By Catholic Stewardship Consultants
www.CatholicSteward.com
For Mason and Teo Matsuda, faith is not just something practiced on Sundays — it shapes every part of their lives.
Over the years, the couple has poured their time, talents and even their home into the life of their parish, Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Ewa Beach. From hosting meetings and music practices to volunteering in numerous ways, the
Matsudas see everything they have as a gift meant to serve God and his church.
“It’s funny — it’s the most vibrant part of our life,” Mason said. “Everything we had — our house, our vehicles, our equipment, even our money — was really to do ministry work. Everything we had was in service to him.”
The couple spends much of their time serving in many ministries.
Mason is chairperson of Our Lady of Perpetual Help’s Pastoral Council, which oversees the parish’s various ministries.
“Just put it this way — we are either directly or indirectly involved with all the ministries,” he said.
In addition, Mason is the parish’s emergency preparedness director and sacristan coordinator, is a member of the Knights of Columbus, and helps the parish wherever assistance is needed.
Teo is Our Lady of Perpetual Help’s choir coordinator and also serves on the liturgy committee as chair and secretary. She is the Leeward Vicariate representative on the diocesan Liturgical Commission, serving with the music workshop committee.
The Matsudas are also members of Basic Christian Community (BCC) of Hawaii, a lay association in the diocese. Through the organization, they learned about and became involved in small-group communities.
“It continuously connects us to Jesus in the sacraments through our Catholic faith and teachings,” Teo said. “For me, honestly, BCC gave us a lot of the footwork.”
In the past, the couple has been involved in the baptism committee and with the young adult ministry, which has been Mason’s favorite way to serve. Both Teo and Mason have fond memories of their time with the young adult ministry.
“For me, young adult ministry was the wing that helped us expand and explore,” Mason said.
The couple has three children and eight grandchildren, and they enjoy spending time with their growing family when they aren’t serving the parish.
“We’re praying that maybe one will be a priest, God willing,” Mason said. “But really, as long as they remain faithful to Jesus in the church, our goal is for them to make it to heaven.”
The Matsudas have been members of Our Lady of Perpetual Help since 1993.
“We just love the community here,” Teo said.
“We love Jesus in the Eucharist and being able to spend time with him, knowing that he comes home always to the Catholic Church,” Mason added. “In other words, we love the community here.”
Mason and Teo always hope to see more people turning to Jesus. They want to be a witness to the peace that people can find in Christ.
“I wish people would come to love the Lord and recognize the beauty of how he established his church,” Teo said. “Even though on this side of heaven there are struggles and suffering, he still gives us glimpses of his glory.”
“For ministry work, if you want to do great ministry work, my advice is simple — make people see Jesus in you,” Mason said. “If they see Jesus in you, they’ll come and follow. If they don’t see Jesus in you, they won’t follow.”