A Joyful First Sunday of Advent!

Fr. Joseph Diaz of St. Jude Catholic Church,

where I sold my book Serving God Joyfully Right Here in Hawaii

I invite you all to read my post at Diocese of Honolulu Spiritual Moms Apostolate.

Thank you, Bishop Thomas J. Tobin!

Thank you, Bishop Thomas J. Tobin! You are an inspiration! May we learn from your example of courage and commitment to uphold the teachings of the Catholic Church. Putting our faith into action, may she forever stand untarnished and her teachings unwatered down.

E Pule Kakou

The next E Pule Kakou, Hawaii Uniting in Prayer is scheduled for Thanksgiving Week, November 25-29, 2009. I encourage all parishes to register and participate in this event.

To register and for more information on what your parish can do, go to
http://www.epulekakou.com/register_church.html Answer the call of “E Pule Kakou” for all PASTORS AND CHURCHES who believe in the Lordship and salvation of Jesus Christ and the authority of the Bible to open their doors and set aside a time for prayer and repentance in their services on the week of November 25 to 29, and to invite ALL of the PEOPLE of Hawai’i, EVERY BELIEVER of Hawai’i, to go to participating churches to pray on November 25 to 29.

Timothy 2:1-5: “First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all people, for kings and all who are in authority . . .

Source: E Pule Kakou

In this video: vicar general, Very Rev. Marc Alexander, and Fr. Gary Secor, pastor of Holy Trinity Church and former vocations director.

What transpired after the dinner

After dinner the boys and young men went upstairs and did the Liturgy of the Hours with Bishop Larry, Fr. Peter Dumag and Fr. Jon Cabico. When that was over, questions about vocation and priesthood were asked by the participants. Some of the questions elicited a funny response from our priests, which made these young men feel at ease.

Bishop Larry then gave everyone his final blessing.

I waited for my son downstairs, and was happy to see them all with a joyful look on their faces!

What was served at Dinner with Bishop?

Find out what was served at the Dinner with Bishop. Visit the blog, Diocese of Honolulu Spiritual Moms Apostolate.

Dinner with Bishop

Here in our diocese, our clergy for vocations puts together, once a year, a boys' and young men's dinner with our bishop. Fr. Peter Dumag, who is the priest behind the scene, does a great job of doing that.

On Tuesday of this week, Bishop Larry Silva of the Diocese of Honolulu spent a good three-hour dinner and chat with 17 boys and young men! That is the biggest number ever that we had in our diocese.

Many of our seminarians have graduated from that simple yet warm approach to get to know our most humble, hardworking and very dedicated bishop. If you had the chance to know him, you'd be amazed at how simple and warm he is. He is the guy next door, the priest who shows up unannounced to say Mass at the Cathedral, the listener when Mass has ended, and the authority who creates positions, encourages and advices.

I must say that our bishop has a lot to do with our increase of attendance at his annual dinners and the increase in number of local young men going into the seminary (about 3 locals to now a total of 9 seminarians, and growing). That is so true, but in truth, our work in the diocese is collaborative. Many of those who already have been employees of the diocese have been tapped at greater degrees, an awakening to a level of more consciousness: putting passion in the work force by creating positions to attain goals that meet the needs of the parishioners.

My son, Joseph who is twelve, had the chance to attend the Dinner with Bishop. Unsure about going at first, my husband encouraged him to go and just enjoy himself. He did! Now, he looks forward to attending the next one.

A blog by teens discerning priesthood

This is a blog put together by young men

who are seriously considering the call to the priesthood.

Apparently, it was nominated for

Best Group Blog and Best Overall Catholic website for the year 2009.

A Vocation to be a Priest?

I found this site at Anne Bender's blog, Imprisoned in my Bones-Releasing my Inner Jeremiah!