SaintTheresa
JULY/AUGUST 2021
Rom a n C atholic Church Parish Newsletter
Meet Fr. Arnel M. Soriano, M.S., St. Theresa’s New Pastor
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“I Hope to Journey with You”
s he reflects on his life and faith journey, Fr. Arnel M. Soriano, M.S. unhesitatingly names Catholic school as the most powerful influence on his vocation to the priesthood. “My teachers, the La Salette Missionaries, were close to my family and visited us in our home,” Fr. Arnel says. “I was active in school and church activities at the parish, but the community within my Catholic school was the strongest influence.” On July 1, Fr. Arnel officially joined our faith community as St. Theresa’s new Pastor. He was born in Ramon in the province of Isabela in the Philippines on Feb. 9, 1972. Within his family, there are five girls and five boys, and Fr. Arnel is the youngest of the boys. “I was raised in a rice farming family,” Fr. Arnel says. “My family is Catholic, and my grandmother was especially religious. As a child, my mom would always bring us to church. I was an altar server, so I encountered many La Salette priests.” After graduating from La Salette of Ramon in 1989, Fr. Arnel attended Central Luzon State University, continued on page 2
Fr. Arnel M. Soriano, M.S. at the La Salette Cross in France
25 W. Lipoa St.│Kihei, HI 96753│www.saint-theresa.com│808-879-4844
Saint Theresa Rom an Catholic Church
Meet Fr. Arnel M. Soriano, M.S., St. Theresa’s New Pastor continued from front cover
where he received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in 1993. “In seminary, I studied philosophy at the St. Paul Foundation run by the Pauline priests,” Fr. Arnel says. “Then I studied theology at San Carlos Graduate School of Theology run by the Archdiocese of Manila and also in the Philippines.” Fr. Arnel was ordained on May 4, 2004, then he was the assistant parish priest at St. James Parish in Santiago City, Philippines for approximately a year before transitioning to serving faith communities in Hawaii. “I have been assigned to many islands in Hawaii, but not Maui,” Fr. Arnel says. “Transitioning to Hawaii was not hard for me, but the language was difficult, although I learned English in seminary.” Every year, Fr. Arnel goes back to the Philippines to visit his family during vacation. He loves reading, dogs, and gardening. “Gardening is what really interests me right now,” Fr. Arnel says. “It makes me feel productive. We are in a tropical place, so I mainly grow tropical plants and traditional Filipino vegetables like squash and eggplant.” As he begins serving St. Theresa’s faith community, Fr. Arnel looks forward to meeting new people, forming new friendships, and learning alongside the parishioners as “co-journeyers” in our faith. “I will try my best as your Pastor, and I hope to be your prayer partner and to journey with you in your spiritual growth,” Fr. Arnel says. “I hope you will help me in my spiritual growth as a priest.” Let us join as a faith community in welcoming Fr. Arnel as our new pastor!
Fr. Arnel M. Soriano, M.S. at the St. Therese of Lisieux Basilica
“I will try my best as your Pastor, and I hope to be your prayer partner and to journey with you in your spiritual growth. I hope you will help me in my spiritual growth as a priest.” — Fr. Arnel M. Soriano, M.S.
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Stewardship:
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A "Need" to Give
hen the church needs a new roof or Hale Kau Kau needs donations, we jump at the chance to give for the sake of the need. It’s part of our human nature — we identify a need, and we want to give of our time, talent and treasure to help. But as a stewardship people, we are called to give of ourselves, not simply because the Church has needs — but because each of us has a need to give. As the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops states in its pastoral letter on stewardship, Stewardship: A Disciple’s Response, “We need to give our money to individuals and families in need, to the Church, and to other worthwhile charitable organizations because giving money is good for the soul and because we need to return thanks to a loving God for all of the many blessings each of us has received.” (67) As fellow members of the Body of Christ, created in God’s image, we should strive to go beyond simply co-existing with one another on earth. The life we live should be fueled by love for each other. This love should dictate how we live — by giving of ourselves. Jesus Christ showed us the perfect example of this self-giving love when He died on the cross. His death was a completely selfless act. He gave of Himself for our sake, offering us — through that gift — life everlasting. As Christ’s disciples, we follow His example, and we give of ourselves for the sake of others, out of love and an inherent need to give. That’s not to say that we gain nothing through our gifts. In fact, in His goodness, God sees to it that we do. Most of us have experienced what happens when we give of our time, talent or treasure. We feel as though we get more out of it than we give. If you speak to someone who serves at the soup kitchen or someone who has made it a regular practice to tithe to the Church, you are likely to find that he or she feels blessed to be able to give. As the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops points out, “To be a Christian disciple is a rewarding way of life, a way of companionship with Jesus, and the practice of stewardship as a part of it is itself a source of deep joy. Those who live this way are happy people who have found the meaning and purpose of living” (Stewardship: A Disciple’s Response, 21). Find out for yourself. Get involved in a ministry. Make a commitment to put some money in the collection basket next Sunday. Don’t wait to find out if there is a need — give of yourself right now. You will be richly blessed for doing so.
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Saint Theresa Rom an Catholic Church
Sacred Gesture: Sharing the Stories
The Sacred Gesture Ministry at St. Theresa has been active for decades, allowing our keiki and teens to grow closer to God while sharing the stories of our faith through dance.
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ere in Hawaii, hula is an important and beloved cultural tradition. It was natural, then, that the Catholic community in Hawaii developed a form of dance, storytelling, and prayer heavily influenced by hula — Sacred Gesture. The Sacred Gesture Ministry at St. Theresa has been active for de-
cades, allowing our keiki and teens to grow closer to God while sharing the stories of our faith through dance. “Sacred Gesture is a story that we tell with our hands, our feet, and our facial expressions,” says ministry leader Chanel Guzman. “It’s a story that we can dance to, and use emotion to tell a story about the Lord and what He has done in our lives. It is very similar to hula — where in hula, we are telling the story of the places and people of our islands, with Sacred Gesture, we have taken that to our place of worship. It’s not a performance, it is a prayer — it’s like we are lifting up our dance to give thanks to God. It’s quite beautiful in person!” Chanel took over the ministry in 2019 from Marsha Pascua, who led the ministry for many years and helped to pass down the dances from one generation to the next. “These are dances that have been done for years, and have been passed down from one generation to another,” Chanel says. “If you danced Sacred Gesture as a child, once you are an adult you can watch the kids and remember the same dances. I got involved as a parent because two of my children have been dancers, so I was there all the time during practice. When Marsha retired, she asked if I’d take over that responsibility. I really enjoy passing the knowledge on to the children and watching them grow.”
Children can begin dancing as early as age 5, and many often continue all the way through their high school years, with the older dancers acting as mentors for the younger ones. Chanel’s daughter, rising high school senior Makena Guzman, has been involved in the ministry since she was 5 years old. “I’ve danced for the majority of my life, about 12 years,” she says. “I fell in love with Sacred Gesture because I was always around it. It’s a great way to share the stories of everything through a dance, and different from the readings and singing at Mass.” “Because it’s a prayer, when we’re dancing in front of the altar, you can see the parishioners, and the dancers are able to bring so much joy and so many memories to them,” Chanel says. “They think of their children when they were little, and the experiences in their lives, and it brings them joy.” “Afterwards, people will come up to me and say that it really touched their heart,” Makena adds. “It’s cool to see people’s takes on it, and how it affects them. When I’m up there, I am sometimes really nervous, but it helps to know that it touches other people, and that it’s something they might remember for a long time.” With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the ministry was paused in the wake of church closure and continued on page 5
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of Our Faith and Traditions of Our Culture stay-at-home orders. Thankfully, in November, three dancers were able to serve at a Thanksgiving Mass. Although dancing with a mask on has been a challenge because of the important role that facial expressions play in Sacred Gesture, the dancers have adapted well and are looking forward to returning to serving at Mass. “We had three dancers at Easter, so we’re slowly coming back!” Chanel says. “I am getting requests from the choir to start dancing, so we’re going to see how many dancers we can get together, and hopefully start practices again to be able to dance on weekends.” Makena, too, is looking forward to more Sacred Gesture in her future. “It has brought me closer to God because when we learn the songs, we learn the story behind them,” she says. “Once we figure out the story and remember it, and as we go along with our emotions and expressions and delivery, it helps the parishioners get to know the song and the story. It helps me to have a different connection to that story and that song.”
Although dancing with a mask on has been a challenge, because of the important role that facial expressions play in Sacred Gesture, the dancers have adapted well and are looking forward to returning to serving at Mass.
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Saint Theresa Rom an Catholic Church
The Traits of the Christian Steward
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ach day, we strive to live stewardship in our lives, recognizing our roles as “God’s co-workers” in His creative, redemptive and sanctifying work. But in our quest to live as disciples of Christ, many obstacles often arise. One of the most prevalent roadblocks in living stewardship is understanding the traits that make up a good Christian steward. Surely, it would be much more convenient if we had some sort of “stewardship list” that could lay out the necessary steps to becoming a good steward. Unfortunately, it more often feels like living stewardship is a lifelong journey that we will never fully comprehend. Fortunately, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ pastoral letter on stewardship, Stewardship: A Disciple’s Response, gives some insight into the characteristics that make up a good Christian steward. The Christian steward should display some of the following traits: Insight — Before the disciples could live what we know as the stewardship way of life, they needed a flash of insight, or a certain way of viewing the world and their relationship to it in a fresh light. This “divine grandeur,” more than anything else, is often what sets people on the path to Christian stewardship (Stewardship: A Disciple’s Response, 39). Conscientiousness — Stewards are fully conscious of their accountability in sharing of their time, talent and treasure. As caretakers of the gifts that God has given them, they have the opportunity and responsibility to use them to their fullest potential to spread God’s Kingdom on Earth (40). Generosity — Christian stewards are generous out of love as well as duty. They should display a desire to share with and care for others based on the sacramental graces they have received. And they are also cognizant of the many
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warnings that the New Testament presents to those who fail in charity and authentic love (40). Joy — Christian stewards are often presented with difficult obstacles, but they should remain joyful in the face of challenges to their lives of stewardship. Like Paul, the good steward is able to say, “I am filled with encouragement, I am overflowing with joy all the more because of all our affliction” (2 Cor. 7:4). Only by serving with a joyful spirit will stewards fully reap the rewards of their service, both in this life and the next. Indeed, living as a Christian steward is a lifelong journey with many ups and downs along the way. But if we strive to consciously incorporate each of these characteristics into our giving of time, talent and treasure, we will find that the responsibilities of a good Christian steward will become much clearer with each experience of service.
Insight | Conscientiousness Generosity | Joy
Reaches out
Aloha Committee in Hospitality and Fellowship
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s Catholics, we must always strive to extend a hand to our brothers and sisters in faith. Throughout the tumultuous days of COVID-19, the hospitality shown by our Aloha Committee has proven to be more important than ever. By reaching out to both new and existing parishioners, the committee is able to create a welcoming environment and an easy way for parishioners to get involved in parish life. “Our general mission is to reach out to new and existing parishioners to make them feel welcome, make them aware of what the St. Theresa Catholic community is about, and offer opportunities to participate in the various parish activities and services,” says ministry leader Betty Arsuaga. “We, as Catholics, are all brothers and sisters, and to pray together at Mass is a joyful event. The Aloha Committee wants each parishioner to feel like a part of the parish.”
The Aloha Committee was initially formed in 2011 as a way to help new parishioners feel at home at the parish. The very first efforts of the committee were to reach out to all new parishioners with a phone call and invite them to a New Parishioners' Welcome Party, which was hosted in the parish rectory. Over time, the ministry has evolved to include a variety of hospitality initiatives. “Prior to the pandemic, one of our most visible activities was greeting each parishioner as they came to Mass, each of us wearing a lei with our name on it,” Betty says. “We made an effort to make eye contact and speak to each person as they came in. Doing this over time, we have gotten to know the parishioners and their families. We have also been honored every year to host the Stations of the Cross on one of the Fridays continued on back cover
“Our general mission is to reach out to new and existing parishioners to make them feel welcome, make them aware of what the St. Theresa Catholic community is about, and offer opportunities to participate in the various parish activities and services. We, as Catholics, are all brothers and sisters, and to pray together at Mass is a joyful event. The Aloha Committee wants each parishioner to feel like a part of the parish.” — Betty Arsuaga
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Saint Theresa Roman Catholic Church
25 W. Lipoa St. • Kihei, HI 96753 808-879-4844 • www.saint-theresa.com
Aloha Committee
continued from page 7
of Lent. We also send ‘get well’ cards to the sick or hospitalized, and sympathy cards to the family of deceased members of our parish.” The Aloha Committee has about 20 members who help out with these initiatives. With the onset of COVID-19, many ministry activities — especially greeting parishioners at Mass — had to be put on pause. Once St. Theresa was able to hold Masses again, many members offered up their help to keep parishioners safe.
“Once we opened, there were many new rules for safe distancing and seating in the church, which required us to change our functions,” Betty says. “Some of our members continued to be ‘safe at home,’ but others agreed to be ushers in order to make the parishioners feel safe and welcome. Once the pandemic is behind us, we will go back to our greeter role and having Welcome Parties for all our new parishioners. I think we may even have one for the rest of the parish, just to say, ‘Welcome back!’”
If you would like more information about the Aloha Committee or to get involved, please contact the parish office at 808-879-4844, or Betty Arsuaga at 808-267-2922.
Mass Schedule Weekdays: 7 a.m. • Saturday: 5 p.m. (English), 7 p.m. (Spanish) • Sunday: 7 a.m., 9 a.m., 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.