Youth at the East Hawaii Stewardship Day spell out their belief in the Eucharist. (Courtesy photo)
By Gwendolyn DeCoito and Chrislyn Villena
Special to the Herald
East Hawaii Vicariate stewardship leaders welcomed their communities to the annual East Hawaii Stewardship Day at St. Joseph School gym in Hilo, Saturday, Sept. 30. Through God’s grace and blessings, more than 230 people attended.
The theme, “Eucharist: Center of Our Faith, Center of Our Families,” emphasized the importance for every person to recognize Jesus present in the Eucharist.
Parish stewardship committee chairpersons welcomed youth and their families to worship, to learn and to engage through interactive activities as a Catholic community.
Leah Baquail’s opening comments defined “the Eucharist as the source and summit of Christian life,” according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Janan Malinowski of Sacred Heart Parish, Pahoa, coordinated the opening Mass celebrated by Blessed Sacrament Father Apolinario Ty and Deacon LeRoy Andrews. The children’s choir of St. Joseph Church, Hilo, sang hymns directed by Pina Andres, accompanied by her daughter Raina. Youth from Sacred Heart assisted as altar servers and youth from Holy Rosary, Pahala, were lectors. Students from St. Joseph campus ministry as our hosts set up and cleaned up the facilities. They were also historians and took pictures and interviewed parishioners.
Chrislyn Villena, head of St. Joseph School’s theology department and campus ministry, guided the participants through each segment. “It is crucial that what we do in the larger church must be echoed in the domestic church for this event to be successful. We empower the adults of these youth because they are the first catechists in the young people’s lives,” Villena said. She encouraged the leaders to joyfully remember their own youthful experiences of Christ in the Eucharist.
Greer McKeen of Malia Puka O Kalani Church in Keaukaha used the image of the “vine and branches” in his message to recognize a sense of belonging as one community. McKeen honored a request from Mary Kay Espejo of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, Papaikou, to include a witness testimony. Rodney Cambra’s personal testimony posed the questions, “Do I have to go to Mass?” or “Do I want to go to Mass?” Cambra challenged everyone to find their reason why they want to go to Mass. It was a great introduction for the rest of the segments.
Danie and Linda Villena of St. Theresa Church, Mountain View, and Chrislyn Villena proclaimed the theme of the day. They began with Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, with the help of Father Sam Loterte and Father Ferdie Tomo, accompanied by the Lectio Divina — inviting God’s people to see Jesus Christ face-to-face and encouraging a divine conversation that left many prayerful. Then they gave a brief talk on the questions, “Eucharist: What is it? How is it done? How is it lived?”
In breakout groups, participants gathered by school grades and adults. Bernie Rasay of St. Joseph, Felicia Mason of Sacred Heart, Naalehu, and Christina Rasmussen of Holy Rosary Church, and religious education teachers from each parish initiated the group discussions. Chrislyn Villena said, “He took bread, said the blessing, broke it and shared it. This is where we break open our hearts and share what we just experienced in previous segments. This is where we allow all members to share the message of Christ that is being written on their hearts in that very time and space.”
Mary Kay Espejo, and Nancy and Harvey Chong of Immaculate Heart of Mary led the last segment, “sending forth” — “the Mass has ended; go therefore and be the love and mercy for the world.”
In this segment, the facilitators challenged the audience to share what was their “take-away” and how will they “take it into the world after this gathering.”
Kamalani Rodrigues, vice-chairwoman of the diocesan Stewardship and Development Commission, said “we shared a sense of hope and solidarity in supporting each other, praying that the seeds of faith we are planting now will bear fruit in years to come. After all, we were all happily gathered with other stewards from across the East Hawaii vicariate on a beautiful Saturday morning committed to making the Eucharist the center of our faith and family life.”
Lisa Gomes, director of the diocesan Office of Evangelization and Catechesis, offered this statement:
“Stewardship leaders, youth ministry leaders, religious education leaders, our priests and deacons serving together showed how truly collaborative this event was. The diversity of those in attendance, the energy of our young people, and genuine aloha of the volunteers were felt. The young people who were liturgical ministers at Mass were so good — truly a witness that even the youngest amongst us can serve! I appreciated Father Poli, in his homily, encouraging parents to be witnesses of Christ in their homes, in their families, as well.”
Gwen DeCoito is the East Hawaii vicariate representative on the Diocese Stewardship and Development Commission. Chrislyn Villena teaches theology at St. Joseph School and is the campus minister.
