Major milestones and fresh starts

By Jennifer Rector
Hawaii Catholic Herald

Amid a stressful and challenging year in the wake of the deadly Lahaina wildfire in August 2023, the community found support and hope from a multitude of agencies and individuals who came through to help their Maui ohana. All eyes were on Sacred Hearts School as it persevered and found a secure temporary campus in Kaanapali; Principal Tonata Lolesio was recognized several times for her tireless efforts to support her students, faculty and staff. The Hawaii Catholic Herald highlights stories like these and more in its recap of 2024.

January

• On Jan. 1, the Diocese of Honolulu officially separated from any association with the Boy Scouts of America.
• On Jan. 6, former seminarian Anthony Tran was ordained a transitional deacon at the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in downtown Honolulu.
• Eva Andrade was the keynote speaker for the annual Red Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace on Jan. 16.
• Hundreds gathered for March for Life at the state Capitol on Jan. 19. The keynote speakers were Sister Veronica Mary and Sister Amata Filia from the Sisters of Life, a New York-based religious order founded, in part, to assist women with crisis pregnancies.
• Bishop Larry Silva ordained eight permanent deacons on Jan. 20 and 27.
• On Jan. 21, diocesan officials signed the last documents for the sainthood cause of Joseph Dutton, layman, who spent more than 40 years serving the Hansen’s disease settlement in Kalaupapa.
  The 2,000 pages of evidence were sent to the Vatican in Rome.
• Father Anthony Pangan, a priest formerly of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, was incardinated into the Diocese of Honolulu on Jan. 30. With his incardination came his change in status from administrator to pastor of Annunciation Parish on Hawaii island.
• St. George Church in Waimanalo begins its yearlong 70th anniversary celebration.

February

• Eight Catholic educators received service awards at the Hawaii Catholic Schools Annual Conference for Catholic School Educators on Feb. 2.
• The Newman Center/Holy Spirit Parish reached an agreement to continue its lease on the Manoa property of the shuttered Saint Francis School for 12 years after the site was sold to the Avalon Group.
• On Feb. 25, St. Jude Church celebrated 25 years of its physical presence in Kapolei after existing for decades in Leeward Oahu.

March

• The diocese’s annual stewardship report was published March 1. A total of $13,103,509 was raised from July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023.
• The Hawaii Catholic Herald reported March 15 that there was a 9% increase in parish attendance in 2023 over 2022.
• Kerry Alys Robinson, president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA, visited Maui to see the aftermath of the devastating wildfire in Lahaina and to thank Catholic Charities Hawaii staff members for their efforts in facing that crisis as well as others across the islands.

April

• The Diocese of Honolulu celebrated 12 jubilarians April 20 at the annual Jubilarian Mass at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa in Honolulu.
• Sacred Hearts School, which was destroyed in the Lahaina wildfire, announced preparations to move to its new temporary location in Kaanapali for the 2024-25 school year.

May

• New priest assignments throughout the diocese were announced, affecting 12 priests.
• St. Catherine School in Kapaa, Kauai, said May 1 that it would close at the end of the academic year after 78 years.
• Adm. Samuel Paparo, a member of the Knights of Columbus, became the commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command on May 3.
• The Knights of Columbus held its 45th annual Hawaii State Council convention May 11 at St. Stephen Diocesan Center in Kaneohe.
• Tonata Lolesio, the principal of Sacred Hearts School in Lahaina who guided students, faculty and staff in the aftermath of the deadly Aug. 8, 2023, wildfire, was honored May 23 as the Hawaii Catholic Schools administrator of the year during the organization’s annual recognition luncheon.
• Bishop Silva ordained Kurt Meyer, Francis Hai Pham and Anthony Tran to the priesthood May 24 at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa.
• 12 eighth graders graduated from Sacred Hearts School on May 29 at the school’s temporary location, Sacred Hearts Mission Church in Kapalua.

June

• The Discalced Carmelite Secular Group of Hawaii on June 1 held a triple ceremony — welcoming two new members, seeing two members make their first promise and seeing two more make their definitive promise.
• On June 2, two Eucharistic processions took place as part of the National Eucharistic Revival. The Maui-Lanai Vicariate’s procession began at St. Anthony Church in Wailuku and ended at Christ the King in Kahului. On Oahu, Msgr. Gary Secor led a procession from the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa in Honolulu to the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in downtown Honolulu.
• The appointment of Jayne Ragasa-Mondoy, the former director of the diocesan Office of Faith Formation and a longtime leader in Hawaii Catholic education, to a national board that advises U.S. bishops on issues facing the Catholic Church was announced June 7.
• The Hawaii Catholic Herald on June 7 saluted the graduating classes and outstanding seniors of Hawaii’s Catholic high schools.
• On June 8, St. Anthony Church in Wailuku hosted a Eucharist Revival Congress with guest speaker Father Rafael Capo, the bodybuilding and fitness priest from the Archdiocese of Miami.
• Bishop Silva ordained Lawrence “Larry” Denis III to the transitional diaconate June 9 at St. Elizabeth Church in Aiea.
• The Hawaii Catholic Herald received five writing awards for work published in 2023 from the Catholic Media Association June 21 during the group’s annual Catholic Media Conference in Atlanta, Georgia.
• The Dominican Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary of the Philippines celebrated 60 years of the founding of their Hawaii region. Bishop Silva presided at a special Mass at Resurrection of the Lord Church in Waipio on June 22.
• Father Alapaki Kim’s wake was held at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa in Honolulu June 27 as people celebrated his life. Father Kim, who was pastor of St. Rita Church in Nanakuli before retiring last year, died May 8 in Keaau on Hawaii island at age 71.

July

• On July 9, Bishop Silva signed his resignation letter at the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace ahead of his 75th birthday.
• Hawaii-raised Jesuit Father Phillip Ganir celebrated his 25th jubilee year of profession as a Jesuit at St. Elizabeth Church on July 14.
• The Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities celebrated 20 years of the unification of their communities in Hawaii and on the East Coast. A special Mass was celebrated July 21 at St. Ann Church in Kaneohe.
• A group of Hawaii Catholics attended the 10th National Eucharistic Congress July 17-21 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
• Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Pearl City held a dedication and blessing July 27 for the first phase of its columbarium, a wall of niches where the ashes of parishioners and other faithful are laid to rest.

August

• On Aug. 2, Sacred Hearts School’s temporary campus in Kaanapali was blessed and opened for the 2024-25 academic year.
• Bishop Silva celebrated his 75th birthday on Aug. 6, officially reaching retirement age for bishops in the Catholic Church.
• Aug. 8 marked one year since the devastating Lahaina wildfire, which killed 102 people.
• Hawaii Catholic Schools held its annual Mass of the Holy Spirit Aug. 15 to kick off the academic year.
• St. Anthony Church in Wailuku held a blessing Aug. 25 for its new columbarium, the fourth such completed project at churches across the state.
• Hawaii-born Paulist seminarian Chris Malano made his final vows on Aug. 31.

September

• La Salette priests celebrated 20 years of ministry on Maui.
• On Sept. 4, Our Lady of Good Counsel School celebrated 60 years of providing elementary education in Pearl City.
• Sacred Hearts Academy marked 115 years since its founding with a weeklong celebration highlighted by an assembly and pep rally on Sept. 12.
• On Sept. 14, Bishop Silva celebrated Mass aboard the USS Missouri as the Fourth Degree of the Knights of Columbus held a historic installation ceremony.
• A family at St. John Apostle and Evangelist Church in Mililani was recognized by the Knights of Columbus as the organization’s Family of the Month worldwide for September.

October

• The 15-year canonization anniversary of St. Damien was celebrated Oct. 11.
• On Oct. 3, the Diocese of Honolulu announced a preliminary land sale agreement with Kahala Nui for a 6.5-acre land parcel in Waialae-Kahala.
• AGAPE Youth and Young Adult Ministry at St. Joseph Church in Waipahu marked 35 years since its founding.
• Kainoa Fukumoto joined the diocese as associate director of the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis.
• Bishop Silva asked all parishes in the diocese to offer the Communion cup, with implementation happening no later than Ash Wednesday on March 5.

November

• Catholic Charities Hawaii announced that President and CEO Robert Van Tassell would retire, with current Chief Operating Officer Tina Andrade assuming leadership on Jan. 6.
• Later in the month, Catholic Charities Hawaii announced that Denise Iseri-Matsubara would serve as executive director of the Catholic Charities Housing Development Corp.
• The Hawaii Apostleship of the Sea Ministry, which supports seafarers, gained its footing at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa in Honolulu.
• Father Khanh Hoang, the former pastor of St. Jude Church in Kapolei, on Nov. 1 became the new priest-secretary for Bishop Silva.
• Ninety-seven pilgrims from Hawaii attended the National Catholic Youth Conference from Nov. 14-16 in Long Beach, CA.
• The annual priest convocation took place in Waikiki from Nov. 18-22.
• On Nov. 20, Hope Services Hawaii announced it received a $2.5 million grant from the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund, which distributes money to programs nationwide that are striving to address homelessness, especially among families.
• The Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Movement marked 25 years of bringing young people in Hawaii together. Mass was celebrated at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa in Honolulu on Nov. 24.
• The Diocese of Honolulu was found to be in compliance with guidelines established by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to address allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy.

December

• Bishop Silva moved Hawaii’s observance of the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception from Dec. 8 to Dec. 9 due to the second Sunday of Advent falling on the usual Immaculate Conception feast day.
• On Dec. 5, Bishop Silva celebrated a “Naming of a Child” Mass at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa in Honolulu. The Mass was for mothers and fathers who have lost a child through miscarriage.
• On Dec. 7, the “Star Light, Star Bright” program united incarcerated mothers with their children for a one-day event at the Women’s Community Correctional Center in Kailua.
• On Dec. 11, parishioners filled Maria Lanakila Church for the first time since the deadly Lahaina wildfire in August 2023 in a “soft opening.”
• Bishop Silva ordained Preston Castro to the transitional diaconate at St. Joseph Church in Waipahu on Dec. 14.
• The Diocese of Honolulu announced the launch of Young Catholic Leaders, a new initiative that aims to support young adults in their professional lives by providing mentorship, networking and opportunities to deepen their faith.

2024 PASSINGS

Here in alphabetical order is a list of people with Hawaii church connections who died in 2024:

• Emme Tomimbang Burns, layperson
• Louis “Uncle Lou” Carnazzo, layperson
• Pauline Ahulau Chow, Kalaupapa resident
• Sister Anne Correale, Maryknoll Sisters
• Chuck Furr, layperson
• Sister Joy Giovannoni, Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet
• Brother Frank Gomes, Marianists
• Sister Joan Henehan, Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet
• Sister Norberta Hunnewinkel, Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities
• Father Alapaki Kim
• Deacon Stephen Kula
• Sister Marcelia Maglinte, Sisters of Charity
• Brother Liam Nolan, Christian Brothers
• Sister Margaret Perreira, Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet
• Sister Linda (Frances Joan) Quinones, Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
• Sister Isabel Rabbon, Maryknoll Sisters
• Sister Nancy Thomas, Maryknoll Sisters
• Deacon George W. Thorp Jr.