We’ve curated a digital Advent Calendar to keep you inspired and learning more this Advent season. There’s an assortment of Catholic content from across the web to enjoy including: – Videos on the saints whose feast days fall during Advent – Local Christmas videos – A reflection for each Sunday of Advent – Videos to […]
Office of Worship helps parishes prepare for Christmas crowds
By Patrick Downes Hawaii Catholic Herald Christmas is coming. This holiday year, traditionally high church attendance will collide with pandemic-imposed social distancing. The diocesan Office of Worship is offering suggestions on how to deal with that. On Oct. 30, Deacon Modesto Cordero, director of the Office of Worship, sent out his latest in his series […]
Bishop Larry Silva: The romance of Christmas
WITNESS TO JESUS | CHRISTMAS Here is the prepared text of the homily of Bishop Larry Silva delivered on Christmas, Dec. 25, at the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace and the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa In 1988, when I was a pastor of a parish in Oakland, my very dear friend was looking […]
Bethlehem family feels privileged to live in a holy place
By Judith Sudilovsky Catholic News Service BETHLEHEM, West Bank — Brothers Peter and Eli Hosh grew up knowing that their hometown was not only the place where they went to school and ran down to the corner market for their mother, but the town where Jesus was born. It is a lesson they and their […]
Early Kalaupapa Christmases
“Christmas is coming and a New Year approaches and I send you my best wishes.” – Father Damien writing to his family in 1885 By Anna Weaver Hawaii Catholic Herald Christmas in Hawaii in the mid- to late-1800s was a much simpler holiday than today. On Molokai’s isolated Kalaupapa peninsula, where those suffering from Hansen’s […]
Vatican unveils its Nativity scene, lights Christmas tree
By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — The Vatican unveiled the Nativity scene and lit the Christmas tree with energy-saving lights in St. Peter’s Square during a late afternoon ceremony Dec. 5. The 85-foot-tall spruce tree came from the forests of the Veneto region in northeast Italy and another 20 smaller trees were […]
Photo: Hugs and kisses
This year’s 20th annual “Star Light, Star Bright” Christmas party for women inmates and their children at the Women’s Community Correctional Center in Kailua took place Dec. 7. The moms and their kids had a chance to decorate cookies, watch a puppet show tailored to them, play games, make arts and crafts, enjoy lunch and […]
Sarah and David Hermann: Be present during the Advent season
EMBRACING FAMILY We prepare for basketball games and marathons, tests and job interview, birthdays and Thanksgiving dinner, Santa and Christmas. Preparing for sports events takes grit, perseverance and even pain. Preparing for birthdays and Thanksgiving dinner remind us to be grateful for every gift God has given us, to truly treasure our family and friends, […]
In Christmas message, pope prays for peace
By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — Delivering his formal Christmas message and blessing, Pope Francis prayed for a world where all people would recognize that they are brothers and sisters and would work for justice and for peace. The birth of Jesus proclaims that “God is a good father and we are […]
Photos: Christmas lights and sights
Kalanianaole parish lights Those driving along Kalanianaole Highway in Kuliouou have been treated with many wondrous lights coming from Holy Trinity Church. The display is the work of about 35 parishioners who came together on a Sunday afternoon to decorate the outside of their church. They had no plan, just hundreds of lights, enthusiasm and […]
