Choir Director, "Aunty" Juanita Ramirez

She's got a sweet voice and the singing passion of a woman a quarter of her age, and I love her arrangements at Sunday Mass for St. Theresa Church in Mountain View, Hawaii.
It's a small church, uniquely suited for a woman who I suspect sang professionally at some point in her life. She has a theatrical bent as well, smiling beatifically when all eyes are on her.
I saw a different side of her yesterday when a memorial Mass was celebrated for her late son, Ernest Ramirez, who died on July 3 in Honolulu.
Aunty led the singing at this Mass, just like she does every week. I admired how she kept her composure until the very end, when she asked us to sit down while she sang "her gift to Ernest", who died at the age of 58.
It wasn't the best sung Ave Maria I ever heard, but it was the most deeply felt, a mother singing at the loss of her son, in the words of the hymn that asks for the Blessed Mother's intercession.
I have found my adjustment to yet another new parish and church in my life to be full of pleasant surprises, like Aunty Juanita. The parishioners at St. Theresa are no different than Catholics in most other parishes, except for what I would term their "local color". Like Aunty, the church has several unique personages, like the two ukulele playing choir members and the Eastern monk in full robe and head-covering (with a pony tail holding together his longish graying hair!). They have three churches at various locations along the highway that leads to Kilauea Volcano. Father hears confessions frequently, which is a wonderful opportunity for sinners like me! There are two holy hours with solemn Benediction each week.
When I first visited my son on the Big Island five years ago, he helped us lodge in a friend's house who was out of town, in the town called Volcano. St. Theresa's was the closest church, and I was immediately drawn to the reverent attitude within the church and liturgies. I saw it as the type of parish I would like to join should we ever move to the Big Island, and now we are members of this vibrant community. I am very pleased, as is Karol.
I hope one day soon to be more active in this parish, when I can spend more time on the island. But for now, I'm on "visitor" status until my work and studies for the diaconate are complete in KC.