Marianist BILAC, the popular annual liturgical arts event imported from the Big Island to the Chaminade campus in Kaimuki, will offer its usual rich slate of presenters a couple of months earlier this year, in September rather than November.
The dates are Sept 26-28.
The event promises lots of music, plus sessions on prayer, liturgy, hula, ministry and even massage.
BILAC stands for Big Island Liturgy and Arts Conference. It was started more than 35 years ago in Hilo as a small Advent workshop at Malia Puka O Kalani Church. It has grown to attract some of the biggest names in liturgical music and many noteworthy keynote speakers. The Marianists in Honolulu began hosting the event five years ago.
All the conference events will take place on the campus of Chaminade University and Saint Louis School in Kaimuki.
The event’s two main speakers are Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet Anne Bryan Smollin, a psychologist also known as “The Laughing Nun,” and Bishop Remi DeRoo, the retired bishop of Victoria, B.C., who attended all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council.
Other presenters include Kathy Baybayan, Eileen Bird, Joe Camacho, Paulette Ching, Kate Cuddy, Bobby Fisher, Pearl Gervais, Linda Haugen, Marty Haugen, Father Michael Joncas, Father Alapaki Kim, Sister Yoo Soo Kim, Maelia Loebenstein Carter, Joe Miller, Makana Paris, Marianist Brother Dennis Schmitz, Dale Sieverding and Lori True.
BILAC highlights will include the concert “The Music of Michael Joncas and Friends,” 7 p.m., Sept. 26, with Father Joncas, composer of “On Eagle’s Wings,” joined by musical artists Eileen Bird, Joe Camacho, Paulette Ching, Kate Cuddy, Bobby Fisher, Wayne Fujita, Marty Haugen and Lori True.
A second concert, “The Music of Joe Camacho, 1 p.m., Sept. 27, featuring Camacho and the Marianist BILAC “House Band,” will be recorded and the CD made available to conference-goers the next day.
The workshop sessions will cover topics such as liturgical guitar and keyboard playing, mystical prayer, the incorporation of Hawaiian spirituality, hula, youth ministry, cantoring and lectoring, healing massage, theology and liturgy, Scripture, choral music and art.
BILAC begins with 6 p.m. registration on Thursday, Sept. 26, followed by the Joncas concert.
Friday begins and ends with a prayer session. In between are morning and afternoon sessions, Sister Anne Bryan’s keynote address and the Camacho concert.
Saturday’s schedule includes Bishop DeRoo’s talk, “Catholicism in Prophetic,” morning and afternoon workshops, a concert of Scripture stories by Joe Miller and students from Maryknoll School, a closing Mass and a luau.
For more information, go to marianistbilac.wordpress.com, or contact Brother Dennis Schmitz at baldschmitz@aol.com, 735-4801 or 232-6691 (cell).
