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RELIGION

Seminar will address
prayer from the heart

By Shirley Iida
Star-Bulletin

Tom Fragas would get angry and impatient when another driver cut him off. But now, rather than get upset, he prays the driver gets safely to his destination.

A Christian for 32 years, Fragas says it's the way he prays that has changed his whole outlook on life.

Most people pray from their head and not from their heart, he says, but the heart is where God resides and people learn to make better choices in life.

The Rev. Stephen Valenta, a conventual Franciscan for more than 50 years and the author of the book,"The Journey from the Head to the Heart and Beyond," will lead a three-day seminar at St. Stephen's Diocesan Center on"How to Pray with Your Heart." Dates and times are 7:30-10 p.m. July 28; 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. July 29; 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m. July 30. A donation of $20 is suggested.

Valenta is the founder of the Mount Saint Francis Hermitage in Maine, N.Y., and lives with a community of Friars at St. Francis Friary in Staten Island, N.Y. He has more than 40 video and 60 audiotapes on the market.

Valenta, who has heard confessions at the Vatican and given conferences to Mother Theresa's novices, has helped people from around the world discover a deeper fullness of life through prayer within the heart, Fragas said. "His work offers hope to persons of good will who are striving in their daily life to become a more perfect reflection of Jesus."

Fragas, a member of St. John Vianney Church in Enchanted Lake, said his prayers have become direct, more intimate conversations with God. He said he still makes poor decisions once in a while, "but I find that when I make bad decisions, I realize a lot faster that I made a bad decision.

"That's what it has done for me. I'd like to be perfect, but that's the journey through life."

For more information about the seminar, contact Pat or Peter Demmer at 487-1252 or Fragas at 261-3937.

Catholic Church agency
receives HMSA grant

HILO -- The Hawaii Medical Service Association Foundation has made a $49,500 grant to Mobile Care Health Project, the Office of Social Ministry of the Catholic Church announced.

The health project, providing dental and medical care to low-income, uninsured and underinsured people on the Big Island and Maui, is a project of the Office of Social Ministry.

Since the project began in 1997, it has provided services to 4,000 people, the agency said.