Hawaii Catholic Herald

Newspaper of the Diocese of Honolulu

Kathleen T. Choi: I am the church

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It usually happens when I’m at a party with lots of drinking and laughter. One fellow starts joking about dumb haoles. As the cracks get crueler, other guests look nervously at me. “Not you, Kathy,” they assure me. “You’re different.” That bothers me somewhat. I’m just as representative of the white race as whichever Caucasian […]

Kathleen T. Choi: Is being rich a sin?

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We hear a lot lately about “income inequality.” The implication is that the rich are forcing everyone else to live in poverty. Several Bible passages appear to support an anti-wealth bias. A closer reading, however, shows that it is the misuse of wealth that brings condemnation, not its possession. Indeed, other verses suggest that God […]

Viriditas: Sister Anielyn Delicana, Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres

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Inspiration from the mouths of infants Every day my class begins with a short prayer that I taught the children. It is accompanied by some simple actions. “Dear Jesus, bless me today. Bless my family. Bless my teachers. Bless my classmates. Jesus, I love you.” When they come to the last part of the prayer, […]

Editorial: Seeking justice through the fog of years

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It’s disconcerting, to say the least, to see ads in the daily newspaper with photos of Catholic priests, placed by lawyers seeking past victims of sexual abuse by clergy in Hawaii. Distressing because the sexual abuse of minors is a horrible thing, all the more repulsive when perpetrated by priests and religious. But the ads […]

Mary Adamski: Listening — It’s an act of love

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How did they tell the story later, Peter, James and John, I wonder, Good Jewish men, they’d been raised on the story from centuries earlier about Moses going to a mountaintop and hearing Yahweh himself establishing his covenant with Israel. There the three humble fishermen were, on another mountaintop when they witnessed Jesus, joined by […]

Msgr. Owen F. Campion: Fourth Sunday of Lent

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Whose sin caused his blindness? 1Samuel 16:1, 6-7, 10-13a Ephesians 5:8-14 John 9:1-41 Drawing from the first word, in Latin, in the entrance antiphon for this weekend’s liturgy, this Sunday is sometimes called “Laetare Sunday.” Laetare means “to rejoice.” The church rejoices that even amid the drabness and penance of Lent, the glory of Christ […]

Kathleen T. Choi: I’m not making this up

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  Whenever Christians quarrel with the secular culture, our opponents use the same defense. Christians shouldn’t try to impose their values on non-Christians. As one woman told me, “Jews don’t eat pork, but we don’t insist that you abstain. Why can’t you show the same tolerance over abortion?” I don’t want to talk about abortion […]

Msgr. Owen F. Campion: Second Sunday of Lent

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Witness to the divinity of Jesus Genesis 12:1-4a 2 Timothy 1:8a-10 Matthew 17:1-9 The Book of Genesis is the source of this weekend’s first reading. As its name implies, Genesis reveals the divine origin of life, and it also reveals the divine plan in the forming of the Hebrew race. Genesis is a splendidly vivid […]