OK, I admit it, I’m forgiving myself for some flaws as a cleaner.

However far we get with the extreme makeover, the point is to be offering the work as a gift of love and a gesture of welcome.

We will be looking at the faces of our beloved family at Christmas this year. I know they’ll be looking into our eyes and not into the corner to find the spider web.

Instead of Handel’s magnificent music, the chorus in my head has been a little chant that my great-niece Marissa — one of the treasured expected visitors — learned to recite as a second grader during Advent. “Be awake. Be ready. The Lord is coming soon.”

I’ve cleared the cobwebs from my brain. I am so ready.

Benedictine Father Timothy M. Ottman, who came to Hawaii more than 30 years ago to work as a parish priest for a decade before retiring at the Benedictine Monastery in Waialua, died Dec. 5 in a Waialua foster care home. He was 92. He had been in religious life, first as a Trappist monk, since 1952.

In retirement he continued to volunteer in island parishes, assisting when pastors went on vacation or needed extra help.

“He enjoyed being with people, ministering to them,” according to his superior Benedictine Father David Barfknecht. “He was very likeable.”

“He was down to earth, good natured, with an occasional rascal streak,” he said.

Father Ottman was born William Francis Ottman, the second of two brothers and five sisters, in Rochester, N.Y., on Feb. 25, 1921.

His family moved to California where he grew up. He entered the minor seminary in Los Angeles in 1941, but then left and served in the U.S. Army from 1944 to 1945 as a technician fourth grade.

In 1952, Father Ottman joined Holy Trinity Trappist Abbey in Huntsville, Utah, where he made his first vows on March 19, 1955, taking the name Timothy. As a monk, he worked in the abbey bakery and on the farm.

Brother Timothy got involved in the charismatic renewal and in 1972 transferred to the Benedictine Abbey of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Pecos, N.M., which had welcomed the movement. He became a Benedictine in 1973.

In the late 1970s, Father Ottman returned to seminary training in Washington, D.C., and San Antonio, Texas, and was ordained a priest on May 13, 1978.

In 1982, Father Ottman received permission to do parish work in Hawaii and was assigned as an associate pastor at St. Joseph Church, Hilo, serving from October 1982 to February 1986. He then was named administrator of Our Lady of Lourdes in Honokaa, serving there for five years.

For most of his years on the Big Island he was officially a member of Hawaii Benedictine community on Oahu, according to his superior Father David Barfknecht, but as a parish priest “he was pretty much on his own.”

Upon reaching the retirement age of 70, Father Ottman moved to the Benedictine Monastery in Waialua where he participated in the regular rotation of cooking and yard duties while also caring for the community garden for a number of years.

He continued to offer his services in parishes, which, according to Father Barfknecht, he would do for at least one month out of the year in addition to occasional weekends.

Four years ago, Father Ottman took a sabbatical in Tatum, N.M., where he provided services at a parish that had no resident priest. By the time he returned to Hawaii, his health had declined. This past June he moved to a foster care home about two miles from the monastery. Community members took turns bringing him the Eucharist daily.

“Father Tim will be remembered for his laughter and humorous remarks, engaging smile and the twinkle in his eyes,” Father Barfknecht said. “He loved to watch cowboy movies and DVDs about the early days in the West. To the question ‘What can we bring you?’ His answer was always ‘ice cream.’”

A private funeral Mass was celebrated in December at the monastery. A memorial Mass is scheduled for 10 a.m., Jan. 4, at St. Michael Church in Waialua. A reception will follow in the parish hall.

Father Ottman is survived by sisters and a brother and many nieces and nephews. His ashes will be laid to rest in an urn in the crypt under the tabernacle in the monastery chapel.

Students from Star of the Sea School look at the ornaments on their “Giving Tree,” which have written on them Christmas wish items for Catholic Charities Hawaii clients and others in the community. Students and parishioners have given generous donations to fulfill these holiday needs. A new Catholic Charities program geared toward Volunteer Services and Community Engagement has helped Star of the Sea expand the reach of their Giving Tree project. (Photo courtesy of Catholic Charities Hawaii)

More than 1,500 individual gifts this Christmas are expected to be collected and distributed by Catholic Charities Hawaii. Parishioners, students, businesses and community groups who generously provide these donations will light up the holidays for about 20 families, 450 seniors and 950 children served by the agency.

Handling many of the Catholic Charities holiday giving projects is a new program called Volunteer Services and Community Engagement, or VSCE. Joy Bulosan, the program’s director, has been busy working with parishes, schools and others on innovative ways to share gifts.

VSCE was created earlier this year to establish “an efficient and effective agency-wide volunteer program statewide,” said Bulosan, who was previously the secretary of Bishop Larry Silva.

The VSCE program coordinates efforts among Catholic Charities’ four divisions: Community and Senior Services, Family and Therapeutic Services, Housing Assistance and Referral Program, and Youth Enrichment Services.

According to Bulosan, holiday gifts and goods donated by parishioners and community members will be distributed to clients in all four Catholic Charities service areas. Most of the recipients are seniors and those in housing or counseling programs.

Bulosan and Erin White, the VSCE community engagement coordinator, organized this season their first major initiatives as a team. At Thanksgiving, they worked with Mid-Pacific Institute, Maryknoll and Star of the Sea schools to collect canned food and household items for Catholic Charities’ annual basket project for needy families.

They also helped families from the Maili Land transitional housing program participate in a special Thanksgiving luncheon hosted by Koolina Resort and local business partners.

Their biggest seasonal VSCE endeavor is the “Holidays from the Heart” giving project — a combination of dozens of service initiatives by companies, schools and parishes. Bulosan and White serve as the points of contact connecting volunteers and donors with Catholic Charities caseworkers and their clients’ needs.

As part of Holidays from the Heart, Starwood Properties and Hawaii Western Management Group donated dozens of toys for children in Catholic Charities’ foster care programs on Oahu and the Big Island.

Luxury retailer Neiman Marcus invited 80 children and their parents and guardians to a private Christmas brunch at its famed Mariposa restaurant. The party included photos with Santa and gifts from Neiman Marcus employees.

One little girl at the brunch, Bulosan said, fell in love with the teddy bear she received.

“It just made her day,” Bulosan said. “Those stories I think (remind us) that we just take for granted that we can buy these kinds of things and go to those fancy restaurants.”

The VSCE team also has been overseeing the Catholic Charities “Giving Tree” at the Ward Center Entertainment Complex. A popular tradition for Catholics and non-Catholics, this Giving Tree is decorated with ornaments on which are written Christmas wish items for Catholic Charities seniors. Participants are invited to take an ornament and return it later with the requested gift.

Parish participation

Catholic schools and parishes are also active participants in “Holidays from the Heart,” hanging the wishes of Catholic Charities clients on their Giving Trees (also called “Angel Trees”).

Sue Ann Moniz of Holy Trinity Church in Kuliouou said their tree included about 100 ornaments with requests of Catholic Charities seniors. Some of the seniors, Moniz said, asked for things as modest as Vienna sausage and rice.

Parishioners were extremely gracious in donating to the project.

“We were overwhelmed,” Moniz said.

Peggy Leong of St. John Vianney Church and School in Kailua said more than 150 of their ornaments provided gifts for children in the Maili Land program and general Catholic Charities services.

Parishioners and students “just love it,” Leong said of the project. “Their generosity is just amazing. We have more people who want to give than recipients.”

Barbara McInerny of Star of the Sea School said they set up their Giving Tree at the church right after Thanksgiving. They expect to have dozens of donations for Catholic Charities.

“It’s just a wonderful thing for us,” she said.

Lloree Gamiao of St. Theresa Co-Cathedral said their Christmas tree project is “our way of giving back to the community and those in need.” She considers it a “part of faith formation” for parishioners.

Bulosan said donations have been so overwhelming that “our halls are filled with gifts.”

“The parishes have been very supportive,” she said. “They’re proud of what they do and the families they adopt. Different ministries within the parish get involved.”

During the third week of Advent, she said, Catholic Charities gets some help from the Notre Dame Club and Lions Club to wrap and label the presents. Caseworkers will deliver them before Christmas Day.

The St. Patrick Church Chinese Catholic Club of Kaimuki does a different take on their Holidays from the Heart contribution. Larry Lum of the group said that each year, they host a Christmas luncheon for a Catholic Charities family, with lots of food, fellowship and gifts for the children.

“It’s a blessing for us to see this,” he said.

With the success of Holidays from the Heart, Bulosan said she hopes her work with the VSCE program will expand throughout the next calendar year. There are about 30,000 clients being assisted by Catholic Charities, she said, and while holiday gift-giving aids hundreds of them, there are many more at the agency with needs to be met.

“This is just a touch of it,” Bulosan said.

Childhood memories, soaring notes, haunting melodies, joyful lyrics? Why do some Christmas songs make our hearts quiver and our souls melt? The Hawaii Catholic Herald asked a few friends to name their most favorite Christmas carol and to explain what made it special. Here are their responses compiled and gently edited.

Karen Kung, diocesan human resources/Safe Environment coordinator

“My favorite religious Christmas carol is ‘Away in the Manger.’ My daughter Karring played the angel one year while a student at Sacred Hearts Academy. I think she was in the first or second grade. She practiced and practiced singing that song, and loved being the angel! I as her mom will never forget that moment when she came out as the angel with that beaming smile on her face … so precious! The song always reminds me of the humble birth that the blessed Lord had for us all. Every time I hear that song, I remind (Karring) about how precious she was!”

Michael Rockers, superintendent of Hawaii Catholic Schools

“As a youth our family only had a couple of Christmas albums, so we heard the Andy Williams album a million times. He makes singing seem effortless. I still like listening to the ‘Christmas Present’ song (and) its message that ‘Christ being present is the best present!’”

Makana Aiona, diocesan young adult ministry coordinator

His favorite Christmas carol is “O Holy Night,” particularly the rendition by the Celtic Woman vocal group.

“My mom’s dad is Scottish/English (his last name is Welsh) so it was a little more touching for us to see people from her dad’s homeland singing this song together. I love the lyrics and the imagery of everyone falling to their knees in honor of the Christ child. The Resurrection of Our Lord (parish) Praise and Worship Team played it at the Next Step Shelter in Kakaako for ROL’s Confirmation Epiphany project last year. Though it may not have gotten people to fall on their knees, it really made me think and ask myself, am I ‘falling on my knees’?”

Lisa Sakamoto, diocesan finance officer

Her favorite Christmas carol is “O Holy Night.”

Sakamoto said versions by “(Luciano) Pavarotti, Michael Crawford, Celine Dion, Josh Groban are all magical. However, when I heard Willie K sing it with the Hawaii Youth Symphony one year, it brought me to tears. It was amazing to see this local Hawaiian belt out my favorite Christmas carol!”

Robert Mondoy, diocesan musician

His favorite Christmas carol is “’Twas in the Moon of Wintertime,” a French Canadian hymn. “I like the way the community and music ministry sing it at St. John Vianney (Church in Kailua). We add lightly beating drums to sound like American Indian music. The haunting tune, from a French Carol ‘The Young Maiden’ really sets one up for the cultural viewpoint of the Huron Indians as met by the famous French Jesuit missionaries, who were eventually martyred. The child wrapped in rabbit skin, having hunters, rather than shepherds, adore him, and chiefs instead of wisemen … how thoughtful and rich to bring the Christ to a new people in their language, their world-view, their own heritage of grace. I wonder if St. (Kateri) Tekawitha actually sang this song, too.”

Joeleny Isidro, parishioner at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, Ewa Beach

Her favorite Christmas song is “Joy to the World,” particularly the rendition by the praise and worship group, Hillsong. “When I was in elementary (school), I remember one of our annual Family Affair Organization parties, which took place on Christmas day. It would include three generations of families, held at an Ewa Beach home. We sang ‘Joy to the World’ and reenacted the Nativity. Joy comes from Jesus Christ, who is present in the Eucharist. When others allow Jesus Christ to come into their heart and live out the call, it brings joy to the world.”

Mary Duddy, moderator of the tribunal chancery

“My favorite Christmas song is ‘Silent Night.’ I remember my mom used to sing it, and we had a Christmas pageant at school one year where we all dressed as angels and sang all three verses with motions. It was beautiful.”

Dennis Muth, parishioner at St. Anthony Church in Kailua

“For me, Uncle Willie K’s version of ‘O Holy Night’ is a huge fave of mine. He’s just an amazing all-around musician and singer, nobody like him in Hawaii. The last sustaining notes of that song never fail to move me; you just feel his soul is laid out on the table. Just when you think he’s out of breath, he keeps holding the same note all the way to the very end. Powerful! The fact that he incorporates Hawaiian in the middle is also very touching. I can’t imagine there would ever be a better version than his for this song.”

Margie Sison, diocesan finance office

“‘Joy to the World’ is one of the songs we always sing when I was a little girl going from house to house singing Christmas carols in the Philippines. Christmas is the time of the year to rejoice and be glad — Christ Jesus, the Savior of the World is born!” Sison said her favorite versions of the song are by “artists from the Philippines like Martin Nievera and Lea Salonga. Because they sing from the heart.”

Dara Perreira, diocesan director of human resources

“It’s a tie between ‘O Come, O Come Emmanuel’ and ‘Ave Maria.’ I like Celine Dion’s rendition of ‘Ave Maria.’ No favorite rendition of ‘O Come, O Come Emmanuel.’ I like the lyrics of both songs. The word ‘rejoice’ stands out in ‘O Come, O Come Emmanuel,’ and ‘Ave Maria’ sung by the right woman sounds so angelic.”

Shell Blaisdell, parishioner at Sacred Heart Church, Manoa

“My favorite Christmas song is ‘Joy to the World!’ It is because after every Christmas Mass, the congregation sings it so loud and it is so powerful, and like the song says, joyful! Celebrating the greatest gift of all, (Jesus), who has the power to change every heart and every thought of every living human, believer or not!”

Lisa Gomes, diocesan Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry director

Her favorite song is “Stille Nacht” or “Silent Night” in German. Gomes likes the version by the Italian singing group Il Volo, which she describes as “perfectly done.” “When I was teaching, my eighth graders sang this song for our Christmas program,” she said. “My grandmother, who is German, helped with the pronunciation of the lyrics. This song reminds me of my heritage and those middle-schoolers.”

Ginger Kamisugi, a teacher’s aide at Our Lady of Good Counsel School in Pearl City, reads to students her new book, “Something Different, Something New,” Dec. 4. (HCH photo | Darlene Dela Cruz)

A new children’s book written by a teacher’s aide at Our Lady of Good Counsel School in Pearl City aims to show kids that being grateful for what you have is far stronger than the allure of attaining the latest things.

Ginger Kamisugi’s “Something Different, Something New,” a colorful 28-page storybook, has just hit local bookshelves. Kamisugi will be signing her book at the Costco store in Hawaii Kai, noon-2 p.m., Dec. 22.

“Something Different, Something New” follows the tale of young Makana, who is dissatisfied with everything. He wants new food instead of the tasty breakfasts his tutu (grandmother) makes, and refuses to wear the clean clothes already in his closet when he sees others with fancier fashions.

By the end of the story, however, Makana learns that the value of something doesn’t lie in its newness.

“It’s just something that we all experience,” Kamisugi said. “All children, it’s in their nature. When you go to the store, you’re lucky if you walk out of that store without them asking for something.”

Kamisugi, who assists the Our Lady of Good Counsel third grade class, wrote the story in March, 2011. She said it started out simply as an idea for a tale her children — son Cole, 14, and daughter Jasmine, 16 — would be able to read to their kids someday.

“Even though there weren’t any pictures, at least it was a story that I had written that they could share and say, ‘Oh, your grandmother wrote this,’” Kamisugi said.

Kamisugi, a first-time author, initially didn’t plan to submit her story to publishing houses. Last March, however, she sent a manuscript of “Something Different, Something New” to Island Heritage, a company specializing in Hawaiian music, gifts and literature. Her work received positive reviews from Island Heritage representatives and others outside the organization.

On Feb. 14, 2013, Kamisugi received a call from Island Heritage president Dale Madden, who offered her a book contract. The first bound copies of “Something Different, Something New” arrived in the company’s warehouse Nov. 26.

“I didn’t say anything to my family until a year-and-a-half after I wrote the story and it was getting the reviews,” Kamisugi said. “That was the hardest part — just waiting and not knowing.”

Kamisugi, who lives in Pearl City, put much thought into “Something Different, Something New.” The story is based on experiences she has had with her family, and she honors her loved ones in the tale in subtle ways. Character names — such as Makana, Pua and Nani — pay homage to her children and her late mother.

“I made sure the names … could be said easily and made the story relatable,” she said.

The book’s writing style and theme are relatable for different ages as well.

“It is a children’s book, so somebody can read it to them if they’re young,” Kamisugi said. “Older ones can relate because they know how it feels, and they’re close to their tutus. An adult appreciates it because it’s a lesson that the child can learn.”

Artist Don Robinson provided cute, vibrant illustrations that kids and grown-ups will also enjoy.

Kamisugi shared the book with the students and teachers of Our Lady of Good Counsel during readings at the school Dec. 4. Surprised by her unexpected success with “Something Different, Something New,” she said she is thankful for all the support the school ohana has provided. She also encouraged students to try their own hand at composing stories.

“I’ve had so many kids come up to me since reading it, saying ‘You know Mrs. Kamisugi, I’m thinking about writing a story,’” she said. “It’s so nice to hear that.”

“Something Different, Something New” is available on Oahu at Bookends, A Summer Place, Little People Hawaii and Growing Keiki in Kailua. Copies are also available at Barnes and Noble in Ala Moana, or can be purchased by calling Island Heritage at 564-8800.

Kamisugi will be doing a reading at Shriners Hospital, Dec. 28.

Who asked God to become a human being anyway? Certainly not those who praise God but still like to keep him in a safe place, away from any interference he might have in their daily lives. Certainly not those who see God’s law as oppressive of their human freedom and who lock him away in nothingness. Surely not those who deem God to be unfair competition in their own desire to be gods, and who therefore want him as far away as possible. Definitely not even those who truly desire to love and serve God and neighbor, but who could not fathom God’s interest in struggling with them in fulfilling this desire. Without being asked by anyone — because who could even have imagined such a thing? — God became man in Jesus Christ our Lord. No one asked him to do this, and some resented it deeply. But a few came to realize, by the unfathomable power of grace, that God took this great initiative because of his great love for us.

Ever since then, we have been struggling to plumb the depths of this great, unimaginable mystery: that the Creator should become a creature; that the eternal Word of God should come as a baby who needed to learn how to speak a human language; that the One who fills the entire universe should close himself up in a Virgin’s womb, should need to be held and fed by her, and should experience the limitations of human nature.

It is not that we did not want God to be with us. Throughout the ages we pleaded with him to wave his magic wand to save us from our troubles. Sometimes he did, and sometimes he did not. Throughout the centuries we railed against him because he seemed so distant when a war devastated our country, when we were the victims of injustice or violence, or when we were overcome by the loss of a loved one. Sometimes he comforted us, and sometimes not. In the long march of time we strove to be like God, only to realize that what we really desired was to actually be god. Sometimes he led us into a covenant with him, and sometimes we refused any such “entrapment.”

Yet despite our own lack of imagination, despite our own self-centered and sinful tendencies, God, without our bidding, became one of us, a flesh-and-blood human person in all things but sin. Every year we celebrate his great coming among us with foods and festivities, with songs and celebrations, with greetings and gifts. We do this because we hope one day to fully understand why God became so intimately entwined in our human condition that he became a human being. We long some day to grasp why he would lower himself to be so lowly, even though no one had asked him to do so. We desire with all our hearts to grasp the pure unrequested and unmerited gift that God has bestowed on us, the gift of Jesus Christ our Savior. The more we are able to understand, to let the light of this great mystery shine upon us, to open our ears and hearts to the beautiful love song that God sings to us, the more we will accept the gift that, even without our asking, God is with us, Emmanuel.

May you keep singing and serving, listening and loving, so that you will not only grasp this great love for yourself but want to witness to Jesus to all you meet. A blessed Christmas to you all!