Summoned to the mountain

The bishop stresses collaboration as he meets for the first time with his newest group of advisors

By Anna Weaver

Bishop Larry Silva opened the first meeting of the new Diocesan Pastoral Council on Sept. 22 by reading from Chapter 28 of the Gospel of Matthew. The passage tells of the newly risen Jesus gathering his disciples on a mountain in Galilee and instructing them to “make disciples of all nations.”

Fittingly for this meeting, the bishop called together his newest group of advisors to St. Stephen Diocesan Center, which is nestled on a mountainside, on the windward slope of Oahu’s Koolau Range.

“I want to thank you disciples of Jesus who have responded so generously to the summons to come up to this mountain to begin working with me in this newly formed Diocesan Pastoral Council,” Bishop Silva told the 13 council members and four facilitators gathered Friday evening for the start of a two-day session.

“Why did Jesus summon [the disciples] to a mountain?” the bishop asked. “Perhaps it was because from a mountain you can take a wider view.”

The meeting had opened with a Mass and a meal in the center’s dining room — with its breathtakingly-wide view stretching from Kaneohe to Waimanalo — and continued with a two-hour introductory session in the second floor conference room of the Cullinan Building.

Continuing his scriptural comparison, the bishop noted that Jesus did not give his final commission to his disciples “one by one” but “as a community.”

“So he teaches us of the importance of interconnectedness and collaboration,” he told the attentive group. “It is in that ministry of unity that you are asked to collaborate, so that the mountaintop does not become an ivory tower far removed from the reality of life on the ground.”

Mostly lay people

The 14-member Diocesan Pastoral Council (DPC) is one of the bishop’s two primary groups of general advisors. The other, the Presbyteral Council is composed entirely of priests. The DPC is made up mostly of lay people.

Nine DPC members represent the diocese’s eight vicariates. Four come from Oahu, two from the Big Island and one from Kauai. The Maui vicariate is sending two, one from Maui, and one representing Molokai and Lanai.

Also, one member each represents the following groups: deacons, religious women, religious men, priests and the Presbyteral Council.

Besides their geographic representation, the members range in age from 39 to 70 and cover the diocese’s broad spectrum of ethnic backgrounds. Five are women and nine are men. Of the lay people, most are married with children. One member was unable to attend the first meeting.

Gathering grassroots input

The new council has half as many members as the DCP as it existed under the previous two bishops. The new group will emphasize openness, working with other diocesan advisory groups, and being truly representative of the different vicariates, islands or groups.

“Bishop Silva is clearly open to our input and wants to hear from us,” said Maria Sullivan, the Molokai resident representing her island and Lanai. “He wants us to be in touch with Catholics throughout the state to help discern what should be our pastoral mission. I guess I see part of our tasks as gathering grassroots input.”

As a past Diocesan Pastoral Council member and the current East Hawaii Vicariate representative, Nathaniel Chang thought the smaller size of the new council was a good change. “I think you sometimes get more things done with a smaller group,” he said.

“I just hope [the council] is very productive, that we’re able to get things done, that we’re good listeners and leaders to the people in our diocese,” Chang said.

One of the first major tasks of the DPC will be assisting of Bishop Silva’s diocesan strategic planning program. (See story on page 3.)

The first meeting, organized into four sessions, provided members with an overview of the diocese and a preview of the work ahead. However, before everyone got down to business, they spent some time getting to know each other and building a sense of camaraderie.

Diocesan Director of Religious Education Jayne Mondoy led an ice breaker Friday night using paper plates, which, she joked, signified how well the diocese would feed the members. Marking up the plates like clocks, the members made “appointments” with each other to ask each other such questions as, “What is your most treasured possession and why?” or “What would you be doing this weekend that you’re happy you’re not doing?”

Laughter and conversation ensued as the representatives milled about trying to keep their “appointments” straight. Later that evening, in groups of threes, members told each other how they developed their passion and commitment to the Lord’s work.

The weekend continued with guest speakers, exercises and discussions and ended with a homework assignment for members to meet with their respective constituencies.

Serving a consultative role

The Diocese of Honolulu had a Diocesan Pastoral Council for 11 years, starting under Bishop Joseph A. Ferrario in 1993 and continuing under Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo. The DPC was dissolved, in accordance with canon law, when Bishop DiLorenzo was transferred to the Diocese of Richmond in 2004.

Under Diocesan Pastoral Council guidelines, members are “called by the bishop to serve in a consultative role by advising and collaborating with him in the pastoral mission of the diocese.”

“It is the Lord’s work that we are doing,” Bishop Silva said in his homily for the opening Mass on Sept. 22.

“We are going to bring to the tables around which we gather the wisdom that we have been able to acquire through the years of our experience and our insights,” he said.

“But we bring them not as masters but as disciples, not as those who are in charge of this wonderful mission but as those who are collaborators with the Lord Jesus himself in establishing the Kingdom of God,” the bishop said.