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Mercy Awakens Hope

September 8, 2025

(beeboys / Shutterstock.com)

From the Office for Social Ministry

“Mercy is the very foundation of the Church's life...The Church's very credibility is seen in how she shows merciful and compassionate love...Mercy is the force that reawakens us to new life and instills in us the courage to look to the future with hope.”
~ Pope Francis, 2015 Jubilee Year of Mercy

Ten years ago in the Jubilee year of Mercy, Pope Francis called the Church to be a “field hospital” for wounded humanity, planting the seeds for this year’s Jubilee Year of Hope, now led by Pope Leo XIV. Both popes remind us that the Church’s mission is to walk with the afflicted — offering mercy that heals and hope that inspires. By emphasizing the importance of responding with compassion and spiritual guidance, these popes have called the Church worldwide to develop healing ways to welcome and embrace those who are suffering.

Here in Hawaiʻi, this mission comes alive everyday through organizations connected to the Catholic Church and rooted in compassion. Behind the scenes, many unsung heroes at the St. Francis Healthcare Hospice Services, founded by the Sisters of St. Francis, are accompanying persons suffering the serious health challenges of facing the terminal realities of our human mortality. A team of doctors, nurses, social workers, counselors, and volunteers surrounds patients and families with holistic support for body, mind, and spirit. Their very presence helps persons experience peace and dignity in the final days of passage from this life.Besides offering compassionate care at the 12-bed inpatient facility in Nuʻuanu, Oahu, St. Francis Hospice Healthcare also sends caregivers to private homes, care facilities, and foster homes to address the needs of the sick and their families. St. Francis Healthcare System offers pastoral counseling for people of all faiths, helping families cope with pain, loss and grief. St. Francis Hospice has many volunteers from the Diocese of Honolulu who play a vital role in accompanying the provision of services in a variety of very valuable ways that follow in the footsteps of Hawaii’s missionary saints, Father Damien and Mother Marianne of Molokai. For more about these volunteer opportunities to participate in and support this ministry of merciful compassion and hopeful presence, please visit their website at www.stfrancishawaii.org.

On the Big Island, HOPE Services Hawaiʻi, an affiliate of the Diocese of Honolulu, has also been compassionately accompanying vulnerable persons, listening to and addressing their critical needs. HOPE Services Hawaii tracies its origins to the homeless housing and mobile healthcare ministries of the Diocese Office for Social Ministry, inspired by the compassionate service of Hawaii’s saints Damien and Marianne. In 2019, HOPE Services Hawaii launched a Street Medicine program partnering with Hui Mālama na ʻŌiwi, and later with Premier Medical Group, bringing care directly to those living on the streets. During COVID, HOPE expanded and extended its testing and preventative health services plus opened their first medical respite center, Hale Maluhia Women’s shelter in Hilo. They continued to add accessible healthcare services for the most vulnerable, in partnership with Hilo Medical Center, offering clean safe beds, medical staff, and connection to wrap-around social services.  Thanks to Aloha Care, HMSA, Ohana and United Health, plus country and state funding, HOPE is able to provide street medicine outreach through highly trained teams. These teams include a psychiatrist, nurse practioner, registered nurse, certified mental-health substance abuse counselors and social workers to address the needs of very vulnerable persons through Medicaid Community Care Services. HOPE Services Hawaii now includes broader community partnerships to provide more affordable housing and accessible healthcare on the Big Island including; intensive case management for those with complex needs; rural outreach and behavioral health counseling; assisted community treatment for those unaware they need help; and integrated Care Hubs for stabilization and recovery in neighborhood communities. In recognizaiton of this innovative outreach approach providing accessible healthcare, HOPE Services Hawaii was selected to host the 21st Annual International Street Medicine Symposium in Hilo, from September 9-12, 2025. For more on how you can support and participate in HOPE Services Hawaiii, please visit their website at www.hopeserviceshawaii.org

St. Francis Hospice Healthcare and HOPE Services Hawaii embody the spirit of Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV’s Jubilee Year call to reflect God’s merciful hopeful presence in our midst. We give thanks for their inspiring commitment and let us all do what we can to help build a Church that is indeed a field hospital of healing where mercy awakens in all the courage to look to the future with hope. Mahalo.