Deacon Charley and Gwenda Mapa were joined by their children, Brenna Saldana and Charley Jr., when Deacon Mapa was ordained in January 2021. (Courtesy Deacon Charley Mapa)
Hawaii’s permanent deacons
By Gwenda Mapa
Special to the Herald
My name is Gwenda Mapa, and I am the wife of Deacon Charley Mapa of St. Joseph Church in Hilo.
Deacon Charley and I have been married for 53 years. We have two children, our son Charley Jr. and our daughter Brenna. Both are married, and we have five grandchildren.
So, where do I start to tell you of my journey to being a deacon’s wife?
I met Charley in the summer of 1970, when I was fresh out of high school and in cosmetology school and he was stationed at McClellan Air Force Base in Sacramento, California, as an air traffic controller. I was born and raised around that area, but he was there for the military.
Immediately we became inseparable and decided to get married the following March. We never really talked about our faith, but when it came time to decide where we were going to get married, we had a stumbling block. He was Catholic and I was Protestant.
At that time in his life, he wasn’t the strongest Catholic and I wasn’t really a strong Baptist. So, of course, I won out and we married in the Baptist church in my town. But we did decide that our kids would be Catholic, which didn’t really make a difference to me at the time.
Jump ahead about 10 or so years. We had been going to two different churches on Sundays, the Catholic church and the Baptist church. After a while of doing that, I finally decided that enough was enough and we just planted ourselves in the Catholic church. Even though I couldn’t seem to give up my faith, I would attend Mass with the family every Sunday and we raised our kids in the church.
I thought things were going along fine until one day I realized that Charley never took Communion. I finally asked him why and he explained to me that since he was married outside of the Catholic Church he was not in communion with the church. So, for him to receive the Eucharist, we would need to have our marriage validated in the Catholic Church.
We set it up on our
25th anniversary; he even secretly planned an anniversary party.
Jump ahead a few more years and now our daughter was getting married in the Catholic Church and if I wanted to participate fully in their marriage vows, I would (need to) become Catholic.
I wanted to be a full part of her wedding, and our fine priest, Father Dermott Dwyer, taught me; soon I became a full part of the Catholic Church. I even got to give my daughter and her new husband the blood of Christ at their wedding; what a wonderful thing!
Jump ahead again and now we are retired and living in Hawaii. I still wanted to work a bit more and took on a job with the Catholic Church in Mountain View on Hawaii Island. I had never worked at a church before, and boy did I learn a lot about the church then!
During that time, I heard about a class that prepared men and women for the diaconate. I really did not know a lot about it, but I learned quickly. We started the diaconate journey in January 2016.
In formation, wives of candidates can study alongside their husbands, and I hoped to earn my bachelor’s degree, but that would change in March 2018 when my mom came to live with us. I had to make her my focus since she had dementia.
We had a great caregiver at home on the weekends when we went to class, and Mom even came with us to class a few times. She passed away in 2019 with us at her side.
I loved the classes with Father Paul Fitzpatrick, and I loved the papers and research we had to do. I really think it brought me closer to my faith in a way that I never imagined. I really miss the weekend class times with our classmates. There are so many wonderful stories of how we all got to where we were.
Charley was ordained in January 2021, right in the middle of COVID. Our two kids came from the mainland, and I really feel that seeing what Daddy and Mommy went through, especially at our age, brought them a little closer to their faith.
I now work at St. Joseph Church in Hilo with Deacon David Watson and Deacon Charley and love every minute of it. I get to share Christ with all I meet. Deacon Charley oversees religious education and Deacon David is the business manager. Deacon Charley and I are also the clergy part of the Engaged Encounter on the east side of Hawaii.
As a deacon’s wife, I don’t really have to get involved in any activity, but why not! Why not enjoy being with like-minded people who love Christ?
