By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
More than 500 teachers, administrators and staff members of Oahu’s 33 Catholic schools left their classrooms dark Aug. 21 to gather at St. Ann Church in Kaneohe and call down the blessing of the Holy Spirit on the new academic year.
Presiding in dynamic fashion over the annual mid-morning Mass of the Holy Spirit was vicar general Father Marc R. Alexander who encouraged the educators to use their “imagination” to “discover more deeply the objective reality out there.”
From the opening song, “O God, Send Down Your Spirit,” led by an energetic musical combo from Our Lady of Good Counsel School in Pearl City, the liturgy was a buoyant hour of prayer. In characteristic classroom fashion, the upbeat hymns were accentuated by hand motions and clapping.
Thirteen priests, pastors and associate pastors of parishes with schools, concelebrated.
Free of pulpit or notes, Father Alexander took advantage of the broad theatrical ambiance of the new Kaneohe church, pacing and gesturing to send his homily message home.
“Your ministry is among the most important ministries in the church today,” the vicar general told the educators.
“Many of you as teachers will only have a short time to touch the hearts and minds of your students,” he said.
He urged them to use their “imagination,” not for “subjective artistic invention,” but as a “way to discover more deeply the objective reality out there.”
“We don’t know the world around us, or the world within,” he said. “Only the imagination will lead us to a deeper reality.”
The imagination is sparked through the acceptance of the Holy Spirit, he said.
“The Holy Spirit moves in our midst to challenge us to do great things,” Father Alexander said.
At the end of Mass, superintendent of Catholic schools Carmen Himenes gave a few introductions and offered a few acknowledgements. Among the special guests were Sue Wesselkamper, president of Chaminade University of Honolulu, and several of her administrative staff.
Father Alexander also introduced an order of religious sisters new to the islands, the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres who began administering St. Anthony School in Kalihi this year.
After the liturgy, the educators listened to a talk by Father Ronald Nuzzi, the director of the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) School Leadership Program at The University of Notre Dame.
A nationally recognized expert in the field of Catholic education, Father Nuzzi has written extensively on the subject.
Speaking on the “spirituality of teaching,” he said that the reason Catholic education is so successful is because it fosters a sense of community and civic engagement.
He called the Catholic school the “soul” of the Catholic Church.
“The Catholic school is the best tool for evangelizing that the Catholic Church has ever invented,” he said.
The parish never “subsidizes” its school, Father Nuzzi said, as if it were a separate enterprise.
The school is “part and parcel” of what the church does, he said. “It is required.”
He said that American Catholic schools’ seemingly endless struggle with finances and limited resources only enriches the endeavor.
“There is something in our poverty that blesses us,” he said.
Other islands with Catholic schools celebrated their own Masses of the Holy Spirit, Maui and the Big Island on July 31 and Kauai on Aug. 21.