By Brother Dennis Schmitz, SM
Special to the Herald
Several years ago, the Faith of the Heart Marianist Lay Community in Hawaii embarked on a project of ministering to incarcerated women, to women returning from incarceration and to the families of incarcerated women. The group discerned this ministry with the help of the Pu‘a Foundation, an organization formed as a restorative justice project on the 100th anniversary of the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy.
Over the years the role of these Lay Marianists has grown as part of the Oahu Going Home Consortium (OGHC), formed by the Diocese of Honolulu’s Office for Social Ministry and Prison Ministry.
The coronavirus pandemic forced the OGHC to cancel one of its premier projects, the annual Star Light Star Bright Christmas Party. This party had been held for many years inside of the Women’s Community Correctional Center in Kailua for some of the women and their children. As a result, a new version of Star Light Star Bright was born this year.
The program found a new way to reach out to more people than ever before. Gifts and Christmas cards were written to all 225 women in the correctional facility. Gift baskets were prepared for the 63 families who care for the 135 children of these incarcerated women. In addition, gift backpacks and cards were prepared for the 25 teenagers in the nearby Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility, and another 45 backpacks made for paroled men and women living in transitional support housing.
In addition to the long-standing volunteers from several parishes, the Faith of the Heart Community has now successfully engaged the youth group from a local parish, the alumni of Chaminade University, middle school students from Saint Louis School, a Marianist K-12 school for boys, and the LIFE students from Saint Louis School and its sister school, Sacred Hearts Academy.
Throughout the year, the lay Marianists also participate in Oahu Going Home Consortium’s assembly of “welcome home baskets,” which contain bedding and toiletries and other needed supplies. The baskets are presented to the women at the prison gate at their time of release.
Kimmy Takata, a formerly incarcerated woman, explained to the volunteers that the women suffer from trauma and from constant messages implying they’re not loved nor appreciated. Simple gifts like a card or a welcome home basket show the women that they are not forgotten and that they are appreciated and loved.
For Kimmy, who was incarcerated for 15 years, eight of them in solitary confinement, the witness of the love and an ongoing religious experience proved transformative. Kimmy entered prison with a third-grade education but she will be graduating from Chaminade University in May as an environmental science major with a minor in psychology. It truly takes a village to create this miracle.
Now it’s time to start preparing Valentine Day cards.
Brother Schmitz is a member of the Marianist community in Hawaii.