Bishop Larry Silva blessed the leaders of Catholic Charities Hawaii and Catholic Charities Housing Development Corp. (Jennifer Rector / Hawaii Catholic Herald)
By Celia K. Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
The president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA offered her perspective on leadership — acknowledging civic leaders for their service and example while also calling attention to society’s yearning for moral heroes — at the annual Red Mass ahead of the start of Hawaii’s legislative session.
Kerry Alys Robinson also spoke about her work with Catholic Charities Hawaii in the aftermath of the Aug. 8, 2023, wildfires on Maui during her keynote talk Jan. 14 during the Red Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in downtown Honolulu. She praised former President and CEO Rob Van Tassell and his successor, Tina Andrade, for their service and leadership as Catholic Charities Hawaii supported wildfire survivors.
“People of light who live lives of service have a contagious, irresistible quality to them,” she said. “I am convinced that our society, especially during our darkest moments, deeply yearns for moral heroism.”
“We are hungry for moral heroes and the compelling values that inform and sustain such heroism: Selflessness inspires selflessness, generosity begets generosity. A key to living a life of service is to pay attention to the role models in our midst; identifying and emulating the people who serve as our own moral heroes clarifies and refreshes our own purpose in life.”
In that light, Robinson spoke to the civic leaders present at the Red Mass: “Your public service, your leadership, your faith and your example matter — for your family members, your community members, your constituents and especially for young people.”
“People in your life are following your example very closely,” she said. “That is both a profound honor and a sacred responsibility — to serve as a role model for other human beings.”
Kerry Alys Robinson (Jennifer Rector / Hawaii Catholic Herald)
Robinson noted the rising uncertainty in society, saying, “We live in a time of decreasing trust in institutions. Increasingly our fellow citizens do not trust the government, the judiciary, the church, educational institutions, the media” and other entities.
One factor contributing to this “broad crisis in confidence” is failure of leadership, Robinson said. In that light, civic leaders could reassure their constituents by embracing “personal experience and encounter.”
“The more public servants of all walks of life allow their faith to inform their leadership, act with conviction and humility, adopt an other-centered disposition and compassion, and behave as their own moral heroes would, the more public trust would be restored.”
The service of saints
Earlier during the Mass, Bishop Larry Silva in his homily called attention to St. Marianne and St. Damien — whose iwi (mortal remains) and first-class relic, respectively, are housed in the cathedral basilica — and their work with Hansen’s disease patients in Honolulu and in Kalaupapa, Molokai.
Both were willing “to give up their own freedom and to freely imprison themselves with the sick, the outcast, the angry, the lonely, and the rejected,” Bishop Silva said. “They untied the yoke of despair, setting the oppressed free by loving them, sharing their bread with them, clothing them in the finest clothes they could find to restore their sense of dignity, sheltering them and healing them. They were light in the midst of much darkness.”
Their strength and motivation came from their unwavering faith in God, Bishop Silva said.
St. Marianne and St. Damien’s selfless service offers inspiration to people today, he said, “because we know in our hearts that our greatest freedom is to be able to serve, to make our community better by bringing hope and light where there is despair and darkness.”
Bishop Silva asked that “all of us who are public servants may be similarly blessed by offering ourselves to be a blessing to others.
“We even plead with God for those public servants who do not worship him but who are caught up in their own power, wealth and privilege, that they, too, may be blessed in all the ways Jesus wants us to be blessed,” he said.
Catholic Charities Hawaii staff members were among the Red Mass attendees. (Courtesy Dann Ebina)
Blessing of leaders
The Mass was well-attended by clergy — some two dozen priests and deacons — and people affiliated with Catholic Charities Hawaii; the number of civic leaders was about the same as last year.
State lawmakers in attendance included Sen. Mike Gabbard and Reps. Lauren Cheape Matsumoto, Elle Cochran, Rachele Lamosao, Garner Shimizu, Kanani Souza and David Tarnas.
Leaders from the City and County of Honolulu included Councilmember Calvin Say, Honolulu Fire Chief Sheldon Hao, Deputy Fire Chief Jason Samala and Department of Community Services Director Anton Krucky.
Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustees Kelii Akina and Keone Souza also attended the Mass, as did Col. Jeremy Beaven, commanding officer of Marine Corps Base Hawaii, and MCBH Sgt. Maj. Joseph Caputo.
In addition to clergy and civic leaders, members of royal Hawaiian societies, the Knights of Columbus, the Order of Malta, the Equestrian Order of the Most Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem and other faith leaders also filled the pews.
Attendance by the public was modest.
Catholic Charities Hawaii was well-represented as Bishop Silva bestowed a special blessing upon the organization’s new leaders — Andrade, who took over as president and CEO this month, and Catholic Charities Housing Development Corp. Executive Director Denise Iseri-Matsubara. Other members of CCH’s leadership team also were blessed: Paul Kobayashi, vice president of finance; Be-Jay Kodama, vice president of philanthropy; and Stella Wong, vice president of programs.
Van Tassell was among the CCH attendees, as was Jerry Rauckhorst, the longtime former president and CEO who is now on the organization’s board of advisers.
Bishop Silva followed the CCH blessing with a blessing for all civic leaders present.
