Red Mass speaker: Eva Andrade

By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald

“Many pressing issues challenge our state,” Eva Andrade told Hawaii lawmakers and other public servants at the Red Mass celebrated by Bishop Larry Silva Jan. 16 at the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, however an unrelenting climate of “negativity” is smothering efforts working toward the common good.

Andrade, director of the Hawaii Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the Diocese of Honolulu, was the featured speaker at the diocese’s annual prayer to the Holy Spirit for courage and wisdom for Hawaii’s public servants.

She praised the civic leaders for their commitment to making people’s lives better.

“Homelessness, a lack of living wages, high vacancies in our state government that cripple our ability to provide needed services, families leaving our islands to find affordable living elsewhere, a rise in suicides, recovery from the devasting fire in Lahaina,” are serious challenges facing Island leaders, she said, but making them worse is “a relentless stream of critics.”

“Negativity has grown to the point of crisis,” said Andrade, who is also president of Hawaii Family Forum. “Over the past several years, I have witnessed more, and more vicious, verbal attacks against people in leadership positions including the governor, our state legislators, police officers, military personnel, judges, church leaders and just about everyone else.”

She said that participation in the legislative process is a right that should be encouraged, however, “personal attacks via emails, phone calls, text messages and rallies have turned into harassment.”

“This verbal abuse must cease,” she said.

“This does not align with the spirit of the Aloha State,” she said. “We are all created in the image of God, deserving respect and consideration.”

“For all of us, courage becomes the trait that propels us to action. The outcome of our efforts, whether we ‘win’ or ‘lose’ an issue, pales in comparison to the transformative power that unfolds in the aftermath. It is in the post-battle moments that our character is truly shaped and defined. Building good moral character is how we can best shape politics in Hawaii,” Andrade said.

“We work together because we love Hawaii and its people. We all do what we do because we want to make a difference. Whether we are the governor, the bishop, or a stay-at-home mom, we matter. Our values matter. Our decisions matter. Our lives matter,” she said.

Andrade used St. Marianne of Molokai as an example of a successful collaboration between state and church in the service of Hawaii’s people.

“I gained a profound understanding of the compassionate spirit embodied by a woman from Syracuse who journeyed to Hawaii at the desperate request of King Kalakaua to care for his citizens afflicted by Hansen’s disease,” she said.

“When it came to serving the people of Hawaii, Mother Marianne seamlessly bridged the gap between church and state,” Andrade said. “She set a positive example of what can be achieved.”

The Mass began with a Hawaiian chant by Ikaika Maliikapu Bantolina. State senators Brandon Elefante and Mike Gabbard read the two readings.

In his homily, Bishop Silva thanked God “for all of you public officials who are here with us today to join in prayer and worship. You are hereby affirming what our ancestors knew very well must be the basis of all our common living, acknowledging before all that God is our maker.”

Divine law as foundation

The bishop told the lawmakers that secular law should have divine law as its foundation.

“We can only thrive in liberty and justice when we conform ourselves with the inner law that God has placed in every human heart,” he said.

“How scary it is when others go their own way without any reference to the ultimate one, whose laws are our freedom,” the bishop said. “How blessed it is when we discern carefully so that the laws of our land will all correspond to the law of the God who made us, sustains us, and loves us always.”

The Mass, celebrated during the week of the opening of the state legislature, was sparsely attended this year, with only six priests and eight deacons, and about a third of the general public’s pews empty. Royal Hawaiian orders, who attend yearly, were well represented with about two dozen men and women dressed in black and wearing red and yellow capes and feather lei.

Members of royal Hawaiian societies attend the Diocese of Honolulu’s annual Red Mass, Jan. 16 at the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace. (HCH photo | Jennifer Rector)

Also in attendance were members of the Equestrian Order of the Most Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem and the Knights of Columbus.

The civic leaders who attended included Gov. Josh Green and Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke; state representatives Henry Aquino, Lauren Matsumoto and David Tarnas; state senators Brandon Elefante and Mike Gabbard; and Honolulu city councilman Calvin Say.

Also present were Anton Krucky from the Department of Community Services, Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee Keoni Souza, circuit court  Judge Catherine Remigio and former state representative Marcus Oshiro.

Gov. Green, who was attending the Red Mass for the first time as governor, said he has been to the Red Mass “many times.”

“I try to come every year,” he told the Hawaii Catholic Herald. “I have just a lot of dear friends that are in the Christian Church, including my mother. And in spite of the fact that I’m Jewish it is very fortifying to kind of show that we’re together.”

“And for me, it helps guide me as I govern, because then I get people’s perspectives who I care about.”

At the end of the Mass, Bishop Silva invited the civic leaders to stand for a blessing from himself, the priests, deacons and Protestant ministers. With palms extended, he prayed that the Holy Spirit descend on them and give them the grace “to discharge your duties with honesty and ability.”