May our devotion to Mary help us to fix our attention on Christ
and follow him confidently – and enthusiastically –
throughout this New Year.
This is my wish and prayer for us – for you and for me –
as we begin this New Year together.

While speaking those words to our Saint Anthony community, I was also mindful of those whose lives I touch beyond Maui.

Several visitors enriched our lives this past month. First was Ms. Judy Moehl who succeeded Brother Jim Vorndran as Medical Coordinator for the Marianists at Mercy Siena in Dayton. Then came Brother Leo Slay, SM, for a return visit to put the final touches on what is now the Trojan Café serving the students and faculty at Saint Anthony’s. He worked hard and well and returned home to Saint Louis, Missouri with another success story. His creativity and enthusiasm impressed staff, teachers and students. He was great for our community, too! So was Brother John Campbell, SM, who came over from Honolulu for a meeting of the Saint Anthony High School Board and helped us celebrate Chaminade Day. At the end of the month Mr. and Mrs. Myles McCabe were our guests for a lively weekend as Myles met with a group at the high school and helped us with the Just Faith program we are setting up at the parish.

On January 5 I represented our community at the funeral of Brother Paul Nomi. Because Brother Paul had worked closely with the Korean Community in Honolulu, the Mystical Rose Chapel was filled with Koreans all dressed in black. They had their own prayer service before the Mass of Christian Burial. I believe Brother Paul was the first Marianist of Japanese ancestry to die in the Society of Mary. And as far as I know he was also the first American Marianist who was cremated.

In union with our Marianist Sisters we thanked God for the gift of Mother Adele on January 10. To honor Blessed William Joseph Chaminade, Father Ray Malley celebrated Mass for the Grade School while Father Jim Orsini, Pastor of Holy Rosary Parish in Paia, was celebrant for the Saint Anthony High School Mass. Father Jim also joined us for our Chaminade Day dinner.

Mother Marianne of Molokai was beatified last year and on Monday, January 23, for the first time we were privileged to celebrate her feast. In my notes for Mass I included some comments about her work on Maui before she went to Molokai. Among other things, Maui Memorial Medical Center traces its origin back to Mother Marianne. We had three special SM anniversaries this month, remembering Brother Bill Schmitt and Brother Ed Gomez, both of whom had been principals at Saint Anthony’s and Father Joe Napier, long time teacher and parish priest. Father Joe died here and is buried here. We made our novitiate and first vows together in Beacon, New York, in 1944…we were also together in 1947 when we were both assigned to Saint Louis College in Honolulu. On Martin Luther King Day Brother Jim Vorndran accompanied me to Honolulu where
I underwent an amazing outpatient procedure to seal an opening in my heart in order to reduce the possibility of another blood clot moving to the brain. So three months after the mini-stroke I began a new phase in my life, assured that my heart and brain are functioning very well. I am grateful to Brother Jim for his care and concern and to the doctors who guided me through this period. Above all I am grateful for the prayerful support of so many. I am now “New and Improved” as I look forward to my 80th birthday!

Recently a front page article in the Maui News caught our attention: “A few years ago, Maui: the Valley Isle became Maui: the Magic Isle. And now it seems the slogan should be changed to Maui: the Mainland Isle. The number of Maui adults raised in the islands has dropped to 43 percent since 1988, while the population of Mainland transplants to Maui has leaped to more than 37 percent in the same time frame.” For a day or two there was snow on Haleakala, but the experts claim it was hail! In any event it must have been cold up there because the road for visitors was closed because of black ice. Meanwhile, midday temperatures at sea level continued in the low eighties. We had more showers than usual as we came to the end of the month, but we are still waiting for the so-called “rainy season.”
It is also the whaling season. An estimated 5000 whales make the journey to and from Hawaii every year.

Hawaii celebrates the New Year with fireworks and on January 29 we heard more fireworks as Maui celebrated the Chinese New Year the year 4047 in the Chinese lunar calendar and this year the Year of the Dog. The traditional greeting is Kung Hee Fatt Choy! The Chinese were the first ethnic group to be imported to Hawaii as contract laborers, but representatives of the Celestial Empire were in the islands as early as 1789. In China, Hawaii is referred to as the country of the sandalwood – the “fragrant tree.” Sun Yat Sen, the father of modern China, was educated in Honolulu and raised much of the money he needed for the revolution in China from the Chinese in Hawaii, which became known in Chinese history books as “the cradle of the Chinese Republic.” Maui’s history – and life today – is filled with contributions from the Chinese and their descendants.

ST