The staff of Hawaii Catholic Schools attended the blessing of Sacred Hearts School’s new campus in Kaanapali on Aug. 2, just before the start of the new year. From left: Jesica Kapika, administrative assistant; Mandy Thronas-Brown, associate superintendent; Llewellyn Young, superintendent; Mona Ishihara, communications/marketing specialist; Deacon Raffy Mendoza, school accounting manager. (Courtesy Hawaii Catholic Schools)
Hawaii Catholic Herald
“I want to give a heartfelt ‘aloha’ and ‘welcome’ to all our Catholic school families, students, faculty, staff, volunteers and administrators. We will continue to work together to provide the best possible future for our children where they can find their individual strengths, contribute positively to society, heal the world, make a positive difference, and accomplish these things with intellect and wisdom built by a strong foundation of Christian morals, values and principles which they received as part of their Catholic education. May God bless you all!”
As the statement above makes clear, Llewellyn Young is excited for the new academic year.
The superintendent of Hawaii Catholic Schools, entering his fifth year in the role (he served as acting superintendent for a portion of his first year), acknowledged that last year was not easy. In addition to the historic wildfire tragedy in Lahaina, which destroyed the campus of Sacred Hearts School, 2023-24 also saw the closure of St. Catherine School in Kapaa — the latest Catholic elementary school to shut its doors.
Still, Young is optimistic as the 2024-25 school year gets underway. He cited new administrators, many activities and programs, and opportunities for faculty and staff development as just some of the reasons for joy. (The following Q&A has been condensed and edited for clarity.)
Q: What is your assessment of the last school year? What was good about it? What were the challenges?
A: Last school year started with tragic losses in Lahaina which directly impacted our Hawaii Catholic Schools. The devastation included the loss of one of our own schools, Sacred Hearts School. While the church itself remained miraculously untouched, most of the school buildings were reduced to ashes. Many families associated with Sacred Hearts School, as well as other Maui Catholic schools, loss their homes and businesses. It was truly a challenging way to start the school year; however, as we consider ourselves to be one “Ohana in Christ,” the rest of our Catholic schools across the state immediately pitched in to provide much-needed supplies and resources to help our Maui families.
The rest of our Catholic schools across the state did their best to sustain their schools while sharing whatever they could spare. Many organizations diverted grant funds that were originally meant to assist other schools to Maui relief efforts. Hence, some of our schools needed to be creative in their advancement and fundraising endeavors. In the end, I consider that many of our schools experienced success in the 2023-2024 school year.
Q: How is this school year shaping up? Any highlights to look forward to?
A: There seems to be a lot of excitement as we begin the new school year! Several schools are being led by new administrators who bring their passion and expertise in Catholic education to their school communities.
Each year, we do our best at our Hawaii Catholic Schools office to create and enhance programming to assist our schools in meeting their goals. This year is no exception.
For faculty and staff, the year begins with Mass, a retreat, the Annual Conference for Catholic Educators and a choral festival, and ends with recognition awards.
In addition, we will be holding our fun and enlightening “I Go 2 College” program with our partners at Chaminade University and the Augustine Educational Foundation which allows fifth graders from all Catholic schools in the state to experience college life for a day. We also participate in other school programs, events and activities as much as possible.
We do all this while helping schools maintain their accreditation statuses, providing professional development and networking opportunities throughout the year, collaborating with our partners at the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools and the Western Catholic Education Association, and ensuring that our schools have the best opportunity to thrive and not just survive.
Q: St. Catherine School on Kauai was the latest elementary school to close. Does its closure raise concerns for you?
A: It is always sad when a Catholic school closes its doors. St. Catherine School on Kauai was the first Catholic school to close during my administration as superintendent, and what makes it even more significant is the fact that my associate superintendent, Mandy Thronas-Brown, and I both originally hail from the island of Kauai. I attended St. Theresa School in Kekaha as a child as did my mother and many members of my family. Mandy attended St. Catherine School as a child, so it hit even closer to home for her.
Working with the pastor of St. Catherine Church, we tried earnestly to keep that school open, but there were so many factors that contributed to the school’s closure. However, when I attended the school’s closing Mass at the end of the school year, I was amazed to see that the community still held on to the hope that, one day in the future, we would be able to reopen the school. They understood the notion that when one door closes, another one opens, and the parish community of St. Catherine Church will hold on to that hope.
Q: How would you gauge the overall health of Catholic education in Hawaii? Is it in a good place, or is there reason for concern?
A: I firmly believe that a Catholic education is the best possible option for a quality, private, Christian-based and faith-filled education. But as Catholics, we are slow to sing our own praises. We are taught to be humble, filled with humility, and to not “toot our own horn.”
However, we are up against unusual social forces that try to normalize, accept and even celebrate troubling behavior. I think that our schools bring sanity back into an insane world, and we strive to maintain stable and safe environments where students can learn and thrive without the distractions and other worries expressed by parents and families. We just have to get better at tooting our own horn.
Q: What is the best part of your job? The most challenging part?
A: The best part of my job is that I get to serve the Lord every day as part of my career! In the course of my workday, I get to pray, I get to give thanks, I get to go to church, and I get to help children and their families build better relationships with Jesus! With everything we do, the Holy Spirit is at our side. I absolutely love this part of my job. I also enjoy working with my team at the Hawaii Catholic Schools office; we do everything we possibly can to support our schools.
I think the most challenging part of my job is knowing when to surrender a situation to the Lord. When things don’t seem to go our way and it feels like we’re losing control of a certain situation, it’s important to take a step back and remind ourselves that everything happens for a reason and everything happens on God’s time, not ours. Therefore, we must accept that things will not always turn out as we intend, but in the end, the Lord will prevail!
