Barbara Yamasaki of the Hawaii Catholic Schools office and Timothy Los Banos of Saint Louis School were honored for 50 and 20 years in Catholic education, respectively, at the Annual Conference for Catholic Educators, Jan. 30, at Sacred Hearts Academy. (HCH photo | Darlene Dela Cruz)
More than 800 faculty and staff members from Oahu’s Catholic schools gathered at Sacred Hearts Academy in Kaimuki for a morning of spiritual and professional development at the island’s Annual Conference for Catholic Educators, Jan. 30.
The theme of the conference, one of the main local events of National Catholic Schools week, was “Catholic Schools: Communities of Faith, Knowledge and Service.”
Bishop Larry Silva began the morning with Mass in the school’s Dorothy Macy Nobriga Gymnasium. During the liturgy, a first class relic of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, given to the bishop by Sister Davilyn Ah Chick of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities, was placed at the altar for veneration.
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton established in the 1800s the first Catholic school and the first religious congregation for women in the U.S. She was canonized in 1975, the first native-born U.S. citizen to become a saint.
Conference participants were invited to venerate her relic after Mass in the Sacred Hearts Academy chapel. They were encouraged as well to attend workshops on campus.
Neighbor islands educators held their own conferences during the week of Jan. 25-31. At the events, men and women who have worked in Hawaii Catholic schools for 20, 30, 40 and 50 years were honored.
Here is the list of the 2015 Hawaii Catholic Schools Service Award recipients:
20 YEARS
- Caryn DeMello, St. John Vianney School
- Cheryl Santos, St. Philomena Early Learning Center
- Rowena Reynon-Agcanas, St. Philomena Early Learning Center
- Modesto Ladra, St. Philomena Early Learning Center
- Cleo Eubanks, Sacred Hearts Academy
- Lynn Fonseca, Sacred Hearts Academy
- Linda Morinaga, Sacred Hearts Academy
- Renaye Oyer, Sacred Hearts Academy
- Elizabeth Sutter, Sacred Hearts Academy
- Carolyn Artaho-Dunn, St. Elizabeth School
- Lyman Lacro, Star of the Sea School
- Derrick Ligsay, Saint Louis School
- Timothy Los Banos, Saint Louis School
- Roxane Hoshide, St. Joseph School, Hilo
- Bruce Randy Skaggs, St. Joseph School, Hilo
30 YEARS
- Deborah Gibo, Holy Family Catholic Academy
- Sr. Irene Barboza, SSCC, Sacred Hearts Academy
- Melody Coloma, Sacred Hearts Academy
- Joan Gomes, Star of the Sea Early Learning Center
40 YEARS
- Lynne Watanabe, Maryknoll Grade School
- Elizabeth Loo, Sacred Hearts Academy
- Sister Katherine Francis Miller, SSCC, Sacred Hearts Academy
- Wanda Pila, Sacred Hearts Academy
- Patricia DeCosta-Kim, St. Patrick School
- Leonard Jenkins, Saint Louis School
50 YEARS
- Barbara Yamasaki, Hawaii Catholic Schools office
