Micronesian women sing a traditional song at the Hawaii gathering marking National Vocation Awareness Week, Nov. 11 at Paewalani house in Kaneohe. (Courtesy of Dann Ebina)
About 100 adults, teens and children, and representatives of four religious communities, attended a day of prayer and fellowship Nov. 11 at the Paewalani house in Kaneohe hosted by the Leadership Association of Religious Congregations in Hawaii, or LARC. The event celebrated National Vocation Awareness Week.
The religious communities who set up exhibits and handed out vocation materials were the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities, the Maryknoll Sisters and the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet.
The EPIC young adult community who reside at the house, which is owned by the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts, also participated.
The Christian Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts took turns leading the group in a “patriotic” rosary. Each Hail Mary was assigned for each state in the union. They also sang a patriotic hymn after each decade. At the conclusion of the rosary, the Vietnamese community sang a song to Mary. The Micronesian and Chuukese groups sang as well.
The Chinese Catholic group took charge of the barbeque. Each cultural group also contributed a food dish.
The day ended with singing and dancing of cultural songs.