During the month of September, I was blessed with an opportunity to spend some time visiting and working at the Newman Center on the University of Hawaii Manoa Campus, in Honolulu. Needless to say, there were no complaints about workplace location! The community manifests so much of the grace that is part of the Hawaiian understanding of ohana-a family that is based on more than bloodlines, and includes all who are friends and members of an intentional group. Indeed, one is immediately immersed in the Spirit of Aloha, which is the hallmark of the Islands. Aloha is commonly known to most as a warm and familiar sign of greeting and parting. However, in Hawaiian culture, the word encompasses as well a sense of living in the sacredness of the present moment, of being united in a loving spirit of kindness and humility. This is not a matter of belief or civility, but of a deep connectedness of all people to one another and to creation.
The Newman Center family is in the midst of significant transition, discerning its future staffing, mission, and programming. Often, these moments are ones of anxiety, uncertainty, and even anger, that can lead to community division or paralysis. Certainly there are feelings of sadness and frustration that change has come to the doorway of the community. Nonetheless, my abiding sense of these days is one of true aloha, a time in which the sacred connections of faith and family provide a stable, hopeful climate for addressing the future with vision and creativity. This is an ohana, not a happenstance collection of individuals who gather for mass or projects. Their familial spirit is a glowing example of the ways in which the influences of indigenous cultures can help us to shape a healthier model for life and work, individually and communally.
I was also graced with the opportunity to spend nearly four days on the Big Island (Hawaii). There, in the midst of the Hilo Coast botanical marvels, the smoldering caldera of Kilauea (a currently active volcano), and the underwater magic of multi-colored fish and sea turtles, I was reminded of (and inspirited by) the reality of the aloha that links everyone here to the land, the water, the spellbinding variety of living creatures, and to their human companions. So often on the mainland, we have too much space and too much speed for our own good balance of mind and soul. There is much we can learn from the reality of ohana in the Newman Center community, the union of heart in a family of faith, as we live out together the possibilities of our own spirit of aloha.
Aloha nui loa!
The Newman Center family is in the midst of significant transition, discerning its future staffing, mission, and programming. Often, these moments are ones of anxiety, uncertainty, and even anger, that can lead to community division or paralysis. Certainly there are feelings of sadness and frustration that change has come to the doorway of the community. Nonetheless, my abiding sense of these days is one of true aloha, a time in which the sacred connections of faith and family provide a stable, hopeful climate for addressing the future with vision and creativity. This is an ohana, not a happenstance collection of individuals who gather for mass or projects. Their familial spirit is a glowing example of the ways in which the influences of indigenous cultures can help us to shape a healthier model for life and work, individually and communally.
I was also graced with the opportunity to spend nearly four days on the Big Island (Hawaii). There, in the midst of the Hilo Coast botanical marvels, the smoldering caldera of Kilauea (a currently active volcano), and the underwater magic of multi-colored fish and sea turtles, I was reminded of (and inspirited by) the reality of the aloha that links everyone here to the land, the water, the spellbinding variety of living creatures, and to their human companions. So often on the mainland, we have too much space and too much speed for our own good balance of mind and soul. There is much we can learn from the reality of ohana in the Newman Center community, the union of heart in a family of faith, as we live out together the possibilities of our own spirit of aloha.
Aloha nui loa!
Written by Fr. David C. Robinson, S.J., LIS Associate Director
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