Bishop Larry Silva celebrates the Eucharist July 21 at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa on the 10th anniversary of his installation as Bishop of Honolulu. (HCH photos by Darlene Dela Cruz)
Hawaii’s permanent deacons attend the anniversary Mass. (HCH photos by Darlene Dela Cruz)
Comedian Frank De Lima as “Cardinal Vermicelli” gets a laugh out of Bishop Silva. (HCH photos by Darlene Dela Cruz)
Bishop Silva’s cousin Carmen Kiyabu reads the first reading. (HCH photos by Darlene Dela Cruz)
School Street fronting the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa the evening of July 21 was gridlocked as cars, turned away from the already full church parking lot, resorted to street parking at the permitted time of 5:30 p.m.
Bishop Larry Silva’s 10th anniversary celebration was going to be a full house.
That evening, in the co-cathedral, the popular bishop marked a decade of service as Bishop of Honolulu with a glorious liturgy, followed by dinner for all.
Nearly half the church’s pews were reserved — for the bishop’s family and friends, Hawaiian associations, religious men and women, deacons’ wives, the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre and others. Among the Mainland guests were the bishop’s brother Frank and sister Trudy.
Starting a few minutes after the scheduled time of 6 p.m., the entrance procession lasted nearly 15 minutes, through seven sung and three instrumental verses of “All Creatures of Our God and King,” the majestic hymn based on St. Francis of Assisi’s “Canticle of the Sun,” the source of the name of Pope Francis’ new encyclical.
Leading the procession were more than 25 members of royal Hawaiian orders of men and women dressed in black and wearing yellow feather leis and red and yellow shoulder capes, and seven members of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre in white floor-length cloaks and black velvet berets.
Following them were 35 deacons and 93 priests, accompanied by seminarian acolytes and a contingent of Knights of Columbus.
The church was packed. The brightly-lit sanctuary, decorated with arrangements of white and yellow flowers, was filled shoulder-to-shoulder with clergy. The Mass prayers followed a theme of stewardship and service. The music, rich and vigorous, was dominated by the island-influenced melodies, arrangements and adaptations of local composer Robert Mondoy.
The bishop’s homily was a contemplation of the Gospel which recounted Jesus’ washing of the feet of the Apostles. Speaking metaphorically, as Bishop Silva is fond of doing, he walked through a list of different kinds of feet — “youthful,” “lazy,” “weary,” “soft,” “guilty,” “comfortable” — which had stepped into challenging circumstances and were in need of cleaning.
“Ten years ago, I was anointed to bring glad tidings to the poor … in this little corner of the world,” he said. “Many times, I have wondered why I had been chosen.”
“I can’t thank God enough for being the shepherd of such wonderful people,” said the bishop, who wore a maile lei intertwined with ilima.
He said the years ahead promise “challenges, rejection, even persecution.” But he will continue to “run in glorious witness to Jesus.”
In a “renewal of commitment” following his homily, he asked the congregation for their prayers “that I may be made day by day a living and more perfect image of Christ.”
Near the end of the hour-and-40-minute ceremony, Bishop Silva, speaking off the cuff, recalled his installation ceremony 10 years ago at the Neal Blaisdell Center. While waiting nervously for that liturgy to begin, another bishop, himself named to a “difficult assignment,” gave him some advice on how to approach his new job.
“He told me, ‘Larry, you have to decide you are going to have fun,’” the bishop said.
“Thank all of you for making these 10 years fun,” Bishop Silva told the co-cathedral congregation. “It has been a great delight, a great joy. Thank God for the great privilege of being with you.”
After Mass, the congregation crowded in the parish hall for a catered dinner of chicken, pork, lechon, sushi, salad, pancit, andagi and more. Local comedian Frank De Lima, a former seminary classmate of the bishop, appeared in character as the Vatican curial official Cardinal Francis X. Vermicelli bearing “gifts” from Rome, a “Smells Like Sheep” cologne set — a takeoff of Pope Francis’ descriptive admonition to fellow bishop-shepherds to work closely with their flocks.
