Mary Kay Espejo’s involvement in parish life has helped deepen her faith and solidify relationships with fellow parishioners. (Courtesy Catholic Stewardship Consultants)
By Catholic Stewardship Consultants
www.CatholicSteward.com
When Mary Kay Espejo — a parishioner at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in the Hamakua Catholic Community on Hawaii island — is asked why she is involved in the life of the church, she chuckles because, for her, involvement is not optional.
“It is just what we do,” Espejo says. “It is how we live as Catholics. I was raised in the church, and being involved is just not something we thought about. We just did it.”
So when Espejo and her husband, Douglas, moved back to Hawaii island in 1982 after attending college and getting married, Espejo wasted no time getting involved.
“My mom was in the choir at that time, so I started doing that with her,” Espejo says.
As time has gone on, Espejo has continued to get more and more involved at Immaculate Heart. She serves as a lector as well as an extraordinary minister of holy Communion and a co-chair for Immaculate Heart’s Stewardship Committee.
When she reflects on what being involved in the parish has meant to her over the years, Espejo recalled the impact of the pandemic and the “huge void” that it created.
“Being involved in the parish has definitely impacted my faith,” she says. “The best way I can explain it is by looking back at what our time during the pandemic meant for us. We couldn’t gather. We couldn’t get involved, and that made me feel like something important was missing. It created a huge void for me, and I was very happy to come back and be able to get involved again.”
This sense of necessity and belonging is what pushes Espejo to do all she can for the church. It is what she and her fellow Stewardship Committee members hold tight to as they focus their efforts on bringing more people to the church.
“The main focus for our Stewardship Committee is getting more people to come to church,” Espejo says. “We encourage parishioners to invite one person every week to join them at Mass. And then, when people come, we try to get them involved in one of our ministries immediately. That way they feel a sense of belonging.”
Furthermore, Espejo says she and the rest of the Immaculate Heart Stewardship Committee have worked to build deeper relationships with one another and their fellow parishioners.
“We spend a lot of time fellowshipping during our meetings,” Espejo says. “We want to do more than just take care of business. We want to develop friendships, to build bonds that make us more of a parish family.”
And as Espejo encourages all of us to get more involved in our parishes, she assures us that we will find deep fulfillment and belonging if we do.
“Find one thing you want to get involved in,” Espejo says. “Prayerfully consider what gifts God has given you, what talents you have, and then find a ministry where you can use them. You will find that it fills a void you didn’t even realize was there.”
To those who may be hesitant or fearful, Espejo says, just step out in faith and give something a try.
“Getting involved doesn’t mean you’re making a five-year commitment,” Espejo says. “Commit to do something once or twice, and see where it goes.”
For Espejo, the decision to get involved has led to a deepening of her faith and a solidifying of relationships with fellow parishioners for which she is beyond grateful. She is certain that when others give of themselves in faith, they will find the same.
