Hawaii Catholic Herald

Newspaper of the Diocese of Honolulu

Karen Victor, St. Rita Church, Nanakuli: Grow where you are planted

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Viriditas2: Soul Greening Interviewed by Sister Malia Dominica Wong, OP Hawaii Catholic Herald When the Picpus (Sacred Hearts) fathers arrived in Hawaii in the 1830s, the Hawaiian people recognized something familiar. In the stories told of Christ, the one who gave his body as bread and truth, they remembered the god Ku. During a famine, […]

Jenna Marie Cooper: Orthodox sacraments are generally off-limits

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Question corner Q: There’s a really beautiful Eastern Orthodox church in my neighborhood. Every time I pass by it, I always wonder, is this one of the churches that Catholics can attend? (Ohio) A: I think you might be confusing the Orthodox with Eastern Catholics. While the Orthodox have valid sacraments and very similar doctrinal […]

Effie Caldarola: Kidnapped African priest was beloved in Alaskan diocese

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Commentary Like many Americans, I remember the terrorist group Boko Haram because of its kidnapping of 276 Nigerian school girls in 2014. The world recoiled in horror, but eventually the news cycle moved on. So I was shocked anew when friends in Fairbanks, Alaska, reported early in June that a priest friend had been kidnapped […]

Msgr. Owen F. Campion: Nothing is impossible for God when we welcome him in

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Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Genesis 18:1-10a; Colossians 1:24-28; Luke 10:38-42  The Book of Genesis, unfortunately, bears the burden of being remembered, and is usually misunderstood, only in terms of its creation narratives. While the creation of all things and beings in existence by Almighty God is a major revelation, Genesis has much more to […]

Movie reviews: July 18, 2025

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“Jurassic World Rebirth” (Universal) Offered big money by the representative (Rupert Friend) of a pharmaceutical company to help him retrieve dinosaur DNA his corporation can use for advanced research, two special operatives veterans (Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali) and a paleontologist (Jonathan Bailey) join him on a journey to a remote equatorial island, one of […]

A priesthood journey filled with twists and turns

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By Celia K. Downes Hawaii Catholic Herald John Jacob Akau can trace his “long and winding” journey to becoming a priest back to his childhood in Pahala, on Hawaii island. Akau, 39, would celebrate pretend Mass — “playing priest with sandwich bread,” he said, a towel tied around his neck to resemble a vestment. And […]

Planting seeds of hope

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Catholics across the country get to view and venerate first-class relics of St. Damien and St. Marianne By Celia K. Downes Hawaii Catholic Herald St. Damien de Veuster and St. Marianne Cope have touched countless lives as their legacies of selfless ministry, compassion and faith in Kalaupapa, Molokai, have been shared across the globe. A […]

Talk story: Let us be living examples of Christ’s light for others

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Office for Social Ministry “In this Jubilee Year of Hope, Christ, who is our hope, indeed calls all of us to come together, that we might be that true living example: the light of hope in the world today.” (Pope Leo XIV video message, Chicago, June 14) Recently, tens of thousands gathered at the Chicago […]

Bishop Larry Silva: Apostles show us the power of love for Jesus

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Witness to Jesus | Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul Here is the prepared text of the homily delivered June 29 at Immaculate Conception Church, Lihue (also a celebration of Bishop Silva’s 50th anniversary of priestly ordination). Sometimes it is very difficult to serve the Lord. We would like to think otherwise, but the Scriptures […]