HCH photo by Anna
Weaver
A small group discussion gets
underway at the leeward Oahu vicariate
planning session, April 16, at St. Jude Church in Kapolei.
Hawaii
’s largest vicariate ponders its future needs
By Anna Weaver |
Hawaii
Catholic Herald
Strategic planning arrived at the diocese’s largest and fastest
growing region and received an enthusiastic welcome.
Members of all 12 Leeward Oahu parishes gathered at St. Jude Church in
Kapolei on the evening of April 16 to hear and discuss preliminary findings of
the diocesan strategic planning committee for their vicariate.
The vicariate, with 12 parishes, one mission, 20 priests, six parish
schools, and about 362,000 Catholics, is the biggest of eight vicariates,
geographical districts, in Hawaii.
“This is our first take on the Leeward vicariate,” said vicar general
Father Marc Alexander, who led the meeting with diocesan director of planning
Tom Papandrew. “I feel a lot of energy and enthusiasm here tonight.”
The approximately 140 attendees listened closely as Father Alexander
and Papandrew gave an overview of five short-term and two long-term
“recommended actions” that were culled from individual meetings with the
parishes between October 2006 and January 2007.
Easels displaying in large-print the findings of each of the 12 parish
meetings stood like sentinels along the side walls of the St. Jude sanctuary.
After initial discussion about the current and future status of
Leeward Catholic schools (see accompanying story) and what happened to Synod
2000 recommendations, attendees broke into 20 small groups.
The groups discussed the findings and chose what they thought were the
top three short-term vicariate priorities. Groups also discussed who should be
responsible for the recommended actions — the diocese, vicariate or parishes.
As each group reported, with Father Alexander typing the results on a
laptop whose screen was projected on a screen, the top three priorities
emerged: 1) youth and young adult programs, 2) leadership development, and 3)
homeless programs.
At the end of the meeting, Papandrew announced for the first time in
public the $6 million purchase by the diocese of 23 acres in Ewa for a
multipurpose vicariate and diocesan gathering and worship space (see
accompanying story). The announcement received a round of applause.
Reflecting on the April 16 meeting the next week, Father Alexander
said he thought it went very well.
“It was a great representation of the vicariate,” he said. “I think
the priorities they focused on demonstrated a real interest not only to the
church internal but to the outside world.”
Papandrew agreed, saying, “I was pleasantly surprised that the
homeless issue was placed as such a high priority by everyone.”