Bishop Larry Silva is traveling to France April 30-May 8 to join thousands of fellow Knights of Malta on their annual pilgrimage to Lourdes.
He will make the trip with two other Hawaii members of the charitable order and two “malades,” persons with illnesses who are given free travel to the Marian apparition site known for its miraculous healings. The malades will also be accompanied by members of their families.
The Order of Malta members accompanying Bishop Silva are Knight Thomas Cabrinha and Darryl Wong, a “provisional” member slated to become a knight next year.
This is Bishop Silva’s first visit to Lourdes as a member of the Order of Malta which he joined in 2011. The order requires of its members at least one pilgrimage to Lourdes.
According to Wong, the Hawaii contingent will join approximately 350 other Order of Malta pilgrims from the organization’s Western Association on a charter flight from Los Angeles to France.
According to the Order of Malta’s website, “Each May, nearly 4,000 knights and dames from all over the world travel to Lourdes to learn firsthand what belonging to the Order of Malta really means — devotion, service, and fellowship.”
They bring with them thousands of “malades,” whom Wong describes as “people with life-changing illnesses,” for the prayers, washing, and healing services that have made Lourdes a much sought-after destination.
Wong first went to Lourdes in 2006 with his father James Wong after the unexpected death of his mother who originally was scheduled for the trip. He said that, until he made the trip himself, he did not know the profound affect the pilgrimage would have on him.
“When you go, you understand,” he told the Hawaii Catholic Herald by phone last week.
Since then, he has gone nearly every year, and has also taken his wife and children.
He said it is a quite a sight to see thousands of knights, all in their distinctive uniforms, converging at the Lourdes site ministering to the sick and disabled.
The website describes the annual event as a “tremendous spiritual experience” as well as a “very enjoyable time” as members of the order from around the world meet and work together.
The Hawaii members of the Order of Malta belong to the United States’ Western Association, one of three national groups, the others being the American Association and the Federal Association.
The organization’s main purpose, both locally and internationally, is to care for the poor and the sick.
In Hawaii, Wong said, the group has been helping the Institute for Human Services, a Honolulu-based agency that serves Oahu’s homeless population.
The local group has only a handful of members.
“The challenge is not for everybody,” Wong said, because it involves a significant “investment of time and resources.”
But he said the organization hopes to a form an auxiliary group to involve more people and to “bring more awareness” of the order’s purpose and work.
