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News Articles

Faith in Action After the Storm

September 22, 2026

Aerial view of storm-damaged pavement in Poipu, Kauai after Hurricane Lowell. (Tsunami Photgraphy / Shutterstock.com)

From the Office for Social Ministry

“Your support today is a powerful reminder that our island communities do not face these challenges alone." Bishop Michael T.T. Castori, SJ appeal letter for Hawaii Storm Relief and Recovery Fund 2026

Sometimes it takes stormy weather to remind us how much we need one another. When Hurricane Lowell brought destructive winds, torrential rains and flooding across Hawaiʻi, we witnessed painfully familiar scenes: damaged homes, blocked roads, disrupted power and communications, displaced families, and communities wondering what would happen next.

But alongside those images, another story emerged —a story of resilient aloha in action.

Even before Hurricane Lowell arrived, diocesan personnel connected with Kaua‘i parish pastors to listen, understand their concerns and prepare together. A Zoom meeting helped share reliable information from trusted county and state partners. Generators and Starlink communication equipment were positioned where needed, while telephone calls and text messages established regular check-ins before, during and after the storm. That listening and sharing—walking together—is an example of synodality in practice. And it made a difference.

Within a day after hurricane Lowell, Holy Cross Parish on Kauaʻi’s west side was serving as an inter-faith emergency food distribution center. On the east side, St. Catherine Parish combined food from its parish pantry with locally grown produce donated by parishioners to provide chili-and-rice bowls to hundreds of people. Within a week, volunteers from across Kauaʻi came together to clean up hard-hit St. Theresa Parish School so children could return the following week. And that same week, St. Raphael Parish was again a distribution center serving damaged communities in the southern part of the island. Each parish contributed what it could. Together, those gifts became a wider circle of care.

“E Hiki Mai Kou Aupuni”—“Thy Kingdom Come”—is Bishop Michael T.T. Castori, S.J.’s episcopal motto. Taken from the Hawaiian Our Father, it is a prayer for God’s Kingdom to become more fully present among us. On Kauaʻi, that prayer found willing hands. In meals prepared, supplies shared, schools cleaned and neighbors checked on, we can recognize the building of God’s Kingdom. These efforts are a vital part of the Church’s mission. They are ways we live that mission, helping God’s love be experienced in responding to needs together.

This experience also teaches us something important about disaster response ministry. It begins long before the storm. A parish knows its neighborhood. Pastors and parishioners often know the kūpuna living alone, the homebound neighbor dependent upon electricity for medical equipment, the struggling family living paycheck to paycheck, or the person without transportation who cannot drive to a distribution center. Those relationships become lifelines during emergencies because they help us notice people who might otherwise be overlooked.

Partnerships are vital to disaster response effective efforts as we work alongside county and state government, the National Guard, food banks, shelters or community organizations. Each brings knowledge, networks and resources. Parishes can help connect people—especially those on the margins—with resources while offering compassionate accompaniment with persons before, during and after a disaster.

In his recent letter appealing to fellow bishops for Hawai’i storm relief and recovery support,  Bishop Michael Castori recalled the extraordinary generosity shown to Hawaiʻi following the devastating 2023 Maui wildfires.

“Your support brought hope and much-needed assistance to families and communities facing unimaginable loss,” he wrote.Now Hawaiʻi again needs that solidarity because “the work of recovery and rebuilding will continue long after the storm has passed.”

Bishop Castori also asked all to pray “for those who have suffered loss, for families whose homes and livelihoods have been affected, for first responders and relief workers, and for all those working to restore our communities.”

Prayer moves our hearts and hands toward compassionate action. The Hawaiʻi Catholic Community Foundation has established the Hawaiʻi Storm Relief and Recovery Fund to help provide assistance where it is most needed. Supporting the fund is one concrete way we can stand beside families facing the long journey from immediate relief to recovery resilience.

Bishop Castori reminds us that our collaborating together before, during and after disasters demonstrates that “our island communities do not face these challenges alone.”

Parishes, dioceses, local and state government, nonprofits, businesses, volunteers each bring different gifts. When those gifts are coordinated, when accurate information is shared, when relationships are built before disasters strike, and when the most vulnerable remain at the center of our concern, we reveal something miraculous: we really are one ʻohana, one Body of Christ.

“Thy Kingdom Come” is a prayer we know by heart. In facing disastrous storms together, we have another opportunity to pray it with our hearts and hands—one meal, one phone call, one generous contribution, one act of resilient aloha at a time.

For assistance on Kauaʻi, visit KauaiRecovers.org. Contributions to the Hawaiʻi Storm Relief and Recovery Fund may be made through the Hawaiʻi Catholic Community Foundation at www.hawaiicatholiccommunityfoundation.org. Mahalo.