Ace Tui is ordained a deacon in a socially distanced but joyful liturgy

By Anna Weaver
Hawaii Catholic Herald

The seats were spaced apart and the crowd was smaller than usual at Deacon Ese’ese “Ace” Tui’s diaconal ordination. But joyous choir music, striking altar decorations and a supportive crowd filled any gaps left by COVID-19’s social distancing measures.

Bishop Larry Silva ordained Tui a “transitional” deacon — so-called because he’s on track to be ordained a Diocese of Honolulu priest in 2021 — at 10 a.m. on June 13 at his home parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Ewa Beach.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Tui’s original ordination plans were first downsized from a larger Mass at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa and then delayed at the request of Tui, who wanted to wait until more people could attend. He also wanted to be in solidarity with Catholics in Hawaii and around the world while they couldn’t attend Mass. As the number of COVID-19 cases fell in Hawaii and public Masses resumed, Bishop Silva and Tui picked this new date.

The liturgy was still small compared to many ordination Masses in Hawaii. Chairs were set 6 feet apart unless it was a family or couple clustered together. All attendees wore masks and, if anyone forgot, disposable masks were handed out at the door. About 120 people attended in person, including the bishop, 10 priests, 11 deacons and 20 choir members, with the rest being family friends, dignitaries and Our Lady of Perpetual Help parishioners.

For those not able to attend, Our Lady of Perpetual Help streamed the Mass live on Facebook. The more than 2,400 views and 240 comments—mostly saying congratulations—on the Facebook Live video showed that many did participate distantly. Deacon Tui said he had friends in California, Oklahoma, Portland, Oregon and Calgary, Canada, watching.
Gospel embrace

Gospel embrace

In his concise homily, Bishop Silva said he has begun to think of the transitional diaconate as more of a “foundational diaconate.”

“What priest dare approach the altar of the Lord, to speak in the Lord’s own name, to change bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ unless he is himself a servant after the heart Jesus, who came not to be served, but to serve?” he said.

“What priest is worthy of a name who does not connect the ministry of the Table of the Lord with service in the world where so much healing and love is needed?”

Using vivid imagery, Bishop Silva told Deacon Tui to treasure the Book of the Gospels, incense it, kiss it, but also to “taste it as you feed on the Word … in the Liturgy of the Hours and in your daily prayer and reflection,” breath it in, embrace it, live it and plant it in “all the souls you meet.”

“Despite the many challenges, crises and sufferings that will all surround your ministry, you will know a joy that will be complete because it is the joy of the one who calls you today to be not only his servant but his everlasting friend,” the bishop concluded.

Colorful notes of joy

Deacon Tui, who is originally from American Samoa, had touches of his birthplace throughout the liturgy.

Tui’s father, Siamani Kelemete Tui Faatiliga, is deceased, and his mother, Miriama Tasi Toleafoa Aumaivao Tui, wasn’t able to be at the Mass because no flights are departing American Samoa at this time due to COVID-19. But Ace spoke to her the morning of his ordination and asked for her blessing.

“She said a prayer for me over FaceTime and we both cried,” he said.

Ace said she did watch online though bad weather caused an Internet outage around the time the Gospel was read.

Mirama was eventually able to watch the recorded video of the liturgy and told her son that family in New Zealand, Samoa, American Samoa and Alaska and called her to say they’d watched live and “expressed their gratitude to her for being now a mother of a deacon.”

Physically standing in for Ace’s parents at the June 13 Mass was his hanai mom, Christina Tui, an aunt on his father’s side who helped raise him. She sang in the choir, proclaimed the second reading and presented him with a lei after his investiture. Another of Ace’s fraternal aunts and a cousin on his mom’s side also helped vest him.

“I’m very thankful,” Christina Tui told the Hawaii Catholic Herald before Mass. She said she and her family had encouraged Ace to make his own decision about the priesthood and not worry about their feedback. She added that the first thing she’d tell him after his ordination, “I’m so proud of you!”

The combined Samoan choir from Our Lady of Perpetual Help and Sacred Heart Parish in Waianae sang animatedly in English and Samoan. A female “taupou” and male “manaia,” both wearing Samoan attire, escorted the offertory gifts up the church aisle to the Samoan hymn “Samoa e / O Le Atua Alofa,” and spurts of joyful shouting.

The joy extended to the decorations. Multiple arrangements surrounding the altar were made up of 100 golden lauhala fans cascading down into large yellow and white floral clusters of roses, chrysanthemums, gerbera daisies, gladioli, baby’s breath and palms, each accented with gold ribbon.

A perspiration-predisposed Deacon Tui joked at the end of Mass about the lauhala decor, “As you can see, I’m surrounded by fans … but with all the 100 fans, I am still sweating!”

Among his thank-yous was this one: “Man, I can’t believe I’m actually going to say this … to my brother deacons!”

Deacon Tui will be a deacon for about one year as he finishes his seminary studies and readies for his priestly ordination in 2021.

After his deacon ordination, though, he went right to work, serving and preaching at all the regular Our Lady of Perpetual Help Masses that weekend. Deacon Tui said he felt both tired and blessed.

“Honestly, to me it’s like a dream, I’m waiting for someone to pinch me or wake me up,” he said in an email on June 15. “The first time serving as a deacon at Mass, I would start thinking about things that needed to be done until I realized ‘Oh, I’m not an MC or acolyte anymore, I’m a deacon.’”

Other atypical ordination notes:

After helping Deacon Tui put on his stole and dalmatic, Our Lady of Perpetual Help pastor, Father Ed Barut, fist-bumped the new deacon instead of what would normally have been a hug.

During the “Fraternal Kiss of Peace,” instead of the normal hugs deacons give to the newly ordained deacon, each deacon bowed to Ace one by one.

In order to avoid too large of a group congregating, there was no sitdown reception following the Mass. Instead, parish volunteers boxed up individual lunch and dessert containers to go.

“Go and … eat it at home in your dining room!” Deacon Tui laughingly instructed the crowd, adding that no car was to leave the church parking lot without a box of food in it. “We’ll just enjoy each other from a distance.”

City Councilwoman and mayoral candidate Kym Pine, who is a friend of Deacon Tui’s, presented him with a certificate of appreciation from the City and Council of Honolulu, saying it was in recognition of the difference he wants to make in the community through his ministry.

 

More Photos:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3474472389229779&type=3

Browse Dann Ebina’s photos from the June 12 deacon ordination.

 

This story was updated with additional information, quotations and edits from the June 26, 2020, print version of the story.