The inscription on the walking stick reads, “Lahaina 08.08.23 / ‘Even should she forget, I will never forget you.’” (Isaiah 49:15-16) (Courtesy Father Ese’ese “Ace” Tui)
By Celia K. Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
The U.S. Catholic Church is in the midst of a spiritual renewal, and the Diocese of Honolulu is doing its part to inspire isle Catholics to reinvigorate and spread their faith.
Two years ago the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops launched the National Eucharistic Revival, with the goal of “rekindling a living faith in the hearts of Catholics across America (and) unleashing a new missionary chapter at this pivotal moment in church history,” according to the movement’s website.
The initiative is slated to last three years — though the hope is that Catholics will continue to spread the message beyond 2025, which Pope Francis has declared a jubilee year for the church.
The U.S. Catholic Church has planned major revival events this year. In July, for the first time in more than 80 years, a National Eucharistic Congress will convene in Indianapolis to allow tens of thousands of faithful to gather and worship, then go out on a mission “for the life of the world,” according to the Eucharistic Revival website.
The congress will mark the culmination of another historic undertaking: the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, a journey comprising four routes that together will traverse 6,500 miles before ending in Indiana. So-called perpetual pilgrims have already begun their treks from New Haven, Connecticut; Brownsville, Texas; San Francisco; and northern Minnesota, with plans to visit both religious and secular sites and to welcome supporting pilgrims along the way.
A piece of Hawaii — specifically, Maui — is likely traveling the San Francisco route thanks to the efforts of Father Ese’ese “Ace” Tui, parochial vicar of St. Anthony Church in Wailuku and head of the Diocese of Honolulu’s Eucharistic Revival committee, and Dr. Scott French, an emergency and family physician on the Big Island.
French works with the Eucharistic Revival committees in both the Honolulu diocese and the San Francisco archdiocese. He suggested having something from Hawaii travel with the pilgrims on the San Francisco route so the isles would have a presence in the national pilgrimage.
French said that Father Tui accepted the idea and went further, proposing the item be from Maui to represent the island’s own Eucharistic procession.
After some discussion, Father Tui said, a walking stick was deemed “nice and practical” for the San Francisco pilgrimage — the longest route at 2,200 miles, and the most challenging.
Father Tui said he reached out to someone in Lahaina, who agreed to craft a walking stick that was later blessed by Father Tui before being handed off to French to bring to San Francisco.
“The wonderful part of that item is that the gentleman who carved it lost three family members in the Lahaina fires,” Father Tui said. “So, it was really meaningful to him and he was so blessed to be able to do that work for us.”
French said before the national pilgrimage began that he was hopeful one of the San Francisco route’s perpetual pilgrims would carry the walking stick along the way to Indianapolis. (The pilgrimage got underway the weekend of May 18-19.) He also emphasized the cooperation and partnership between the Honolulu diocese and San Francisco archdiocese, which highlights how “we are all brothers in Christ.”
On the national pilgrimage, “we have this golden opportunity … to link spiritual suffering and spiritual healing,” French said. “The Eucharist is the divine physician.”
“This is how the Holy Spirit is working through us to bring healing,” he said.
The Diocese of Honolulu is hosting its own Eucharistic processions, linked to the National Eucharistic Revival as well as the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ on June 2.
On that day, a Sunday, Bishop Larry Silva will embark on the Maui-Lanai Vicariate’s Eucharistic procession after celebrating Mass at St. Anthony. He will lead a walk from the Wailuku church to Christ the King Church in Kahului, where adoration and benediction will then be held.
One aim of the Eucharistic procession is to inspire and nurture unity among Catholics as well as with the wider community, Father Tui said. The procession will include all the parishes in the Maui-Lanai Vicariate.
Father Tui hopes the procession will expose both Catholics and non-Catholics to “this beautiful tradition of the church.”
On Oahu on June 2, Msgr. Gary Secor will lead a procession from the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa in Honolulu to the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in downtown Honolulu culminating with adoration and benediction.
The feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, also known as Corpus Christi, kicks off more revival events across the state.
The Diocesan Eucharistic Congress will take place June 8 on Maui and will be preceded by events on Oahu.
Father Rafael Capo, a priest of the Archdiocese of Miami commissioned by the USCCB as a national Eucharistic speaker, will celebrate Mass and be the keynote speaker at St. Anthony Church in Wailuku.
The address by Father Capo, perhaps best known for fusing faith and fitness, will be livestreamed on Oahu at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa and on the Big Island at Annunciation Church in Kamuela. It will be followed on each island by breakout sessions and fellowship.
Lisa Gomes, director of the diocese’s Office of Evangelization and Catechesis who knows Father Capo through youth and young adult ministry work, described him as a “dynamic, charismatic speaker who can really speak to all ages of people.”
On Oahu, Father Capo will address a youth gathering June 6 on “The Eucharist and Young People” at St. Elizabeth Church in Aiea. A workshop for priests will be held a day later.
Gomes’ hope for participants in the Diocesan Eucharistic Congress “is that, if they have strayed from the church, or doubted the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, that they reconnect in their relationship with him.”
