Seated, Mother Agnella Iu, Mother Mary Elizabeth “Liza” Sedo. Standing, from left, Sister Angelica Guevarra, Sister Elizabeth de Jesus, Sister Anne Therese Ocampo, Bishop Larry Silva, postulant Tiffanie Han, Sister Leslie Watanabe and Sister Mary Francis Apordo. Above left, Sister Agnella renews her vows. Above right, the urns of six Carmelites who arrived from Hong Kong 50 years ago to establish Hawaii’s Carmelite monastery. Left, Carmelite sisters in their side chapel, (HCH photos | Patrick Downes)
By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
Hawaii’s revitalized Carmelite convent celebrated its 50th year tucked in the Kailua-side slope of the Koolaus with a morning Mass Oct. 16 celebrated by Bishop Larry Silva and about 70 of the sisters’ families, friends and supporters.
The congregants overflowed the Carmelites small public chapel, while in the chapel’s adjoining cloistered wing, the community’s eight sisters, mostly unseen, sang in soft harmonic voices accompanied by a single nylon-stringed guitar.
The occasion also marked the 50th anniversary of the final vows of the one surviving member of the original seven sisters from Hong Kong who, in 1973, founded the monastery they call Carmel of the Holy Trinity on the grounds of St. Stephen Diocesan Center.
Sister Agnella Iu, wearing a sweet smile and a crown of yellow flowers signifying her golden jubilee, renewed her vows as part of the liturgy, which commemorated the Solemnity of St. Teresa of Avila, foundress of the discalced Carmelites.
In her “call to worship,” Mother Mary Elizabeth Sedo welcomed the guests.
“Let this simple celebration be a humble welcome to a new phase of this our Carmel’s journey in the heart of the church of Hawaii, renewing our confidence in God’s love and faithfulness,” she said.
Sister Agnella renews her vows. (HCH photo | Patrick Downes)
The congregants included a couple who credited the prayers of the Carmelites in saving the life of their infant daughter, who is now a healthy adult.
Also in the chapel were children and grandchildren of local Carmelite Sister Elizabeth de Jesus, who joined the convent later in life.
Bishop Silva, for his homily, drew on the Gospel story of Jesus offering the Samaritan woman at the well “living water.”
He described the Carmelites as “a water source that has given us life over these 50 years, living water that is Jesus himself.”
However, he said, despite the spiritual prominence the sisters have in the diocese, “I would be willing to bet that most people in this diocese are hardly aware, if at all, that there even is a convent here.”
“Because the sisters do not blow trumpets and beat drums about their presence here,” he said. “They simply are the presence of the Lord who is with us.”
The urns of six Carmelites who arrived from Hong Kong 50 years ago to establish Hawaii’s Carmelite monastery. (HCH photo | Patrick Downes)
He compared the sisters to an instrument — a pump or a well or a bucket — “that brings up that living water that is Jesus; that goes down into the depths of the spiritual life, that tries to find the real wisdom that is a part of that life, and then draws it up for all of us so that we can have living water, so that we can be refreshed and nourished with that water that is Jesus himself.”
“There was a time, as you were aware, not too long ago, when it seemed that this community was drying up, if you will, that those who had come over 50 years ago, who had done so much for us, had died and had left Sister Agnella all alone.”
“And so it seemed like the well was dried up, the faucet was turned off. There was no water,” he said. “But in her faith, Sister Agnella would not give up.”
That faith paid off, he said, with the addition of sisters from the Philippines and local vocations.
“What the sisters are doing here is very important, very critical for the life of the world. Because it is their duty and their salvation and their joy to constantly be the instruments that bring up this living water that is Jesus, so that he can water and nourish all of us, so that he can water and nourish all the world.”
Carmelite sisters in their side chapel, (HCH photo | Patrick Downes)
Renewing her vows, Sister Agnella said, “With my whole heart I give myself to this religious institute restored by Saint Teresa, to see perfect charity in the service of Our Mother Church by the grace of the Holy Spirit and the prayers of the Mother of God, through constant prayer and evangelical self-denial and to give eternal glory to the most Holy Trinity.”
With the death of the sixth of the original seven original sisters in 2018, it looked like the monastery would close. But an effort to recruit Carmelites from convents in the Philippines proved successful and on Aug. 9, 2019, the monastery was re-founded with five new Filipino nuns. Today, Carmel of the Holy Trinity also includes one fully professed local sister and a novice and postulant.
Toward the end of Mass, the Bishop Silva blessed the six urns containing the ashes of the pioneer nuns, displayed on a simple table against the back wall of the nuns’ chapel.
After Mass small memento bags holding prayer cards, a scapular and a bracelet rosary were handed out to attendees. Refreshments were shared afterward.
