The St. Anthony School, Kalihi, choir sing a joyful song at the Hawaii Catholic Schools annual choral festival March 4. (Photo courtesy of Deborah Manog)
By Deborah Manog
Special to the Herald
The Maryknoll Community Center gym filled with the joyful sounds of 11 school choirs March 4 at the Hawaii Catholic Schools’ fourth annual choral festival. This year’s theme was “One Ohana: Love is Our Mission.”
“They love singing, and singing in front of their peers,” said schools superintendent Michael Rockers. “You can see it on their faces.”
Maryknoll, the host school, graced the stage first. They were followed by St. Anthony School in Honolulu, St. Theresa School, St. Patrick School, St. Elizabeth School, St. Ann Model Schools, St. Anthony in Kailua, St. John Vianney School, St. John the Baptist School, St. Joseph School and Our Lady of Perpetual Help School.
The St. Anthony Schools each sang original music written by their choir directors. Corazon Aczon from St. Anthony, Honolulu, wrote the melodic “One in Faith, Hope and Love” and Gier “Kepa” Stern of St. Anthony, Kailua, composed the catchy “Na Pua O Kailua.”
More than 150 people from Hawaii, the Philippines, Australia and Canada watched the high spirited festival streamed live on the Internet through a link provided by Maryknoll School, under the direction of Dennis Yee.
“It was exciting to see how we were really bringing our global ohana together,” said assistant superintendent Lovey Ann DeRego.
The event was an opportunity for Oahu’s Catholic elementary schools to celebrate together “Music in Our Schools Month.”
“This year’s festival was excellent,” DeRego said, adding that the years have added “polish” to the performances.
“This year many of the groups began to harmonize and sing in parts,” she said.
Rockers called the concert a “nice metaphor for what we’re all about in the Catholic Schools.”
“The music really glorified the good Lord and was a joy for the students,” he said. “You can’t beat that.”
