Dr. Carmen Himenes: “Our schools must be Christ-like communities that make Jesus alive and present in our world”

Story and photos by Anna Weaver | Hawaii Catholic Herald

In her annual interview with the Hawaii Catholic Herald, the superintendent of Hawaii Catholic Schools Dr. Carmen Himenes discussed the importance, the challenge and the potential of Catholic education in Hawaii.

She shared her thoughts in an 45-minute conversation in her office at St. Stephen Diocesan Center on July 16.

Here are some of the themes that emerged from that discussion.

The hope and dream

“The hope and dream [for Catholic education] never fails to be that our schools continue to be ambassadors for our church; that we become Christ-like communities that make Jesus alive and present in our world. That’s always the overall call. That our teachers, who dedicate themselves to this ministry, do so for the purpose of making Jesus known and loved by our students. And that families who choose [Catholic education] understand that that is the primary purpose of our schools.”

The challenge

“The challenge is to continue to seek for ourselves a way in which we can better make Jesus known and loved, and ensure that our actions, our curriculum, remain very close to Jesus’ message and the church’s dogma and teaching principles. ... [It’s a] continual challenge to renew and rededicate ourselves and review every facet of our operation so that we live the mission of active faith living communities.”

Bishop’s convocations

“The Catholic identity of our school’s is paramount. Bishop [Larry] Silva’s message [at his recent education convocations on four islands] was very clear. Our schools really need to look at how we talk about ourselves in the mission of the church, even to the point of ensuring that the liturgical and sacramental life of our students is something that we proclaim, not just assume. The principals got that message very, very clearly.

“Bishop Silva also said that we need to be the living Christ. We need to ensure that the living Christ is present daily in our schools. The challenge with that then becomes the faith formation of all of our teachers; because, in point of fact, you can’t model and be the living person of Jesus Christ unless you have a strong relationship with Jesus Christ. So [another] challenge continues to be: How are we helping our faculties and school communities form themselves into a relationship with Jesus?”

The essentials

“[A Catholic school] is not just a learning community, it’s a learning community centered and based on faith.

“The call to service. In the public sector they use the term ‘service learning.’ For Catholic schools it’s more a concern for living out the principles of our Catholic social teaching. That we actually take seriously the condition of life. That we work with our students to really extend themselves to serve the elderly, the poor, the sick, those in prison. That we continue to mold our students, so that when they leave us, as an automatic response to being Catholic in our world, they take care of injustice where they see it.

“Liturgy, prayer and worship are essential components of how we live every day. So we pray together. We teach our students the importance of the sacraments — Eucharist, Reconciliation, all those pieces that make up who we are as Catholics.”

Standards

“The exciting thing this year is that we just got a new religion curriculum designed for us based on the standards asked of us by the Catholic bishops. We’re also launching an assessment process to evaluate the strength of our religion curriculum — what our students know and how they practice what they know.

“[The process will be] just like standardization [tests] in all other subject areas. What is it that we’ve done well? What do we need to improve? I’m especially interested in the assessment helping us measure how our students practice their faith.

“The assessment instrument is also going to show us what we need to do to assist our teachers in preparing themselves to best teach the curriculum of our faith. … Having standards for religious practice in schools has been a cry of Catholic educators for quite a while.”

Enrollment

“There are three things that have affected our schools that have really been a part of my service here. One is the whole changing in demographics, the whole movement out to the west side of the island [of Oahu] and the pressure that’s put on those people to gain a Catholic education. It has caused more of a population decrease in some of our Catholic schools.

“Along with that has been the number of charter schools and private schools that have definitely proven to be competitive for our enrollment stability. Parents and families, the research has shown, aren’t choosing us because we’re Catholic necessarily. For a lot of parents it is the safety, and the nature of the academic expectations. While those reasons are not bad — that our schools are safe and that our academics are something to be admired – that can also take place in any other private school.”

Affordability

“Along with that comes the second challenge to keep our schools accessible and affordable. As we have tried to meet the [financial] needs of our growing lay staffs, it has caused an increase in the tuition, which has then put our Catholic families and their ability to come to our schools somewhat at risk.

“Schools understand that they need to cover the total cost per student somehow, either in tuition or through alternative means of gaining money. Many of our schools are very cautious about increasing tuition to cover the total cost per student.

“In my time as superintendent it has been a big challenge. I think Sue Ferandin, [director] of the Augustine Educational Foundation, has done an outstanding job with her board and the bishop in procuring monies to advance scholarships for our students. We need to continue to seek alternative ways to make it possible for our Catholic families to access our schools for their faith formation and moral education.”

Leadership

“The last big challenge is leadership in Catholic schools. The job of being a leader in a Catholic school has lots of facets, including the spiritual, the structural, and the managerial. And you put all those things together and it is an enormous job. It requires education, it requires courage, it requires a faith life to lead a Catholic school. …

“The call of leadership is a very distinct vocation and to recognize that call takes a real conversion of heart. We start in education as teachers and that’s our comfort zone. That’s where we’d like to live because that’s what called us to education — serving our children and touching their minds and hearts in the gift of teaching. The call to administration takes [teachers] out of that comfort zone.”

Ten-year anniversary

“It’s an ever-changing job [since being appointed interim superintendent of Hawaii Catholic Schools 10 years ago]. It certainly is one where I feel like I’ve taken just a little stab at leading a powerful community in this particular venue. There is so much to do. It doesn’t seem like 10 years that I’ve been in this job at all. In fact, it kind of scares me that it’s been 10.

Diocesan planning

“For the first time in my superintendentcy, there is a view toward expansion of schools, expansion of the teaching ministry of the church in Catholic schools. That is probably the most hopeful thing I have heard or been privy to in a long time.

“It was in the Convey [Hawaii Catholic school planning] study in 1992 that we pursued a high school on the Leeward [Oahu] plain. And it had not moved forward because, prior to this bishop’s administration, there were several concerns over the financial stability of most of our schools. The first task has been to try and address those things, which we have been doing. That’s something I’m looking forward to and working with Father Marc Alexander and Bishop Silva to pursue.”