8 years has past since the founding of this ministry. It seemed like only yesterday when 3 youths and 4 adults gathered together at sunset on a Saturday night to pray Rosary. Little did we know that we would spread across the Diocese of Honolulu. I remember kids from other ministries jokingly writing intentions in the SHWAY Book of Intentions saying, "I pray SHWAY spreads across the isalnd." They didn't know that their half said prayer would be answered. This is a story of children asking their Father for something not realizing His generosity, through Divine Mercy.

This is a story of heroic virtue of ordinary parishioners, inspiring extraordinary conversions. I stand in awe of my post stroke limping mother who struggles to kneel at the consecration in a parish that is exempted from kneeling due to lack of kneelers. She realized that the Eucharist is the same Christ that healed the sick, casted out demons and proclaimed the Kingdom of God. This is a story of enemies of the faith made defenders of the faith. I stand in awe of troublemakers who attended our bible studies to disprove the Catholic Church, only to find they would be making rosaries for others and painting Blessed Mother statues in parish courtyards. They realized that sometimes it takes an immigrant to teach a patriot true patriotism. Sometimes it takes a convert to show the beauty of the Church to a "Cradle Catholic."

This is a story about Divine Providence clearly seen within random curiosity. I stand in awe of how a UH student could randomly comment about a girl's scapular from California, leading her to become an advocate for life on Oahu. We've realized that God's will acts in us without us knowing. This is a story about reconciliation. I stand in awe of children singing Divine Mercy at the bedside of a dying woman wishing to become Catholic, leading her children to attend community. They saw that love is the painkiller to the pain of sacrifice.

It was 8 years ago that we didn't have enough money to buy rosaries, as we prayed with our fingers. But these few stories of the many made possible the printing of Handbook #2. It's the lives of these extraordinary youth and young adults that I have witnessed the Gospel preached, as they rarely used words to do this. Let us not plagiarize the works of God, but attribute to Him full credit and then some, for His Redemptive work that continues, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be.

Forever in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary,


Keith Febrero
St. Jude SHWAY
Coordinator of Youth and Young Adult Ministries