Still celebrating, still serving

ACCE honorees pose with Bishop Larry Silva after Mass on Feb. 4. (HCH photo | Anna Weaver)

A smaller in-person celebration honors a large number of educators at annual Mass and recognition ceremony

By Anna Weaver
Hawaii Catholic Herald

A high number of Hawaii Catholic School service honorees were recognized at the Annual Conference for Catholic Educators celebration on Feb. 4.

The Hawaii Catholic Schools office recognized 23 20-year honorees and 14 30-year honorees. Some of those teachers and faculty honored this year had been missed in past years, said HCS assistant superintendent Mandy Thronas-Brown.

Bishop Larry Silva celebrated the ACCE Mass at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa in Honolulu this year. In the past, the Mass had often been held at St. Ann Church in Kaneohe. COVID-19 led the 2021 recognitions to be held virtually. The 2020 Mass took place at Sacred Hearts Academy’s gymnasium just over a month before the pandemic hitting the U.S.

In his homily, Bishop Silva focused on a theme of teaching Catholic school students not only “to count” but “what counts,” based on a quote he saw on a chalkboard in the St. Anthony School teacher’s lounge on a recent Sunday.

Our Lady of Good Counsel staff cheer on their school’s awardees. (HCH photo | Anna Weaver)

He didn’t tip-toe around tough topics. Sexual politics, the minimum wage, racism and abortion — among other topics — are issues that Catholic educators “need to teach our students to reflect upon” as part of living out the Word of God.

The bishop said that the goal of educators in Catholic schools is to make sure that “we have been faithful to the mission that the Lord Jesus trusts to us.”

Nineteen of this year’s service awardees attended the ACCE Mass in person while others watched the livestream of the Mass and ceremony afterward. Glass plaques were given to each honoree by Bishop Silva and HCS superintendent Llewellyn Young while Thronas-Brown read a biography about each teacher or faculty member.

Mass attendance was much more sparse than usual as the omicron variant continued to circulate in Hawaii. About 100 people celebrated in person. While school faculty and staff normally cheer loudly for their school’s awardees with signs and other celebratory notes, this year only one school had a cheering section: Our Lady of Good Counsel.

However, the Pearl City school’s good-sized crew made sure to show the love for their five recipients. Name and number signs and pom-poms waved enthusiastically each time a name was called. Cheering was limited to whispered whoops, presumably to avoid making it hard for livestream attendees to hear the ceremony’s audio. Other schools, including St. Theresa, had faculty and staff present in smaller numbers.

After the Mass and ceremony, the Hawaii Catholic Schools office also organized several online seminars that schools could pick from and attend virtually.

Decades of dedication

Here is the complete list of 2021-2022 Hawaii Catholic school service awardees: