Bishop's Cross 2022

The Bishop's Cross Award is an honor given to members in the Diocese for their faithful service to the Episcopal Church and community. This year, the Bishop's Cross presentation will take place during the Aloha Reception of Convention 54. Short bios about the six recipients are shown below, and includes one recipient who, although does not reside in the Diocese of Hawai'i, has been deeply involved and supportive of ministries in the islands. The Bishop's "Cross" is actually a beautiful koa box engraved with the Bishop's Cross.

Bishop's Cross 2022 Recipients:

THE REVEREND CANON DR. WINIFRED BAGAO VERGARA
The Rev. Canon Dr. Winfred Bagao Vergara, Asiamerica Missioner of the Episcopal Church will retire on January 1, 2023 after having served for 18 years since May 1, 2004. He has served under three presiding bishops: Frank Griswold, Katharine Jefferts Schori and Michael Bruce Curry.

A special Retirement Party will be given him at the Episcopal Asiamerica Ministries Churchwide Consultation on September 21-25, 2022 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Rt. Rev. Robert Fitzpatrick, Bishop of Hawai'i will grant him a Bishop’s Cross.

Taking over from his predecessor, the Rev. Dr. Winston Ching, Canon Vergara addressed himself to both “continuity and change.” He expanded what then Hawai'i Bishop Richard Chang called “a Pentecost ministry” into a richly diverse and yet strongly inter-connected ethnic communities.

The EAM grew into an umbrella of nine (9) convocations: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Southeast Asian, South Asian, Pacific Islanders, Arab-Middle Eastern and the Asian American Youth. The ethnic convocations meet annually for mentoring, fellowship and mutual support and triennially as a pan-Asian Consultation for leadership training and sharing of best practices. EAM Events have been held in various dioceses in the United States and a couple were held in Taiwan and Korea, respectively. So successful is the EAM enterprise that the Anglican Church of Canada emulated its example by forming their own “Anglican Canadian Asian Ministry” or ACAM starting from the Diocese of New Westminster in Vancouver, BC.

As Asiamerica missioner and one-time director of Ethnic Congregational Development, Vergara initiated programs both locally and internationally. To uplift the educational and ministerial status of the Asian clergy, he partnered with then Episcopal Divinity School (EDS) in establishing “Asiamerica Doctor of Ministry Program” which was funded by Constable Fund. To

cement the relationship of Asian churches, he partnered with the Partnership Office for Asia and the Pacific in developing the “Asia-America Theological Exchange Forum” with events held in both the United States and in some countries in Asia.

He initiated the ANDREWS Mentoring Program, the Karen Episcopal Ministry Formation and the Filipino American Ministry Institute as continuing education and training courses for clergy and lay leaders. He helped advocate for the inclusion of the Rev. Hisanori Kano to the “Holy women and Holy Men Calendar” (now “A Cloud of Witnesses”). Kano was the Japanese American priest who figured as a “saint among the internees” in the Japanese Internment Camps.

In his administration, Vergara advocated for the “mainstreaming of the marginalized,” which he put unto a book “Mainstreaming Asiamericans in the Episcopal Church” published in 2006. The Hmong and the Karen Episcopalians have flourished in his administration.

Aside from the many articles on evangelism, mission and discipleship, he also wrote a user-friendly booklet, “Being Episcopalian,” which has become a popular hand-out in baptism and confirmation classes. He collaborated with the Ecumenical and Interfaith Office to strengthen the Episcopal Church relationships with the Iglesia Filipina Independiente, Church of South India, Church of North India and the Mar Thoma Church.

To many colleagues, Vergara is known for his wit and humor. When asked why he is a “three-point preacher,” he replied, “I have three reasons: one, I am a trinitarian; two, I am the third child in my family, and three the most that people can remember in a sermon are three points.”

JOHN DECKER
Given that I will be 87 years old a week after the Convention, doing a short biography is a bit of a challenge. The one-sentence version is that I am a guitar maker with two degrees in aerospace engineering from MIT and a doctorate in plasma physics from Cambridge University; that I have held almost every governance position in the Episcopal Church that does not require ordination; that Linda+ and I will have been married 65 years in December; have a daughter whose husband is running our family company and two grandchildren who recently graduated from college and are started on their careers.

Professionally, I spent about ten years doing research on controlled thermonuclear fusion, then about twenty years as an R&D Manager in the semiconductor and aerospace industries, which included two new-start-up companies. I came to Hawai'i in 1981 to run the Air Force's satellite-tracking observatory on Haleakala. In the mid-1980s I figured out how to make really good-sounding acoustic guitars out of carbon fiber/epoxy ("graphite"), and eventually set up a company, RainSong Graphite Guitars in Kihei, to make them.

While Linda & I still own RainSong, I retired from day-to-day management in 1998 and handed it over to our son-in-law, Ashvin Coomar. RainSong makes around 1000 guitars a year - all of them steel-string and none containing even a stick of wood - and in retirement I make one or two guitars a year -- all classical or flamenco, and using traditional tonewoods as well as some graphite stiffening and my patented sandwich-construction soundboard back-licensed from RainSong. And somewhere in all this I have been a professional goldsmith, a management consultant specializing in non-profit organizations, and published over 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers, including two book chapters.

In the church, I have been Senior Warden of Trinity Church, Concord, Massachusetts, and Good Shepherd Church, Wailuku, Maui, Hawai'i. I have served on the Standing Committees of the Diocese of Massachusetts and (repeatedly) the Diocese of Hawai'i, and I have served (again, repeatedly) on the Diocesan Council of the Diocese of Hawai'i. I have been a Deputy to General Convention from Hawai'i (had I gone to Baltimore, it would have been my sixth General Convention). I have been very involved in the Cursillo movement in Hawai'i, serving as Chair of the Secretariat and as Rector of several weekends (usually with Linda as Rectora). I have been on the diocesan Budget & Finance committee (repeatedly, by whatever name), and served on the recent Strategic Initiatives Group. Currently, I am on the Vestry at Good Shepherd and am its Treasurer, am on the Diocesan Standing Committee, and serve on the Budget & Finance and Congregational Vitality & Viability Committees. And, of course, I am a lay reader and a Eucharistic Minister.

In the community, I served on the Board of the Maui Arts & Cultural Center for several years immediately following its founding. I have served on the Board of Ka Hale A Ke Ola Homeless Resource Centers continuously since a month or so after its founding in the 1980s until now, and have served as its President. I was a founding member of the Board of A Cup of Cold Water (ACCW, the Diocese's care-van ministry to the homeless on Maui), and remain on the
Board. Back in Massachusetts in the 1960s & 1970s I was on the Board of the Fund for Urban Negro Development (a community-chest-style supporter of Black charities), and was the founding President of the FUND for Urban Action, which provided non-tax-deductible (generally white suburban) money to support Boston's Black United Front. In this latter role, I became a - WHITE!! - de facto member of the Board of the Black United Front, on a first-name basis with Boston's Black leadership, Black Panthers included. On a much less dramatic note, I have been a member of the Rotary Clubs of Concord, Massachusetts, Maui (of which I was President), and Wailuku (President twice, still a member).

And, of course, Linda and I will have been married for 65 years on December 30. We were both still students and very young when we were married, but we managed my graduate work and service in the Air Force, raising two children (one of whom died of leukemia at age 11 in 1975), Linda's MDiv program, various career crises, our move to Maui in 1981, and Linda's ordination and subsequent service as a Priest of the Diocese. Our daughter Sarah's husband, Ashvin Coomar, is President & CEO of RainSong. Our grandson, Lance Coomar, has a degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan and works as an aerodynamics engineer for Boeing in St. Louis, Missouri. And, finally, our granddaughter, Alena Coomar, just got her degree in business & computer science from Northwestern University and just this month started working for KPMG in San Diego, California.

LOUISE LANI ALOY
Louise Aloy is the current President of the Diocese of Hawai’i Episcopal Church Women (ECW), a position she has held for many years. She served as President of Province VIII ECW from 2015 to 2018. Three years prior, from 2012 to 2015, she served as Province VIII Vice President and representative to the National ECW Board. She was elected to serve as the representatives for Province VIII Church Periodical Club (CPC) representative and the United Thank Offering (UTO) for the Diocese of Hawai’i ECW.

Her years with ECW began in the early 90s as Recording Secretary, moving up to Vice President, then eventually President, a position she still holds today. In 2018, Louise was recognized as a Distinguished Woman for ECW at the 49th ECW Triennial Meeting in Austin, Texas. She has attended ECW Triennial meetings since 2006.

Louise serves as the Junior Warden of Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Wailuku, Maui, and Chair of the Building & Grounds Committee. Louise is an active member of the church Vestry, serves as a lay reader, Eucharistic Minister, a former Sunday School Teacher, and Church Usher. She also serves as Chair for the Good Shepherd Women in Ministry (ECW) and is very active in various outreach ministries.

She is a Team leader for Ka ‘Ohana Kitchen's “Feed the Hungry” outreach program which has been serving a well-balanced meal every Sunday for the past 20 years. She also helps in securing much needed items (towels, tees, slippers, and toiletries) for A Cup of Cold-Water Community (ACCW) Outreach van that serves various parts of the island each week to the unsheltered and less fortunate folks in the wider communities of Maui.

Louise has served on Diocesan Council and served as Assistant Secretary. She has attended two General Conventions as a lay deputy. She is a former board member of the Commission on Native Hawaiian Ministry (CONHM) and has attended four Anglican Indigenous Network (AIN) conferences as a delegate in Vancouver, Australia, New Zealand and on the Big Island of Hawai’i. She has also attended three “Winter Talk” conferences in Nevada and Arizona representing ECW.

Louise has three adult children, two sons and a daughter, and six grandchildren (five boys and one girl). She works at the Ka’anapali Beach Hotel as the Purchasing Director/Retail Manager and has been employed with the company for 55 years. She is also an avid volunteer for the hotel when called to serve community related events.

CORDELIA BURT
I was born in Taft, California on June 22, 1939. I attended school in Taft, graduating from Taft Junior College and going on to the Conservatory at the University of the Pacific in Stockton California. Summers during high school were spent at the Pacific Music Camp in Stockton. Richard and I were married January of 1961. While living in Taft our family became involved in the ministry at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and I held many leadership positions at St. Andrew’s , in the Diocese of San Joaquin, In Province VIII and on the Board of the National Episcopal Church Women. and over the years.

In August of 2010 we moved to Ocean View to build our home and settle here to be available to work with the community and our church family of St. Jude’s. With the help of the family of St. Jude’s and the leadership team, we have been able to begin the Visiting Priest Program, open hot showers for those in need within the community, and serve a hot meal and fellowship while they are with us. We serve four community meals each year, Oktoberfest, Thanksgiving, Mardi Gras and Fiesta. We also have a Christmas Carol sing-a-long on Christmas Eve before the service. These all allow the community to come together for fellowship and community. We provide space for Ohana Care Home Health for training and meetings, 12-step programs, and Full Gospel and Assembly of God Churches, both Marshallese congregations.

IVAN M. LUI-KWAN
Ivan M. Lui-Kwan was born and raised in Hilo, Hawai'i. He has practiced law for 50 years, focusing on Hawai'i’s land use, administrative and real estate law.

Mr. Lui-Kwan is a Director of Starn O'Toole Marcus & Fisher law firm, has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America© for Administrative/Regulatory Law, Government Relations Practice and Real Estate Law, and named 2015, 2018 & 2023 “Lawyer of the Year” in Honolulu by The Best Lawyers in America©, in the practice area of Government Relations Practice and 2022 "Lawyer of the Year" in Honolulu, in the practice area of Administrative/Regulatory Law. He has also been selected to the 2017 & 2018 Hawai'i Super Lawyers® list(s) in the practice area of Real Estate Law. Mr. Lui-Kwan has a long-standing AV® rating from Martindale-Hubbell®.

Mr. Lui-Kwan has also been recognized as the 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award winner by Pacific Edge Magazine, and the 2015 Queen Emma Ball Honoree for his many contributions to the St. Andrew's Schools and the people of Hawai'i. He is Ambassador to the United States for the Maori King Tuheitia and was knighted by King Tuheitia in November 2015. He is also recognized as a 2017 Distinguished Alumni Award honoree from Saint Martin's University, where he studied Political Science and graduated with honors. In July 2019 the St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawai'i recognized him with the St. Francis Assisi Spirit Award.

He was presented with the Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce 'O'O Award.

From the beginning of his career, Mr. Lui-Kwan committed to improving the quality of life for all of Hawai'i’s residents, particularly those who occupy the economic and societal underclass in Hawai'i. His vision is a healthy community in which all Hawai'i residents have access to good health, fulfilled employment, comfortable housing and a pleasing physical environment.

In the course of pursuing his vision, Mr. Lui-Kwan has built a vast network of key allies in the three levels of government, in the native Hawaiian community, in the Pacific Islands countries particularly in Polynesia and in Micronesia, in the senior management circle of major businesses, in the justice system, and in the world of nonprofit organizations. Real estate, renewable energy, hospitality, health care, and transportation companies seeking to enter Hawai'i’s business environment, find his knowledge of Hawai'i’s unique environment and inner workings invaluable.

The following is a partial list of activities, which Mr. Lui-Kwan has engaged in pursuit of his vision for Hawai'i.

Government & Finance

Past Chairman of the Board of Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (“HART”). HART is the largest public works project in Hawaii’s history.

Former Director of Department of Budget & Fiscal Services, City and County of Honolulu. As Chief Budget Officer, he oversaw Honolulu's $1.2 billion operating budget. As Chief Finance Officer, he was responsible for the sale of general obligation bonds. As Chief Procurement Officer, he was responsible for procurement of all of Honolulu’s goods and services.

In 1990, he served as Statewide Manager of Senator Akaka’s first U.S. Senate Campaign, and Political Director for Senator Akaka’s 2006 Re-Election Campaign. From 1976-82, Mr. Lui-Kwan was a Campaign Manager of Daniel K. Akaka’s first and subsequent House of Representative race for Hawai'i County.

Culture…Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islands Organizations

A Native Hawaiian, Mr. Lui-Kwan is managing member of Hokukahu, LLC. Hokukahu is the for profit subsidiary of Hokupili Foundation, the native Hawaiian nonprofit organization which serves approximately 60,000 residents of the Hawaiian Homelands communities in Hawai'i. Hokupili’s mission is to create economic opportunity and capacity building for native Hawaiians.

State Chairman for the Committee on Energy and Environment for the Sovereign Councils of the Hawaiian Homelands Assembly

Ambassador to the United States and Hawai'i for the Maori King, Kiingi Tuheitia, and the Tribes of Aotearoa

Former President of the board of the Historic Hawai'i Foundation

Former Senior Management in Major Businesses

Trustee, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of The Queen’s Health Systems, one of Hawai'i’s largest companies, and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Queen’s Development Corporation. His responsibilities included oversight of Queen’s 21 operating companies including its medical clinics, health plans, laboratory business and its physician office buildings

Chairman of the Board, Diagnostic Laboratory Services; Chairman of the Board, Queen's Health Technologies; Director, Wilcox Health System; Vice Chairman, The Queen Emma Foundation Board of Trustees; Vice Chairman, Queen Emma Community Health Board of Directors

Justice System

Director and Vice Chair for American Judicature Society (National) and Vice-Chairman for the Hawai'i Chapter. The mission of AJS, a 100-year-old organization, is the improvement of the justice system in the United States

Former member of the Disciplinary Board of the Hawai'i Supreme Court

Nonprofit Organizations

Chair Emeritus for St. Andrew’s Priory School for Girls, a 145 year-old school founded in 1867 by Queen Emma

Director for St. Francis Development Corporation and for St. Francis Residential Care Community

Former Chairman of the Board, March of Dimes, Hawaii Chapter

Former Director, Chamber of Commerce of Hawai'i

* Portions of this bio are from the Starn O'Toole Marcus & Fisher law firm website.

THE REVEREND MAHI BEIMES
Four years ago, on June 25, 2016, the Rev. Phyllis Mahilani "Mahi" Beimes made history, becoming the first woman of Hawaiian ancestry to be ordained a priest in The Episcopal Church (Chronicle, August 2016). She had been serving as the Vicar at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Waimanalo, before retiring from her priestly duties in August 2020.

Mother Mahi was one of four in the first graduating class of Waiolaihui'ia Center for Ministry (WCM), the local formation program that was launched in January 2013. The program was designed especially for those who have families and/or occupational commitments in the islands, and would be unable to go through three years of seminary on the mainland. For most, it is a second career, and the fulfillment of a calling that had been put on the back burner.

Beimes had just retired from her job at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard in December 2012 after 38 years of federal civil service, and was serving on the Commission of Ministry at the time the WCM was formed. "I have always been a strong proponent of equal opportunity for men and women and I saw an opportunity to participate as the only female to make the initiative more inclusive and egalitarian," said Beimes in a reflection upon her retirement.

She was ordained to the diaconate during the 47th Convention Eucharist that took place at St. Alban's Chapel ('Iolani School) in 2015 (Convention XLVII, October 2015), and ordained to the priesthood in 2016.

CONVENTION 54: THE BISHOP'S CROSS 2022

Bishop's Cross 2022 Recipients: