"God"	"heaven"	"light"	"name"	"true"

 

“I cannot let my mind drift while attending 11 a.m. Sunday Mass,” said Elvie Inventado- Panganiban. She hears every single word. She has to. For those who can’t hear them.

Using American Sign Language, Inventado-Panganiban interprets the Mass for the deaf community and its advocates at Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Honolulu.

Inventado-Panganiban learned sign language at Sts. Peter and Paul, but her interest in serving people with special needs goes back to her native Philippines.

She is from the Diocese of Antipolo in the Philippines where she was a parishioner at the Shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage Cathedral where Sts. Peter and Paul associate pastor Father Conrado Lomibao had once been assigned.

She received her bachelor’s of science degree in architecture at the University of Santo Tomas and about 10 years later returned to school to study education to satisfy her passion for teaching. Her experience with special education led her to studies for children with special needs — the abused, neglected and the deaf.

So it was not a surprise that she chose stewardship in deaf ministry at her new parish in Honolulu. It is an activity her husband Rolando strongly supports

“Signing gives me the chance to reach out to people who are deaf,” she said. “With their participation in the celebration of the Mass, we help them feel how important they are to the Lord.”

One of her goals is to bring awareness and respect to deaf culture, and to assist in creating a pool of parishioners able to communicate in the American Sign Language.

Thanks to her magnetism and encouragement, it is not unusual to see others at the inclusive 11 a.m. Mass — choir members, eucharistic ministers and acolytes — signing words and phrases along with the members of the deaf community.

“When I began in deaf ministry, I had no idea how to communicate in the American Sign Language,” she said. “I am grateful for my patient instructors Sister Marian Tung and Evelyn Ho, who taught me to sign the Mass.”

She credits others too, including the parish’s advocates for persons with disabilities, Mary Hee-Wai, Valery O’Brien, Shau Jwo, Mark Dillon, Katie O’Brien and Cynthia Ventura.

She made her interpreting debut on April 2, 2006.

“Deaf Ministry is a unique way to serve God!” Inventado- Panganiban said.

“I feel so blessed to be part of this special ministry,” she said. “Come on in, join us. Let’s share the Lord’s grace.”