Deacon was a popular college counselor who empowered many
By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Her1ald
Deacon Ernest “Ernie” D. Libarios Sr., a gracious man of God who rose from plantation poverty to a career as a college professor and counselor, empowering the lives of many disadvantaged students, died June 21 after a long illness. He was 81 and a deacon for 19 years.
“Deacon Ernie had a very gentle soul,” said Father William Kunisch, pastor of Resurrection of the Lord Parish in Waipio, the deacon’s last parish assignment. “I know he was always sensitive to the needs of the people, in particular those who are often overlooked.”
“Parishioners found him easy to approach and he always made time to listen to their concerns,” Father Kunisch said. “He was someone who truly practiced the ‘ministry of accompaniment.’ He will be missed by many.”
Deacon Libarios was in the Konawaena High School class of 1957 with Flo Johnasen, who coordinates the prayer chain ministry at St. Elizabeth Church in Aiea, the deacon’s home parish. (In their sophomore year, they both were picked to represent the Filipino ethnicity in the May Day program.)
They kept in touch over the years. The deacon is Johnasen’s son’s godfather.
“He was dedicated to Jesus,” she told her prayer chain members, devoting one day’s email prayer intention to his happy repose.
Deacon Libarios “had the capacity to make you feel comfortable with the greatest of ease,” she said. “He was helpful, yet was one who never sought to be the center of attraction nor be in the limelight. Clearly, he exuded humility in all his actions. Whatever he did came from the heart.”
“Most of all, Ernie was a good father and grandfather,” Johnasen said, noting that he died on Father’s Day.
The deacon’s skill as an academic advisor — especially of underrepresented students — and his creation of a culturally-based self-development course earned him acclaim. He was honored by the University of Hawaii College of Education, the University of Hawaii Board of Regents, the United Filipino Council of Hawaii, the National Education Association and the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development.
In a June 25 Honolulu Star-Advertiser obituary, Amefil “Amy” Agbayani, emeritus assistant vice chancellor for student diversity at UH-Manoa, described Libarios as “maybe the most impactful Filipino educator in Hawaii.”
The deacon was also recognized by Sariling Gawa, a nonprofit organization he helped create to develop cultural pride and leadership skills among Filipino youth in Hawaii.
With his late wife Shirley, Deacon Libarios developed Project RISE (Resourceful Individuals Seeking Education), a nationally honored motivational program that helps disadvantaged students pursue higher education.
Deacon Libarios let his faith shine within the secular environment of his workplace, Leeward Community College.
In the early 2000s, he organized a lively annual Christian music concert on campus called H.E.A.R.T., for “Heavenly Ensembles Artistically Rejoicing Together,” gathering musicians and music lovers from different denominations.
It started as a project of his Leeward Community College Catholic Club Ministry, focused on Catholic audiences and performers. But the dynamic diversity of Christians the deacon met at the college inspired a deeper mission.
“God was showing us the strength of being ecumenical,” Deacon Libarios said in 2011.
“False perceptions oftentimes get corrected” when people of different denominations engage in praise and worship, he said. “They say, ‘This is for Jesus,’ and they do it from the heart.”
A 2014 deacon gathering. Deacon Libarios is in the front row, fourth from the right. (HCH File Photo)
Deacon Michael Weaver, director of permanent deacons for the Diocese of Honolulu, noted his fellow deacon’s generous, unpretentious style.
“In his many ministries over the years in service to the Diocese and to the community, Deacon Ernie always saw himself as a humble messenger of the Gospel,” Deacon Weaver said.
Libarios was born to Philippine immigrants Herman and Efifania Libarios, the third of their five children.
The deacon described his own early years in an undated two-page partial autobiography his son Jason Libarios discovered among his father’s papers.
Libarios was born on a sugar cane plantation in Paauilo on the Big Island where his parents first worked.
Because he could only speak Filipino when he started kindergarten, he was placed in special education classes with mentally disabled students. Not knowing any better, he remained in special ed for a few years on the Big Island and in Honolulu where his family moved at the start of World War II.
He didn’t mind the schooling. In fact, he remembered it as “practically playing all day.”
Libarios said living as a child in Honolulu’s “ghettos” was an experience “that will live forever vividly in my mind.”
He said his family’s extreme poverty never affected him negatively. ”It may have been because of my parents’ daily evening family rosary prayers or novenas that shielded and protected our family from being devastated by the harmful power of poverty and ghetto living,” he said.
After a time in Honolulu, his family moved back to Hawaii island, this time to the coffee plantations of Kona where Libarios went to high school.
Later, when he was assisting the bishop as a deacon in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, one of his childhood parishes, he flashed back to seeing his father and mother “kneeling, crying and praying to help our family.”
As a college professor and counselor, living in a “prestigious area,” and raising college-graduated professionals, “I could surmise that God had certainly answered my parent’s prayers!” he said.
Deacon Libarios earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Chaminade University of Honolulu and a master’s degree in educational psychology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. According to Jason Libarios, the deacon was enrolled in a doctoral program when he died and only needed to turn in his thesis to earn his degree. However, with his health rapidly declining, he didn’t get a chance to turn it in.
Deacon Libarios was one of a class of 18 permanent deacons Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo ordained in 2001.
Untimely grief was a part of the deacon’s life. His wife Shirley died in 1987 at age 43, leaving him to raise his two sons on his own. Then in 2017, his oldest son Ernest “Niki” Libarios Jr. died Aug. 19 of liver failure at the age of 47.
At the time, reflecting on his son’s death, Deacon Libarios saw it as God giving him “new challenges.”
Deacon Libarios retired from diaconal ministry on Feb. 15, 2015.
Libarios is survived by his son Jason and Jason’s wife Jackie and their two daughters Alexis and Alaina Libarios, his late son Ernest “Niki” Libarios Jr.’s wife Laurie and their two daughters, Joy and Faith Libarios, and two younger brothers Herman Jr. and Ronald Libarios.
“He was always there for my brother and me, no matter what,” Jason said, never skipping a practice or school function.
“Both of my daughters sing and he never missed any of their performances,” Jason said. On this past Father’s Day, they sang “Hallelujah” to him over the phone.
“My dad was pretty somnolent most of the day,” the younger son said, “but he perked up when he heard their voices. He died a couple hours later.”
“Above all, my dad loved God,” Jason said. “He loved his family, and he loved helping others. He lived a life of servitude and gratitude. I will miss him.”
