Speaking Presentation: May Statue-Crowning at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 5/1/2016

The month of May in Hawaii is traditionally the month of leis (Hawaii's world-famous version of the floral garland). The 1st of May, in particular, is celebrated as "Lei Day" in Hawaii, with locals wearing the flowery adornments to church, restaurants, and other celebratory events.  With this year's Lei Day falling on a Sunday - today - my Kailua parish of St. Anthony of Padua Church jumped at the opportunity to plan a May Crowning ceremony for Our Lady in conjunction with the popular Hawaiian custom.

  

Left: Parishioners gathering in the Parish Hall for the May Crowning ceremony.

Middle: My parish's Madonna & Child statue awaiting its crown.  Right: The crowning of the statue.

(click on each photo to view larger images)

So we honored Our Lady this morning with a May Crowning event that was held in our parish's gathering hall.  The ceremony was attended by parishioners; RCIA candidates; and many children and their parents from our C.C.D. [catechism] classes.  The program started with a brief presentation that I conducted about Mary’s unique role in Salvation History and in the Church, after which I also spoke about the Rosary Devotion and its immense benefit to our personal spiritual lives.

Immediately after the talk, our team of catechists led the audience in the recitation of the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary, which we prayed while viewing a slideshow of biblical passages and images depicting the life-events of Jesus and Mary that we were reflecting on.

VIDEO:  After the installment of the statue in the main church,
our children presented Our Lady with leis and flowers.

Following the Rosary, a family chosen for the occasion, crowned our parish statue of the Madonna and Child with a Haku Lei (head wreath) while the rest of us serenaded Our Lady with a Marian hymn.  After the coronation, four men proceeded to carry the statue on its portable platform, leading us in a short procession into the main church where it was installed in the sanctuary near the altar.  Our C.C.D. children then offered the Virgin loads of fragrant leis and small bouquets of flowers to top off our May Crowning event… and they all looked genuinely happy and excited to be doing it.

At the end of it all, the statue looked simply beautiful, covered almost to the top of its head with a variety of leis.  In fact, there were so many leis donated for the occasion, some of the leis had to be draped on the wooden platform so as not to bury Mary and the Holy Child’s faces under all the flowers... but that's Hawaii's Aloha Spirit for you - we love to add our local flair and go overboard when it comes to this sort of thing!

Our Lady's statue crowned and draped with many fragrant leis.

She will remain in the main church, near the altar, for the entire month.

... and lastly, I was deeply touched by the entire scene; watching the tender devotion expressed towards Our Lady by my fellow parishioners, especially the enthusiastic youngsters. I couldn’t help but think to myself that this is how the Holy Virgin should be honored during her special month of the year... and how children should be positively exposed to the rich traditions of our Church.  It’s just the right thing to do.

So Happy Lei Day, Blessed Mother - we love you!