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A progressive voice in Hawai'i promoting the positive healing role of religion in public life by encouraging dialogue, challenging extremism, and facilitating nonviolent community activism
Husamuddin Akhras
Husamuddin Akhras, a native of Palestine, is the founder and president of the Aloha Peace House. Since 1999, Mr. Akhras has been a participant of this interfaith group.
It has been a great exercise for listening as well as an inspiration to expanding the concept of inclusiveness. Husamuddin has explored Hawaiian Spirituality, Native American, Christianity, Buddhism, and Taoism through the studying of Sufi philosophy.
He produced and directed documentary films for ‘Olelo TV: Forgiveness and Indigenous Culture for the Hawai`i Forgiveness Program, Honolulu, and Celebration of Love at Maui Sufi Camp; Husamuddin cross-culture vegan culinary is shown in his signature dish "Mother's Love."
Joan Chatfield, MM, PhD
Sister Joan Chatfield is the Executive Director of the Institute for Religion and Social Change. Her activities span numerous interfaith and inter-religious groups and she is a member of the Assembly of the Parliament for the World's Religions and the Executive Committee of the United States Religions for Peace. From 1999-2003 she was one of the representatives for the Maryknoll Sisters as an NGO with the United Nations in New York.
Sam Cox, BD, MSW
Treasurer
Rev Sam Cox is married to Kozue (Rima) Tomita and has two sons and four grandchildren. He is an ordained United Methodist Church minister currently serving as the Visitation Pastor for Kailua United Methodist Church. In addition to The Interfaith Alliance Hawai‘i, he helps coordinate the Interfaith Open Table encouraging interfaith dialogue. He is a board member of the Kokua Council for Senior Citizens, one of the oldest advocacy groups for seniors, which he helped organize in 1970.
Previous to “retirement” in 1998, he served as the Executive Director for Hale Kipa for Runaway and Homeless Youth for 23 years and before that the Executive Director of Mō‘ili‘ili Community Center for 9 years. In 1960 to 1965, he served as a fraternal social worker with the Airindan Community Center in downtown Tokyo.
Rev Cox has been honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Network for Youth and Hawai‘i Social Worker of the Year Award in 1999. He is a founder of the Hawai‘i Youth Services Network, and helped establish the Teen Line, Peer Listener, and Gay and Lesbian Youth Support projects and Kokua Council for Senior Citizens.
Wallace T Fukunaga, DMin
Rev Fukunaga was born in Honolulu, Hawai‘i and holds a degree in Asian studies from Harvard University, a Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and Doctor of Ministry from the Pacific School of Religion, where he was named distinguished alumnus and currently serves as consultant for advancement.
Rev Fukunaga was interim minister to Christ Church Uniting Presbyterians and Disciples, 1990-1991; minister to Waimea UCC, during the rebuilding following Hurricane Iniki,1991-1992 ; senior minister to The Community Church of Honolulu, 1993-2001; interim minister to Waiokeola Congregational Church, 2001-2004; and, interim Minister to Moanalua Community Church, 2004 –2006.
Alan Goto
Rev Goto was born in Kona, Hawai‘i and grow up in Aiea. He was graduated from University High School in Honolulu and was graduated from Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois; Bachelors of Science in General Business.
Served one enlistment in the U.S. Air Force; and recently retired from HMSA. He is president of the Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin Board of Directors and a Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii Board member. Received Tokudo or minor ordination by the Hongwanji. In addition, he serves on the boards of the Pacific Buddhist Academy, the Counseling & Spiritual Care Center of Hawai‘i and The Interfaith Alliance of Hawai‘i.
He is married to Rosemary Tamekuni Goto and has two sons, Sage and Ken. Sage and his wife, Melissa, reside in Portland, Oregon; Ken teaches English at St Louis High School in Honolulu.
Paul Gracie, PhD
First Vice President
Dr Paul Gracie was born in Whittier, California on August 21, 1953. He has been married since 1979 to Keo Sananikone, and has two children. Dr Gracie has worked as a restaurateur and a homemaker.
Dr Gracie received a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Hawai‘i in Sociology of Language and was a member of the AFSC Hawai’i Area Program from 1998-2004. His religious affiliation is Society of Friends (Quaker).
John R. Heidel, DScT
President
Rev Dr John Heidel was born May 7, 1937 in Idaho. He married Marian Stannard in 1962 and has three children: Eric, Kevin, and Melody. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Willamette University, Salem, Oregon in 1959 and a Master of Divinity degree from Berkeley Baptist Divinity School in Berkeley, California in 1967. Dr Heidel also received Doctor of the Science of Theology from San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo, California in 1978.
Dr Heidel spent five years as Minister of Youth at Central Union Church in Honolulu and 32 years as Chaplain of Punahou School in Honolulu. He retired in June, 2001.
He is a member of the Hawaii Conference of Religions for Peace; a member of Christ Church Uniting Disciples and Presbyterians, Kailua; and a founder of Religious Leaders for Assisted Dying. Dr Heidel is also a member of the Executive Committee for the Hawai‘i Council of Churches, and on the Board of Directors for Family Promise Hawai‘i.
Jean Sadako McKillop King
Advisory Board Representative
See Advisory Board section below.
Kekapa P K Lee, MDiv
Secretary
Rev Lee was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii. He is pastor at the Lili'uokalani Protestant Church of the United Church of Christ and very active in the national setting of the UCC in Cleveland, OH. He has earned a Master of Divinity, and won Na Hoku Hanohano for Best Religious Album of the Year in 1998. As a volunteer, he is also President of the Board of Directors for the Hui Kako'o Pa'ahao (Mission: "Recovery through Traditonal Hawaiian Spirituality") and has visited Hawaiian prisioners regularly at the Diamondback Correctional Facility in Watonga, OK; especially in their quest to practice their Hawaiian "religion" and spirituality.
Irene Matsumoto, BE
Second Vice President
Rev Irene Matsumoto is resident minister of Palolo Kwannon Temple. She attended Ochanomizu Women's University, Tokyo, Japan as a foreign student, holds her Bachelor of Education, University of Hawai‘i and is a graduate of Tendai Buddhist Training Center. Rev Matsumoto was with the Hawai‘i Department of Education for 28 years. She is president-elect of the United Japanese Society of Hawai‘i.
Jo-Anna Nakata, MPH
Ms Jo-Anna Nakata received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa and a Masters in Public Health from the University of California at Los Angeles. She has worked in both the fields of public health and agriculture. Ms Nakata has numerous years of community service having been elected to five terms on the Kahalu‘u Neighborhood Board and serves on many nonprofit Boards.
Ms Nakata has been recognized as an outstanding administrator by the US Secretary of Agriculture, USDA. Her religious affiliation is Roman Catholic.
Douglas Pyle, MDiv
Rev Douglas Pyle holds a Master of Divinity from Starr King School for the Ministry, a member seminary of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California.
He has been a minister with Common Ground Ministries since 1997, a small Buddhist sangha for exploring wisdom from diverse sources and practicing loving kindness in daily life. Common Ground promotes inter-religious dialog and community service, overcoming prejudices and injustice, and finding deeper peace among diverse peoples. It is informed primarily from Buddhist dharma as well as diverse sources of spiritual, literary and scientific wisdom.
Rev Pyle has also directed the volunteer service program for Hawai‘i State Hospital since 1997, providing community mental health education and occasional sessions in Satipatthana, or mindfulness meditation practice for patients, staff and volunteers.
Rev Pyle studied traditional Buddhist meditation at the Buddhist Studies Institute while at the Graduate Theological Union from 1992-1995, under the tutelage of Bhante Seelawimala. Rev Pyle participated at the 1993 Parliament of the World’s Religions, which inspired a course in inter-religious dialog which he taught at the Graduate Theological Union while a seminarian in 1995.
Michael R Saso, PhD
Dr Michael Saso has lived in Honolulu for 32 years, and also resides in Beijing, Macao, and northern Tibet. He sites his religious affiliations as Catholic, Daoist, Buddhist, Love, Sufi, and Zohar Kabala. He has worked as the Dean of International University Institute of Macao, and at the Advanced Asian Research Center in Beijing. Michael considers himself a nomad, and is honored to live and pray with monks in Tibet. He believes that TIAH is a model for world peace through inter-religious encounter, and is developing programs in Macao and Beijing on the Round Table meeting model.
Stephen Randolph Sykes, EOMC, DD
Bishop Stephen Randolph Sykes is Orthodox Bishop of Hawai‘i of the Inclusive Orthodox Church and resides in the monastic community of the Eremitic Order of Mount Carmel. He also serves on the board of the All Believers Network. Originally from California, Bishop Stephen has been a Hawai‘i resident for over 20 years.
He is co-author of Charting Your Goals: Personal Life-Goals Planning (Harper & Row 1988) and Charting Your Goals Life-Planning Guide for Teens (Dolphin Circle 2006). He holds degrees in philosophy from Loyola University of Los Angeles and divinity (honoris causa) from the Apostolic College of the Pacific.
Bishop Stephen is also the Web master for a number of Hawai‘i-based, non-profit organizations, including The Interfaith Alliance Hawai‘i.
Richard Tennes
Richard Tennes was born and raised in Chicago. His education has centered on the arts, history, and religious studies. He has a background in both Jewish and Christian studies, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from Roosevelt University in Chicago (in 2000). A longtime interest in Asian religions, particularly Buddhism, and an introduction to the Pure Land teaching of Shinran Shonin, led him to the Jodo Shinshu tradition. He received a Master of Buddhist Studies degree from the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, California, in 2007.
After moving, with his wife Parinya, to Hawaii in 2003, his involvement with the Buddhist Study Center and the Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin (Buddhist Temple) led to a decision to pursue the path of becoming a Jodo Shinshu minister. Following his studies at the Institute of Buddhist Studies Berkeley (I.B.S.), he received Tokudo and Kyoshi training and ordination in Kyoto, Japan. He has been serving as a minister of the Hawaii Betsuin since October 2007.
David Turner, MDiv
Rev Turner received his Bachelor of Arts from Stanford University in 1979 and his Masters of Divinity from Yale University in 1987.
An ordained minister in Hawai‘i since 1987, he has served as pastor of Kapa`a United Church of Christ and chaplain at Mid-Pacific Institute and Punahou School.
Rev Turner has also been active in social justice and outdoor ministry in various settings of the United Church of Christ. He is married with two children.
Advisory Board
Richard S O Chang
Bishop Chang was born in Hawai‘i and attended ‘Iolani School. He was ordained priest in 1966 and began his ministry as the Assistant Rector for The Church of Holy Nativity in Honolulu. He also served as Rector if All Saints Episcopal Church in Kapa‘a, Executive Officer for Diocese of Hawai‘i. He served as Assistant to the Presiding Bishop of ECUSA in 1992 until his ordination as Bishop in 1997 by the Most Rev Edmond Browning. He has served as Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Hawai‘i from 1997 until his retirement in 2007.
During his ministry, he has served on many church and community related boards, including Board of Directors for Aloha United Way, Anti-Racism Committee for House of Bishops, Board of Governors of Iolani School, Board of Trustees for Seabury Hall School and Saint Andrew's Priory. On Kaua‘i he did community service as a member of VOICE, an advocacy coalition for the elderly poor of Kaua‘i, the Kilauea Community Outreach Program, an advocacy program for youth, and a volunteer chaplain at G N Wilcox Hospital in Līhu‘e. We are delighted that he is willing to continue to serve as a member of our Advisory Council.
Daniel J Dever
Monsignor Dever is priest of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu. He is the retired Superintendent of Catholic Schools in Hawai‘i. When he was appointed, he was the youngest school superintendent in the United States and had the longest tenure upon his retirement.
Yoshiaki Fujitani, MA
Rev Yoshiaki Fujitani was born in Maui, Hawai‘i. He is married to Tomi Fujitani, and has three children. Rev. Fujitani was the Bishop of Hawai‘i’s largest Buddhist denomination, the Honpa Hongwanji Mission from 1975-1986.
He served in WWII with the Army Military Intelligence Service. He received his Master of Arts at the University of Chicago in History of Religions.
Rev Fujitani is an adviser of Big Brothers of Hawai‘i, and the Buddhist chaplain for the Honolulu Police Department. He is also a member of the eviction board of the Hawaii Housing Commission.
Teruo Kawata, DMin
Rev Dr Teruo Kawata was born in Delano, California, of parents who had migrated from Japan a decade earlier. The recipient of two bachelor's degrees (University of Chicago and Ottawa University, Kansas), he went on to the University of Chicago Divinity School for his divinity degree and for further theological study at the University of Southern California School of Religion.
His early pastorates were in Los Angeles and in Hawaii at the Nu‘uanu Congregational Church, ‘Iao Congregational Church and Waiokeola Congregational Church. From 1968 to 1970, he served at the Conference level as program minister and as Associate Conference Minister. In 1970, he was called from Hawai‘i by the United Church of Christ to take the position of Associate Secretary in the Western regional Office for Church Life and Leadership, a position he held for seven years. In 1977, he left San Francisco to answer the call of the Central Pacific Conference to fill the post of conference Minister there.
Rev Dr Kawata was installed as the General Secretary-Conference Minister of the Hawai‘i Conference of the United Church of Christ on November 11, 1979 at Kawaiaha‘o Church in Honolulu. He retired as the General Secretary and Conference Minister for the Hawai‘i Conference in 1989. He and his wife, Kiku, have three children and are presently residing in Hawai‘i. He continues to be a pastor, teacher, servant and dear friend to all with his love and care.
Jean Sadako McKillop King
Jean Sadako McKillop King was born and grew up in Hawai’i. She is the mother of two and grandmother of five. She holds Bachelor of Arts and Master of Fine Arts degrees from the University of Hawai‘i and a Master of Arts from New York University.
Ms King served as State Representative, then as State Senator in the Hawai‘i State Legislature. She chaired the Environmental Protection Committees in both the House and the Senate. She subsequently served as Lieutenant Governor of Hawai‘i. Currently, Ms King is also active with the Honolulu Community – Media Council, serving as a member of its Board of Directors.
Barbara Grace Ripple
Convener
Rev Barbara Grace Ripple is a retired, ordained United Methodist minister who served from 1998 to 2004 as superintendent of the United Methodist churches of Guam, Saipan and the state of Hawai‘i. Currently, she serves as convener of the Advisory Board of TIAH; also serves on the board of directors of the Counseling and Spiritual Care Center of Hawai‘i (formerly known as the Samaritan Counseling Center) and the District Division and Conference Board of Church and Society. Rev Ripple has served churches in Ohio and started the first United Methodist church in Saipan. She facilitated support groups for survivors of sexual abuse and domestic violence, and developed workshops for training clergy and counselors in how to identify and assist the needs of survivors. She leads spiritual formation retreats and is an advocate for justice, peace and understanding among all persons. Her husband, James Ripple, is a retired engineer/attorney. Together they have ten children, eighteen grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Peter Schaktman
Rabbi Peter Schaktman came to Honolulu in September 2005 to serve as the Interim Rabbi of Temple Emanu-El. In July 2006, he became the congregation’s permanent Spiritual Leader.
Rabbi Schaktman received his Rabbinic Ordination from the Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion in 1989. Since that time, the heart of his work has been as a congregational rabbi, where he has found enormous satisfaction learning, teaching, caring for members of the community and creating new approaches to meeting the challenges of synagogue life. As a congregational rabbi, he has served congregations in Houston, Lake Charles, Louisiana, Staten Island, and Livingston Manor, NY.
He also spent nine years working on the staff of the Union for Reform Judaism at their headquarters in Manhattan as a regional and national consultant in program development, synagogue management and the special needs of small congregations.
Rabbi Schaktman is a proud graduate of Oberlin College, and is certified in Chemical Dependency and Spiritual Counseling. Prior to becoming a rabbi, he also spent two years living in an Israeli Arab village as a community worker in Arab-Jewish relations.
Whether in sacred worship or in a classroom, in committee meetings or youth group events or his pastoral work, the central goal of his rabbinate has been to study, to teach, and to help others find meaning in their lives through the traditions of Judaism.
