Brother and sister in the kitchen: La Salette Father Manuel dela Cruz and Maryknoll Sister Aurora Dela Cruz. (Photo courtesy of Sister Malia Dominica Wong, OP)
Maryknoll Sister Aurora dela Cruz works for Catholic Charities Hawaii. Her younger brother, La Salette Father Manuel dela Cruz, is pastor of St. Anthony Church in Kalihi. Their current assignments on the same island are by happy coincidence. But it is not going to last much longer. Father dela Cruz starts a new assignment in the Philippines in a few weeks.
The Hawaii Catholic Herald thought it would be a good to interview the two siblings in religious life before he left.
This conversation took place in the kitchen of St. Anthony’s rectory in Kalihi while Father Manny was cooking up his specialty: pancakes.
Tell us a little bit about your family and home life.
Sister Aurora: We come from a very large family of 18 from the barrio of Santiago in the Philippines. There are nine boys, eight girls and an adopted nephew. Our father Simeon was a carpenter and a farmer; our mother Benita a very good housekeeper. My father always told us, “You are my wealth.” Meaning that we, his children, were his wealth. He was very close to God, a prayerful and hard-working person. Raising a large family was not easy, but my parents saw us as gifts of God, gifts to be cherished.
Father Manny: I grew up helping on the farm, planting rice, feeding the animals, cooking and other chores.
Sister Aurora: Four of us entered religious life, and three of us remain. My older sister entered the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena and left after 16 years. I entered the Maryknoll Sisters. My younger sister Milagros is a La Salette Sister who presently serves at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in Attleboro, Massachusetts. And my younger brother, Father Manuel, is a Missionary of Our Lady of La Salette.
Was your family involved in the church? How did your faith life develop?
Father Manny: Our house was very far from the church, so my parents could not volunteer in the church and I never was an altar boy. But we always attended Mass on Sundays and holy days.
Sister Aurora: Our father was a prayerful man. In the evenings, he would gather all of us in the living room and chant the Gospel, especially the Passion of Christ during the season of Lent. Our first prayers were learned in Spanish due to the Philippines being under Spanish rule for centuries. Whenever we stayed at my mother’s brother’s house, we also said the rosary with them every night through which we had to kneel down.
We also had an altar in our house with the statues of the Crucified Christ, Mary and Jesus, and St. Joseph, our patron saint. It was also where, like in the Bible, we offered the first produce of the land, sustainable and organic.
How did you feel when your older sister first joined the convent?
Sister Aurora: I felt abandoned. I was sad when she left. But when I saw that she was happy, I could see religious life as a good life. As for myself, my life has been a life full of service as Jesus’ was. I am more connected to God through religious life.
What do you think influenced your religious vocations?
Sister Aurora: When I was about four years old, I remember looking through a pictorial of an igloo and how the Eskimo people living there got their food. They cut a hole in the ice to get fish. In my young mind, I said, “How can they eat fish without rice? We have plenty of rice, because we have a rice farm.” I wanted to go to Alaska and give them rice. My first call was to be a missionary, not a religious.
My parents sent us to the La Salette Schools from grade school through college. The schools were started by the Maryknoll Order before being turned over to the La Salettes.
Did you see any tendencies in Manny that he would become a priest?
Sister Aurora: He was always a good boy. I was the wicked sister.
Father Manny: (Smiling). She is good now. Regarding my vocation, I saw the way my older sisters were serving the church and the way they treated me when I was younger. My father could not afford to buy shoes and pants for all of us. Whatever was given to my sisters, they gave to me. For example, there was extra food and drinks, and sometimes even apples, that we received from the congregations. I was nurtured that way.
Sister Aurora: Also, when our father was very sick he could not go to Mass anymore. The La Salette Fathers came to him; they visited our house.
Father Manny: The vocation director visited us once and said to me, “Young man, you are so handsome, so smart. You should become a priest. He was so enthusiastic.” But my sister told me to wait until after college, as I might not be mature enough to make such a decision.
Sister Aurora: Which sister said that?
Father Manny: You. (laughing) I obeyed you, finished college with a bachelor of science in agricultural engineering degree and then worked for a year and a half. After that, my family gave me their blessing to enter.
How do you feel about being assigned together as brother and sister missionaries in Hawaii?
Sister Aurora: I was first assigned to Hawaii in 1976, even before he became a priest. I stopped over on my way to the Marshall Islands. He came in 1992 and was assigned as parochial vicar at St. Joseph Parish, Waipahu. After three years, he was recalled to serve in the formation program of the La Salette seminarians. Subsequently, he was elected vice-provincial. It is nice having my brother here. He is my only link through which I get to know the community in ministry.
Father Manny: When I first heard that my sister was coming, I was nervous. (joking) I was ready to pack my things. Being together is one way of nurturing our vocations.
Sister Aurora: We are very independent.
Father Manny: Yes, we were taught to be independent when we were young.
Do you talk to each other about your spiritual challenges?
Father Manny: Sometimes. But it is often only a one way conversation as she is always giving me advice. But then I use her advice for my homily.
Sister Aurora: It actually is a great gift to be here together. As missionaries we do not normally choose our place of assignment. If there is a choice, it is where the need is most. That is why he is ministering in Kalihi and I am with Catholic Charities, as well as with the prison ministry in Kalihi.
What parting words of advice would you like to share with each other?
Sister Aurora: Manny, keep up the good work as master of novices again. You have helped to form a lot of good priests, so it is going to be another blessing that there will be more La Salette priests to be sent forth.
Father Manny: Keep smiling, enjoy your vocation. And keep up your good works and be happy. Continue to love your ministry.
What advice do you have for families to encourage vocations?
Father Manny: It is necessary for families to have time together, not only to eat, but to pray; to share their stories, their hurts, joys and challenges. It is important to bond. Every night, all 18 of us children gathered together. My father would call us, “Come on, let’s pray.” You could not eat supper if you did not join the rosary. That was very impressive. We learned the value of prayer by our parents’ example of praying with us, and their sacrifices for us. Even if they were very busy, they always took us to Mass, because they always made time for God.
Sister Aurora: We are not only a family, but part of a larger, global family. My father taught us that through the reverent care and respect for the land and all of God’s creation he exemplified. If people ask me if I miss my family, at first I used to say, “Yes.” But, now the whole world is my family.
