The Episcopal Diocese of Hawaii will ordain four priests of Native Hawaiian ancestry and other clergy with local roots in the next several weeks.

They are among the first fruits of the Waiolaihui‘ia program, started in 2013 as a “concerted effort to raise up candidates to the ordained ministry who have deep local roots in the islands,” said Episcopal Bishop Robert Fitzpatrick.

The training program for priests and deacons is “especially intended for people who have family and/or occupational commitments that make leaving the islands difficult” to attend a traditional seminary out of state, he said.

“While the Diocese of Hawaii has clergy originally from Australia, Canada, the Philippines and the continental United States, it became clear that as a diocese we needed a sizable portion of our clergy pool that have family and deep personal ties to the islands. It is also pastorally essential to have clergy who understand the social and cultural reality of life in Hawaii,” Fitzpatrick said.

Phyllis “Mahi” Beimes and Malcolm Keleawe Hee will be ordained at 10 a.m. today at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church. John Hau‘oli Tomoso will be inducted into the priesthood July 30 at Good Shepherd Church in Wailuku; and Paul Nahoa Lucas, Aug. 27 at St. John’s by the Sea Episcopal church in Kaneohe.

Also during today’s ceremony, Annalise Marie Castro will be ordained as a deacon and serve as chaplain at St. Andrew’s Schools in Honolulu. On July 2, Louise Bowman will be ordained as a vocational deacon at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church in Kapaau on Hawaii island.

The Waiolaihui‘ia program works in partnership with a dozen other dioceses and the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas. The three-year program costs about $2,000 per year, plus books and materials, with the diocese absorbing other costs. It includes 10 weekends of intense training on Oahu.

Learning together

Hee said the first four students in the program selected the program’s Hawaiian name, “Waiolaihui‘ia,” which means “the gathering of waters.” He explained, “We chose this because we come from all over the state, and together we are intermingling and learning. Water, or ‘wai,’ is important in our culture as it sustains the taro that we grow. Water is also important in our church as an important part of the baptismal covenant.”

A Kapahulu resident, Hee has worked 28 years as an educator for the state Department of Education. For the past eight years he has also served as an adjunct professor at Chaminade University. He plans to retire from the DOE in two years and will serve at the Cathedral of St. Andrew.

Beimes, the mother of four adult children, said, “The timing for the start of Waiolaihui‘ia was perfect for my life plans.” In 2012 she retired from her post as a Navy assistant planning and engineering manager for fleet maintenance at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. She will serve as vicar of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church-Waimanalo.

Tomoso’s family is on Maui, where he has worked as a social worker in Kahului for four decades. He is a transitional deacon at Trinity Episcopal Church By-the-Sea in Kihei. Tomoso said he plans to hold onto his social worker employment, which provides him skills that benefit his ministry efforts.

Castro and Ernesto “Jar” Pasalo Jr. attended and graduated from Virginia Theological Seminary, a partner with Waiolaihui‘ia. While Castro did not grow up in Hawaii, she is a University of Hawaii graduate. Pasalo, a product of Maui, was ordained a priest after graduating more than a year ago, and has served with the Philippine Independent Church. He will be serving at St. Nicholas Church in Kapolei starting July 15, Fitzpatrick said.