Talk story: A year of ‘mercy ministries’

OFFICE FOR SOCIAL MINISTRY

A Thanksgiving roundup of Island Catholic efforts to reach out to the most vulnerable around us

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” (Mt 25:35)

Persons affected by imprisonment

A few months after the Jubilee Year of Mercy began last December, volunteers from six Oahu parishes — St. Ann, St. Anthony, Kailua, St. John Vianney, St. George, Mary, Star of the Sea and St. Patrick — partnered with the Pu‘a Foundation and HOPE Services Hawaii to transform a house donated by the Diocese of Honolulu into a transition home for women released from the Women’s Community Correctional Center.

Six months later, after more than 1,100 volunteer hours — 550 from WCCC and 550 from parishioners, including the Knights of Columbus and Mercy Year ministry military families — plus thousands of dollars in donated materials, Mercy House became a reality.

A weary but hopeful woman released from WCCC was greeted at the prison gate by parishioners in the Going Home Consortium with a welcome basket and transportation to Mercy House.

Parishioners also are mentoring formerly incarcerated women. Several parishes have volunteers working in weekend ministry inside WCCC and are annual participants in the “Star Light, Star Bright!” program which brings together for a day children and caregivers with mothers in WCCC.

As the Jubilee Year of Mercy concludes with the closing of the Holy Door at the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, another door has been opened at Mercy House and with mercy ministries such Star Light, Star Bright.

Homeless families seeking housing

During the Jubilee Year of Mercy, a half dozen parishes on Oahu — Holy Trinity, Kuliouou; Honolulu, St. John Vianney, Kailua; St. George, Waimanalo; St. Ann, Kaneohe; St. Augustine, Waikiki; Blessed Sacrament, Honolulu — joined other communities of faith in Family Promise Hawaii helping homeless families find permanent affordable housing.

Some of these congregations are host sites; others support the host sites with food and volunteers. Each host site provides a safe place to sleep, good food and generous hospitality for a week at a time. During the day, Family Promise guests work, pursue employment, attend school, or enroll in job training while two Family Promise centers provide access to phones, mail, fax, a copier, showers, and laundry facilities plus transportation to and from the host sites.

Family Promise offered communities of faith this Jubilee Year of Mercy the opportunity to personally encounter God in shared vulnerability, accompanying homeless families on a journey toward a better future. As the Jubilee Year of Mercy ends, Family Promise is signing up additional parishes to participate in Oahu and hoping to engage parishes on the Big Island in this “mercy ministry.”

Food for the hungry

Most parishes had some form of food ministry with the vulnerable during the Jubilee Year of Mercy. At least seven parishes — St. Damien, Molokai; St. Michael, Kailua-Kona; Annunciation, Waimea; Sacred Heart, Hawi; Sacred Heart, Pahoa; St. Elizabeth, Aiea; and St. John Apostle and Evangelist, Mililani — broadened their food ministries to focus on child hunger at their local schools.

Many of these schools had a high number of students whose household income qualifies the children for subsidized free and reduced breakfast and lunch. The most vulnerable children were identified in cooperation with the school staff and sent home on weekends with backpacks full of food donated and packed by neighboring parishes.

This mercy ministry included a “sustainable” component. On Molokai, for example, families of children receiving backpacks were strongly encouraged to start an ohana garden to grow nutritious produce for the family and to join the Local School Garden Network, another opportunity on each island to teach our young people about healthier food options and nutrition.

Many parishes are members of county food banks/baskets where they acquire some of their backpack food and boxed milk. Some of these parish mercy ministries also partner with neighboring faith communities and local farmers markets.

One Ohana: Food and Housing for All

All our mercy ministries are part of the “One Ohana: Food and Housing for All” initiative throughout the diocese. On the Kohala Coast, Sacred Heart Parish food pantry partnered with Palili O Kohala, a farm in Hawi, to provide poi and fresh produce for kupuna and homeless persons.

On the leeward coast of Oahu, Sacred Heart Parish in Waianae collaborated with Hoa ‘Aina O Makaha where children and families learned to “malama” the nourishing aina. Sacred Heart also joined other parishes including St. Rita, Nanakuli, Immaculate Conception, Ewa, and St. Augustine to collaborate with Mother Marianne Farm at Our Lady of Keaau that helps feed homeless persons at the Waianae Boat Harbor.

During the Jubilee Year of Mercy, Hoa ‘Aina also hosted Catholic parish retreats where families, youth and young adults prayerfully reflected about putting their faith into action. On Kauai, teams from Immaculate Conception, Lihue, and Holy Cross, Kalaheo, partnered with Kauai Economic Opportunity to provide weekly meals at its emergency homeless shelter Manaolana. Volunteers from St. Catherine,  Kapaa, and St. Raphael, Koloa, reached out with food and other supplies to homeless persons on the local beaches.

In Honolulu, the Chuukese Catholic Community partnered with Holy Family Parish to open a food pantry for vulnerable Micronesian families. Catholics in the group Micronesians United on Big Island in East Hawaii began planting breadfruit trees for fresh produce near parish food pantries at Sacred Heart, Pahoa, and St. Joseph, Hilo.

On Maui, St. Theresa’s Hale Kau Kau continued to provide dinner 365 days a year feeding homeless persons at the parish and delivering meals to the homebound throughout Kihei. They also fed veterans attending the first Veteran Stand Down on Maui where 28 service providers and 20 employers gathered at the Hawaii Army National Guard Puunene Armory to connect services and jobs to unemployed and underemployed veterans and homeless persons.

Care for the vulnerable elderly

Other parishes extended their mercy ministries with vulnerable seniors called Kupuna Kokua. This is a homeless prevention ministry where parish volunteers assist with chores so seniors pass their HUD inspection. Volunteers from St. John Apostle and Evangelist and Our Lady of Sorrows in partnership with the City and County Elderly Affairs Division reached out to Wahiawa seniors living in subsidized housing.

On Maui, parishioners from St. Ann and Maria Lanakila began Kupuna Kokua in Waiehu and Lahaina. Volunteers from six parishes attended orientation training partnering with Na Hoaloha on the Valley Isle to launch a mercy ministry with elderly that will last long after this Jubilee Year of Mercy ends.

Health and wellness outreach

Several parishes engaged in mercy ministries related to health and wellness. Cancer Support Ministries shared healing and compassion on four islands — St. Damien on Molokai; Holy Trinity, St. Elizabeth and Our Lady of Good Counsel on Oahu; Annunciation on Hawaii Island and Christ the King and Maria Lanakila on Maui. These ministries, facilitated by cancer survivors, include support to caregivers plus home visits. All incorporate prayer with some of the most vulnerable members of our ohana.

On two islands, parishes were engaged in the Ohana Mass, an adapted liturgy for persons with disabilities. On Oahu, Holy Trinity Parish welcomed families with members who have special needs on the last Sunday of the month. On Kauai, the vicariate gathered for Ohana Mass on the third Sunday of the month at St. Raphael in Koloa.

Solidarity with the world’s poor

The Jubilee Year of Mercy increased our diocese’s participation in the Lent Catholic Relief Services Rice Bowl with 64 parishes and 20 Catholic schools, more than doubling the annual CRS collection that makes a difference in the lives of vulnerable people throughout the world.

Middle school classes on three islands participated in the Rice Bowl App Challenge connecting them to “stories of hope” in five countries around the world. Students from Chaminade University and the University of Hawaii held special events on global solidarity and fair trade on their campuses.

In October, Hawaii hosted Thomas Awiapo, a guest speaker from CRS in Ghana who spoke to more than 5,000 people in three parishes, seven schools, the UH Newman Center, a deacon formation session and Diocesan Youth Day.

All the “mercy ministries” in the diocese’s One Ohana: Food and Housing for All initiative have been chosen by CRS as the “story of hope” for the sixth week of Rice Bowl 2017.

The Office for Social Ministry website — www.officeforsocialministry.org — was recently revised to be more user-friendly to better share stories of all our mercy ministries before, during and after this inspiring Jubilee Year of Mercy.

Mahalo,

Your friends at the Office for Social Ministry