Clockwise from top left: Father Alapaki Kim presides at the Damien and Marianne Catholic Conference’s Hawaiian-language closing Mass Oct. 7. Bishop Larry Silva gives a keynote presentation Oct. 5. Liturgical movement during the Vietnamese language Mass on Oct. 6. Eva Andrade, Hawaii Family Forum president and CEO, spoke on physician-assisted suicide. Debbie Victor of the Pua Foundation spoke about community reintegration after incarceration Oct. 5. The Archdiocese of New Orleans’ Father Tony Ricard emcees a Friday night concert of local bands. Deacon Modesto Cordero, a conference organizer, leads Eucharistic adoration on Oct. 5. Fred Duhaylonsod helps lead a Hawaiian sacred chant at the Hawaiian language Mass. (All photos by Dann Ebina except Father Ricard photo by Anna Weaver.)
Msgr. Ray East gestures during his Oct. 5 talk at the Damien and Marianne Catholic Conference. (HCH photo | Anna Weaver)
The saints ‘are rooting for us right now,’ says dynamic guest speaker from Washington
By Anna Weaver
Hawaii Catholic Herald
Sporting an aloha shirt, bare feet and a big smile, Msgr. Raymond East strode around the front of the Hawaii Convention Center auditorium on Oct. 5, leading an interactive discussion on “Encounter, Discernment and Accompaniment.”
Msgr. East scattered pronouncements like “We don’t have boldness as part of our Catholic DNA” and “Friends, we are a church of the resurrection and there is joy in the arising” throughout his talk.
The 50-or-so attendees there to hear Msgr. East didn’t just sit and listen. They sang along as the priest broke into a familiar hymn. They turned to their neighbor when prompted and shared their own faith stories. And some got up and spoke briefly about moments of discernment in their lives.
Msgr. East, the pastor of historically African American St. Teresa of Avila Parish in Washington, D.C., and the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ Father Tony Ricard were the keynote speakers at the second annual Damien and Marianne Catholic Conference, Oct. 5-7.
On Friday night, Msgr. East used the example of Sts. Damien and Marianne to guide his three-pronged talk. He spoke about how Catholics need to rediscover their moment of encounter with Christ, continuing discerning, and accompany one another on their path.
He did not shy away from tough topics, speaking about how the former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was his leader in the Archdiocese of Washington and about the renewed focus on sexual abuse by members of the clergy.
“I’m looking for the grace in this time of crisis,” he said. “I believe we are somewhere in our death cycle.”
He added that from death comes life, comparing how after Father Damien died, Mother Marianne and her fellow Franciscan sisters carried on the mission of outreach to the Hansen’s disease patients of Kalaupapa.
Molokai’s saints and all the saints, Msgr. East said, are “rooting for us right now, they’re here at the conference, they’re accompanying us!”
Msgr. East also talked about the fairly dire situation the church faces in losing youth and young adult church members and how “nones,” or the religiously unaffiliated, have left religious practice behind. On a positive note, he asked those in the audience who were born after 1990 to stand up, and the handful of young adults in attendance received a round of applause.
On a note that millennials might relate more to, and using the sense of humor he displayed throughout his session, Msgr. East said that if you have a phone and don’t have one or two translations of the Bible on it “then your phone is not a smartphone.”
He challenged those present to evangelize more and to take their church approach “from maintenance to mission.”
He finished his talk asking everyone to stand, then led the group in singing and clapping to one of his favorite Bible passages, Matthew 28: 19-20.
“Go ye therefore, teach all nations, don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid. I will be with you always and forever, until the end of the world.”
3rd year planned for conference
The organizers for the Damien and Marianne Catholic Conference are planning for a third year of the weekend-long gathering, tentatively slated for Oct. 11-13.
Deacon Modesto Cordero, one of the Damien and Marianne Catholic Conference board members, said of this year’s gathering, “I think the people who attended left with a spirit-filled feeling.”
As examples of what made this year’s conference work, Deacon Cordero pointed to Father Tony Ricard’s talks, a small Vermont delegation who came to share their Brother Joseph Dutton connection, Friday’s local musician concert, Saturday’s Vietnamese liturgy, and sessions like Shanita Akana’s music-infused one.
Deacon Cordero also said that the conference had more opportunities for prayer this year, with an opening prayer service and eucharistic adoration on Friday, and Saturday evening prayer added in addition to Mass each day.
Organizers said 232 people registered or were walk-ins at this year’s event.
