“God, our Father, guide of humanity and ruler of creation, look upon these your servants, who wish to confirm their offering of themselves to you. As the years pass by, help them to enter more deeply into the mystery of the church and to dedicate themselves more generously to the good of humanity.”
–Prayer of the renewal of vows from the Mass of Religious Profession
Celebrating lives of discipleship
Bishop Larry Silva will celebrate the annual Jubilarian Mass at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa in Honolulu at 10 a.m. on Saturday, April 29. All are invited.
75 years
Sister James Therese Joseph, CSJ
Born: Honolulu
Community: Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet
Celebrating: 75 years, profession
Years of service in Hawaii: 67
Past ministries: Educator, counselor, principal of Catholic schools in Hawaii and California
Present ministry: Prayer and witness
Reflection: My faith, remembering that I am loved, and relationships are important to me. My heart is filled with gratitude for all the reassurances of love that God has poured into my life from my early childhood until now. It has enabled me to reach out to others with respect, compassion, understanding, joy, hope and God’s love.
Brother Venard Ruane, MM
Though no longer in Hawaii, Brother Venard “Tommy” Ruane is also celebrating 75 years of religious life.
Born in Iowa, Brother Ruane came to Hawaii in 1952 and worked with the Boy Scouts and at Sacred Hearts Parish, Punahou, for 18 years. After an assignment to the Maryknoll Regional Center House for two years, he returned to Hawaii and oversaw the local Maryknoll house while also ministering to the sick and elderly at Sacred Heart Parish. He was the last Maryknoll brother to serve in Hawaii, and retired to California.
Maryknoll School has a namesake athletic award for seniors in his honor.
70 years
Sister V. Herman Julia Hiiaka-ikapoliopele Aki, SSCC
Born: Honolulu, 1927
Community: Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary
Celebrating: 70 years, profession
Past ministries: Life of prayer, teaching, and caring for and visiting the sick
Present ministry: Praying for and writing to those in need, the sick, the lonely, etc.
Reflection: I was born and raised in Honolulu and in August of 1951, I entered the Sacred Hearts Congregation where I later was assigned to teaching in our schools of Honolulu and Kauai. Beginning in 2008, three of us spent 14 years teaching religious education, visiting the homebound and being present to our dear people in Kaunakakai. In 2022, I departed from that blessed island of Molokai and am presently residing here in Honolulu where I can recall happy days with the little children. Most of all I am filled with joy remembering groups of six or more sisters dressed in white, wrapped in our red mantle and kneeling before the “hidden Lord” in our tabernacles throughout the world.
Sister Ann Faber Chang, CSJ
Born: Honolulu
Community: Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet
Celebrating: 70 years, profession
Years of service in Hawaii: 50
Past ministries: Educator, principal, and development (fundraising) for Catholic schools in Hawaii and California; Forever Young Program at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa
Present ministry: Prayer and witness
Reflection: Seventy years ago, when I received the habit, the cardinal from Los Angeles asked: “Are you satisfied, my child.” The answer was: “Yes your Eminence, I am satisfied.” Actually, things were all new that I didn’t know whether I was satisfied or not.
Throughout the 70 years, God has filled my life with a lot of love, faithful friends and relatives, a supportive CSJ community, fulfilling ministries, enriching experiences, much joy and laughter, more than I could have ever imagined. Presently, I am retired and I share the blessings of love I receive from God with all those whom God places in my pathway.
Today, if the cardinal asked me: “Are you satisfied, my child,” I would genuinely answer: “Your Eminence, I am very satisfied.” With eyes open, ears attentive, spirit alert, I do all for the honor and glory of God.
Sister Rose Loraine Matsuzaki, OSF
Born: Honolulu, 1934
Community: Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities
Celebrating: 70 years
Years of service in Hawaii: 63, 1960 to the present
Past ministries: Teacher at elementary schools in Riverside, N.J., and Gloversville, N.Y., St. Joseph School, Hilo, and St. Francis School, Honolulu; Hawaii regional counselor for the Sisters of St. Francis, Honolulu; coordinator for the care of the infirmed sisters residing in St. Francis Convent, Manoa
Present ministry: Prayer ministry
Biography: Barbara Matsuzaki graduated from St. Francis School in 1952 and entered the Sisters of St. Francis in September 1952. She was invested in the Franciscan habit in 1953 and received the name Rose Loraine; she made her final profession in 1958. She remained on the East Coast, teaching in various schools before returning home in 1960. Sister Rose Loraine received her bachelor’s degree in education from Chaminade University and her master’s in education from the University of Hawaii.
Her first mission in Hawaii was at St. Joseph School in Hilo where she remained until 1971, teaching in the elementary and high school. She was then assigned to Saint Francis School in Honolulu, teaching high school social studies and serving as the social studies department chairperson. She took a short break from teaching in 1978 when she was elected to serve as a Hawaii regional counselor for the Sisters of St. Francis. She served in this capacity until 1982 when she returned to Saint Francis School, retiring from teaching in 1990.
In 1990, Sister Rose Loraine was appointed as the coordinator for the retired community of Franciscan Sisters residing in Manoa. She served in that capacity for many years. Those who have had the privilege of living with Sister Rose Loraine remember her as being proud of her Kalihi heritage: spunky, upbeat, and ready for any challenge. At age 89, that has not changed!
60 years
Sister Mary Mark Noble Berdin, OP
Born: Bugasong, Antique, Philippines, 1943
Community: Dominican Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary of the Philippines
Celebrating: 60 years
Year arrived in Hawaii and the years of service here: 1972, 32 years
Past ministries: Teacher in the Philippines, 1965-1972; teacher on Kauai and in Honolulu, 1972-1980; teacher in Kenya, Africa, 1981-1984; teacher in Hawaii, 1989-1995, 2000-2002, 2006-present; San Francisco, 1995-2000; pastoral associate, 2002-2005
Present ministry: Director of religious education, St. Joseph Parish School, Waipahu
Reflection: Losing my mother at the age of 7 brought me closer to Mother Mary as my mother. Likewise, St. Joseph was my father when my father moved out of the house. Unknowingly, my humble beginning led me to the Lord.
I was in my second year of high school when the Dominican Sisters opened a high school in our town. When I saw the sisters, I was attracted to their habit that I wanted to be one of them. I decided to transfer to their school, but unfortunately, they only opened first and second year, so I stopped going to school in third year, so I could go to their school the following year. Graduating after the fourth year, I wasn’t sure if I could fulfill my dreams. I started working on the farms, but the principal of the school heard that I didn’t go to college, and she needed someone to help in the library. So I was asked if I could volunteer to help the sister librarian. I stayed in the convent helping in school and helping in the convent.
After one year, the principal invited me to attend the clothing of the sisters. I went, watched, and was conquered. I entered the convent on April 23, 1961; postulancy on April 30, 1961; clothing on Jan. 6, 1962; first profession on Feb. 17, 1963; and perpetual profession on July 1, 1966. Went to college 1963-1967. The rest is history.
All my ministry, amidst challenges, pains and sorrows are joys. I looked at every trial as a steppingstone for the happiness to come. The Lord is so good. Pains and trials are bearable, and at the break of “dawn” there is always a special light and treat. Thank you, Lord!
Sister William Marie Eleniki, OSF
Born: Honolulu
Community: Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities
Celebrating: 60 years, profession
Past ministries: Teacher in New York at St. Matthew School, East Syracuse; St. Mary School, Baldwinsville; Our Lady of Angels School and Our Lady Help of Christians School, Albany. Returned to Hawaii in 1975 to teach at Saint Francis High School, Honolulu, and St. Joseph School, Hilo. Served as principal at Our Lady of Good Counsel, Pearl City, and St. Michael, Waialua. Served as president of St. Francis Healthcare Foundation of Hawaii and board president of St. Francis Residential Care Community. Minister to the sisters in Hawaii and the Southwest Region for 12 years.
Present ministry: Currently, I am in transition, assisting where the Lord leads me.
Reflection: Following in the footsteps of St. Marianne Cope, when asked to assist the sisters, and volunteering with the poor, driving to and from the airport, etc., the answer is always “yes.” Being in transition has reconnected me with Mother Earth. As St. Francis realized, it the “aina” which nourishes our body and soul. Being outdoors is life giving. Our Divine Creator has given me the opportunity to do this now.
Rev. Albert Gene Garcia, SSCC
Born: Honokaa, 1942
Name of religious order: Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and of Perpetual Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar
Celebrating: 60 years, profession
Past ministries: St. Anthony Church, Wailuku, 1969-1970; Damien Memorial High School, 1970-1971; Holy Trinity Church, 1971-1973; Sacred Heart Church, Waianae, 1973-1975; St. Ann Church, Kaneohe, 1979-1986; St. Patrick Church, 1989-1991; St. Augustine Church, 1991-1993; and St. Michael Church, Waialua, 1993-2003
Present ministry: Retired
Biography: Father Albert Garcia was born in Honokaa, on the Big Island, on April 24, 1942, the younger of two sons of George and Rosaline Garcia. His baptism, on May 2, 1942, took place in his home parish of Our Lady of Lourdes in Honokaa. In 1956, he enrolled at Sacred Hearts Seminary in Hauula, Oahu. Following his high school graduation, he entered the novitiate of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. He professed his temporary vows in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, on Aug. 22, 1963. Three years later he professed his perpetual vows in Honolulu, on Aug. 22, 1966. He studied philosophy and theology at Queen of Peace Mission Seminary in Jaffrey, New Hampshire. On June 13, 1969, Bishop John J. Scanlan ordained him to the priesthood, along with Thomas Choo and George Fellez, at Saint Patrick Church.
Father Patrick Killilea, SSCC
Born: Galway, Ireland, 1944
Community: Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary
Celebrating: 60 years, profession
Reflection: It has been said, though not written, that on Feb. 8, 1944, Patrick and Mary (Fallon) Killilea found me at the end of a rainbow. Subsequently I grew up on my family’s small farm in Northeast Galway. I attended Killian National School and played Gaelic football for my parish of Newbridge. I then went to St. Joseph’s College secondary school and played rugby and Gaelic football for my school. I got quite a kick out of both.
During the Easter vacation of my senior year, a Sacred Hearts priest from my home parish came by my home and convinced me to enter the novitiate of the Sacred Hearts in Cootehill, County Cavan. A year later, on Aug. 22 of 1963, I took first vows as a brother of the Sacred Hearts. On Sept. 13, 1963, my fellow novices and I boarded a British Overseas airplane bound for Boston’s Logan Airport. The next morning we arrived at Queen of Peace seminary at the base of Mt. Monadnock in Jaffrey, New Hampshire, where we studied and shoveled snow for the next six years. During those six years I did not get to speak with my parents or any of my family since my family, as of yet, did not have a phone. So my American cousins were my contact with the outside world. After six years of philosophy and theology, my Irish classmates and I flew home to Ireland on an Aer Lingus jet and shortly thereafter were ordained to the priesthood on May 25, 1969, the Feast of Pentecost.
Most of my priestly ministry was spent in Massachusetts in parish life in the Diocese of Fall River. I did spend a year in an all-boys school overlooking Galway Bay and three years in our mission in the Bahamas. Then on June 29, 2012, I landed in Kalaupapa, the Hansen’s disease settlement where St. Damien gave his life for the unfortunate victims of this dread disease.
I thank the Lord for calling me to membership and ministry as a brother of the Sacred Hearts. I am not usually given to flowery words or expressions. So I simply thank the Lord for calling me to religious life and I thank all those who have enabled me to live my life happily as a brother of the Sacred Hearts. Aloha.
Sister Dolores Marie Pavao, SSCC
Born: St. Miguel, Azores
Community: Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary
Biography: First time, 1973, until 1983, when she returned to Massachusetts to be closer to her aging parents. Second time, 2003
Past ministries: Prison ministry, religious education, high school teacher at Sacred Hearts Academy in Fairhaven, Mass., (since closed) and Sacred Hearts Academy in Hawaii. Grade school teacher at the congregation’s parochial school in Fairhaven. Piano teacher.
Present ministry: Helping at the congregation’s infirmary community.
Reflection: Born in the lighthouse on the Island of St. Miguel in the Azores, I considered myself the Princess of the Lighthouse. My father, the lighthouse keeper, was my main custodian for the first six years of my life. My brother, eight years older than I, was my helper. Right after my birth, mom was told to return to American soil or she would lose all rights of citizenship. When I was 4, she was allowed to visit for a few days. I remember walking down the street, holding mom’s hand, letting every passerby know that I also had a mom.
When I was 6, mom received permission from the American government to bring her spouse and dependent child to America. My brother, being older, had to wait. He stayed in the care of the priest of the village.
What a shock I had when we arrived in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Everyone spoke this strange language. No one spoke Portuguese.
I was living a rebellious childhood when a neighbor told mom about a girl’s reform school in Fairhaven run by nuns who might help me. Mom was willing to try anything. My fifth grade would be at Sacred Hearts Academy run by the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts.
What a surprise I had on the first day of class when a sister in a white habit said, “What a loving God we have!” I couldn’t believe my ears and raised my hand, “Sister, do you believe what you are saying? Is there really a loving God who loves me?” “Yes, Dolores, he loves you very much!” Wow, I knew a nun would not lie. This thought changed my life. If God loves me, I must love him back. As days went by, I realized that God said, “Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you do to me.” I must love God by loving others and being nice to others. My life changed! I wasn’t yet thinking of becoming a nun because my dream was to have many children.
When I was 15, I received a big surprise — mom was pregnant! I would no longer be the baby of the family. My wonderful sister Margaret, nicknamed Guida, was born on July 17, 1958. She was my treasure whom I took care of every moment I was home.
As years passed I noticed how happy the sisters at the Academy seemed to be. That became my calling. Though it was hard to leave my little Guida, I entered the congregation on July 9, 1961. When my first assignment was to teach little children, I realized my dream had come true.
Since my first profession on July 28, 1963, living with the sisters has been wonderful! My main ministry has been teaching Spanish, religion, music and piano.
Now, in my retired years I’m still gratefully active: helping with music at our convent in Honolulu, driving our van, mentoring our lay group of wonderful people, the secular branch. My precious writing ministry is a way of keeping in contact with many who either live far away or are homebound.
I thank the Lord for wonderful, happy years, for our precious congregation, for each person I have come in contact with. May all be for God’s greater honor and glory!
Father Paul Smith
Celebrating: 60 years, ordination (in 1962)
Community: Diocesan priest
Past ministries: Parish priest, military chaplain
Current ministry: retired
Reflection: (Remarks from a 2018 Hawaii Catholic Herald interview) The epitome of prayer is thankfulness. If all you ever do in prayer is to thank God for all that he has given, I think that would be enough. I spend a lot of time now thanking God. I do not ask God for anything anymore, I stopped being a beggar. Rather, in my retirement, I am thankful for what I have. I retired twice — once after 20 years as a military chaplain, and after serving as an active priest in the Diocese of Honolulu.
As a military chaplain I was especially grateful for the time when I was in Vietnam near the end of the war. There were many orphans who were the children of the American soldiers. I was able to spend a lot of time helping people who owned orphanages to get the children adopted. One particular orphanage in Saigon would help send the children to Switzerland and Germany and the children would be adopted. That was the best part of my time in Vietnam. Here in Honolulu, I have served in various parishes. … Now, I have enough time to spend in prayer, in reading, and in getting closer to Jesus. … The important thing about prayer is to put the time in, to make time for it. And, if nothing happens in the prayer, while you are putting the time in, it doesn’t matter as you at least took the time in and made the effort to do it.
Sister Angela Paulette Yeung, MM
Born: Canton, China, 1937
Community: Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic
Celebrating: 60 years, profession
Year arrived in Hawaii and years of service here: 1977, 18 years
Past ministries: Social worker
Present ministry: Spiritual director
Reflection: I arrived in 1977 to work as a social worker outreach for immigrants living in Chinatown area and out-patient clinic for St. Francis Medical Center in Honolulu. I then returned to Hong Kong to establish a shelter for women who suffered from domestic violence in 1982. In 1989 I returned to Honolulu to help in social services, again helping victims of domestic violence. In 1993, I was invited to Seoul, Korea, to establish a shelter for abused women for five years. Then I continued to work for the immigrants in Chinatown, San Francisco, for 10 years before I became a certified spiritual director from Mercy Center, Burlingame, California. Since then I have returned to work in Honolulu as a spiritual director.
50 years
Father Clyde Louis Guerreiro, SSCC
Born: Aiea, 1949
Community: Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary
Celebrating: 50 years, profession
Years of service in Hawaii: Approximately 40
Past ministries: Temporary assistant pastor of St. Elizabeth, Aiea; associate pastor of St. Ann, Kaneohe; pastor of St. Michael, Waialua; provincial of the Sacred Hearts Province of Hawaii; pastor of Immaculate Conception, Lihue; formation director in Cheverly, Maryland; supply priest for the Sacred Hearts Congregation in Hawaii; pastor of St. Damien of Molokai, Molokai; pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows, Wahiawa; parish priest of the English-speaking community, Tonga; development director of the U.S. Sacred Hearts Province
Present ministry: Pastor of St. Patrick, Honolulu, March 1, 2020-present
Reflection: My 50 years of consecrated religious life have given me the gift of freedom to live life free from the shackles of western cultural values. Further, religious life has allowed personal conversion to become deeply rooted. Year after year the centrality of Jesus becomes vital.
25 years
Father Adondee Castillo Arellano, MS
Born: San Mateo, Isabela, Philippines, 1975
Community: Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette
Celebrating: 25 years, profession
Years arrived in Hawaii and the years of service here: July 1, 2009, to the present
Past ministries: Assistant postulant director 2003-2004; postulant director 2004-2007; provincial secretary; pastor: San Roque Parish, Ramon, Isabela, 2008-2009; associate pastor, Christ the King Church, Kahului, 2009-2013; pastor, Christ the King Church, Kahului, 2013-2016; pastor, Kula Catholic Community, Kula, 2016-2019
Present ministry: Associate pastor, St. Joseph Church, Waipahu, 2019-present
Reflection: Religious life is searching, recognizing, falling and remaining in love with Jesus.
When this happens, attitude and mindset transform and suddenly everything is a gift. Everything becomes an opportunity for a deeper understanding of God.
Religious life is a great venue to encounter God in the ordinariness of life, in parishes, schools, apostolate areas, in the hospitals, care homes, in our families, in other people, in silence and in prayer and even in problems and difficulties in life. Religious life is an inspiration to explore the uniqueness of life, with its gifts and its failings and, at the end of the day, saying yes to God. Because in religious life God is the rule of our life.
And I thank God for the gift of vocation and religious life and I ask for guidance to see his grace always in my religious way of life.
Father John W. Berger
Born: Bismarck, North Dakota, 1962
Community: Diocesan priest
Celebrating: 25 years, ordination
Year arrived in Hawaii: 1988
Past ministries: CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) supervisor in training; associate pastor, St. Joseph, Hilo; parochial vicar, then rector, Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace
Present ministry: Retired following a heart attack, living with family in the Twin Cities
Father Victor “Junvic” Binza Diolata Jr., SSS
Born: Malinao, Albay, Philippines, 1970
Community: Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament or Societas Sanctissimi Sacramenti (SSS)
Celebrating: 25th year, profession
Year arrived in Hawaii: 2022
Past ministries: (In the Philippines) associate pastor and local community treasurer, Assumption Parish, Davao City, 2004-2006; associate pastor and local community treasurer, Blessed Sacrament Parish, Tacloban City, Leyte, 2006-2007; co-executive secretary, Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines, 2007-2010; pastor of the Holy Family Parish, Diocese of Legazpi, Tabaco City, Albay, 2011-2017; Council member, Province of Our Lady of the Assumption, Head of Apostolate Commission, 2014-2022; chaplain, College of St. Benilde, De La Salle University, Taft Avenue, Manila, 2017-2019; pastor, San Vicente Ferrer Parish, Diocese of Pasig, Palar Village, Barangay Pinagsama, Taguig City, Metro Manila, 2019-2022
Present ministry: Parochial vicar, Mary, Star of the Sea Parish, Honolulu, 2022-present
Reflection: I considered most significantly that religious life for me started in the novitiate formation where we began to learn to break from our former ways of living. Indeed, the struggle was real especially as the evangelical vows were slowly introduced to us and which eventually we had to fully embrace and profess. I have to say that I experienced a lot of dying to self, the self-abnegation that our founder St. Peter Julian Eymard called “Absque sui propio” — “Nothing by me, nothing for me” — absolutely akin to the self-sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.
If there are highlights of my religious life, I prefer to see them from the perspective of prayer and mission. Gradually, I learned to appreciate the daily adoration of the Blessed Sacrament exposed as one of the greatest expressions of our charism, which has helped me a lot in embracing religious life. The second great help for me to persevere is community life. We have been taught how to live and to love a life lived in common. To live in common and in moderation I progressively appreciate as I grow in this kind of vocation.
Last, but not least is the ministry that we undertake. The eucharistic ministry is being carried out and exercised in a spirit of teamwork but not without challenges and difficulties. I have no doubt that these things form part of the reason why, as a religious order in the church, we are still blessed with vocations, enabling us to continue to respond to the eucharistic mission that is entrusted to this congregation through our holy founder. Overall, I feel blessed to be a religious priest and therefore very grateful to the God who called me to this vocation.
Sister Mercedita B. Estrella, SPC
Born: Bayawan City, Negros Oriental, Philippines, 1969
Community: Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres
Celebrating: 25 years, profession
Year arrived in Hawaii: 2013
Present ministry: Director of religious education and pastoral associate at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa, Honolulu
Reflection: By profession I am an elementary teacher with majors in mathematics and religious education. Before I entered the convent, I worked at John Bosco School in Bislig, Surigao del Sur, a La Salle-supervised school, as a high school religion teacher and campus minister. In 1996, I entered the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres along with eight other batchmates. As an SPC sister I have been assigned to our owned schools in the Philippines as a religion and classroom teacher, then to a variety of pastoral work: catechetical ministry and faith formation of hospital employees, and of patients afflicted with leprosy and their families.
Hawaii is my first missionary assignment outside the Philippines. I arrived Nov. 21, 2013, to serve the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa in Honolulu, first as director of religious education, then as pastoral associate specifically in ministry coordination.
Becoming a missionary in the foreign mission was for me a challenging assignment, uprooted from my country and planted in a land unknown to me. But thanks be to God. He is indeed true and faithful to his promise, “I am with you always.” I truly experienced what St. Paul says: “The God who calls you will not fail you.” His loving presence in my life in this mission is truly felt through the caring, loving and selfless people he has given me, beginning from the airport when I arrived until now. Everything is grace.
Yes, he replanted me in a strange place but he makes sure I have everything I need in the ministry. He surrounded me with people who, in one way or another, have helped me grow and bear fruit abundantly for the mission he entrusted to my care. While it is true, that I came to be of help to the co-cathedral and beyond, I realize that these faithful people of God, this church and all I come in contact and work with, have given me great opportunities to grow in my loving and serving and in living my life of consecration to the full and become the religious sister God wants me to be.
As I celebrate my 25 years in religious life this year, I can’t thank God enough for his goodness in my life. I admit, not all of my days are bright. There are times when the going is rough and tough. But his love is greater than all these. His faithfulness is constant. His grace is always enough for me. So like Mary, I sing with gratitude: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord!” For everything is grace!
Sister Ma. Catherine Velarde, OP
Born: Tagum City, Davao Philippines, 1974
Community: Dominican Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary of the Philippines
Celebrating: 25 years, profession
Year arrived in Hawaii: 2022
Past ministries: Teacher, Our Lady of Fatima Academy, Dao, Capiz, Philippines
Present ministry: Teacher at Rosary Preschool, Waipio
Reflection: I am a member of the Dominican Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary of the Philippines. I am in the teaching ministry. I arrived in Hawaii on Aug. 16, 2022. I am now based at the Dominican Center Convent as a preschool teacher at our Rosary Preschool.
I am happy and grateful for my ministry as a preschool teacher here, serving and touching the lives of the young children, helping them and molding them to become good and God-fearing children of God.
Father John Timbreza Molina, CRS
Born: Manila, Philippines, 1967
Community: Order of the Clerics Regular of Somasca
Celebrating: 25 years, ordination
Years of service in Hawaii: 6 years
Past ministries: After 15 years in Italy and one and a half years in Vietnam under the Somascan order, I was gladly welcomed to serve in the Diocese of Honolulu in hospital ministry from 2017 to 2018.
Present ministry: Administrator, Sacred Heart Church, Pahoa, since 2018
Reflection: Magnificat! This first word in the song of Mary is the compendium of all the 25 years the Lord has entrusted me his priesthood. I glorify the Lord for his limitless mercy. I glorify the Lord for the family who brought me up in the love of poverty, simplicity and service. I glorify the Lord for the “missionary” experience in Italy, a country rich not only in history but in various world cultures crisscrossing each other. I glorify the Lord for my short stay in Vietnam where the experience of “witnessing” of the Catholic faith is fearful and yet fascinating and attracting.
I glorify the Lord for beautiful Hawaii: Caring arms to my aging parents. And for me, God is glorified by the Diocese of Honolulu, which allows me to exercise my priestly ministry and for the Big Island where I live an experience of continuous “aloha,” in the faith-sharing life with the flock whose generous heart is ever ready to tread with me on the joyful journey through the Lord’s way. I know, without merit of my own, only God’s grace can lead me to go through these 25 years and to those to come! Magnificat!
Sister Mary Sixtilles Pillado, OP
Born: Sara, Iloilo, 1972
Community: Dominican Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary of the Philippines
Celebrating: 25 years, profession
Year arrived in Hawaii and the years of service here: Aug. 1, 2007, 16 years
Past ministries: (In the Philippines) St. Martin Academy; Our Lady of Fatima Academy; Holy Rosary Academy; St. Jerome Academy
Present ministry: third, fourth and fifth grade teacher, St. Michael School, Waialua
Reflection: I am currently working at St. Michael School, Waialua. After I graduated with my bachelor’s in elementary education at the University of San Agustin in the Philippines, I entered the order of the Dominican Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary. After my formative years I was assigned to teach in some of our schools. In August 2007, I was sent to the mission of Hawaii. For all these years I’m thankful to God for all the blessings he bestowed upon me and for giving me this opportunity to serve on this island.
