Tulua sits beside his mom Nicole Moreno at the start of the Mass. (HCH photo | Darlene Dela Cruz)
By Patrick Downes Hawaii Catholic Herald
In a glorious evening ceremony celebrating the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Honolulu’s Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa, Bishop Larry Silva ordained William “Pila” Tulua a deacon.
On Aug. 15, through an age-old rite filled with symbolism and purpose, the 54-year-old former tour bus driver took his last big step toward the ultimate goal of priesthood.
The Mass began as the sun was setting. More than two dozen priests and 16 deacons in white vestments, and seminarians and ministers of ceremony in cassocks and surplices filed two-by-two into the church’s gold-trimmed, white marble sanctuary as the choir led the spirited hymn, “Laudate, Laudate Dominum.”
Bishop Larry Silva ordains William “Pila” Tulua a deacon with the laying on of hands. (HCH photo | Darlene Dela Cruz)
Tulua, in the front of the procession, took his place in the first pew.
“We gather together in joy,” said the bishop, opening the liturgy.
In his homily following the Gospel, Bishop Silva called it a “glorious day” celebrating Mary’s miraculous assumption into heaven and a “new deacon for our diocese and the church.”
The bishop called the diaconate both a spiritual and a physical calling, comparing it to Mary’s mystical and bodily faithfulness.
“Going out to heal wounds by listening with the compassionate heart of Jesus is no mere spiritual work, but involves engagement of the bodily senses,” the bishop said.
And while, for Tulua, the diaconate is a step toward the priesthood, the bishop warned him not to think of it as “transitional, but rather as foundational, because no priest should dare to act in the person of Christ if he does not always imitate the one who came not to be served but to serve.”
The ordination rite itself began with the formal summoning of the candidate by Deacon Clarence Decaires.
“Let William Gene Matekihelotu Tulua-Alvarez who is to be ordained a deacon come forward,” he announced.
“Present,” Tulua said, standing and entering the sanctuary.
Diocesan vocation director Father Rheo Ofalsa then ceremoniously petitioned the bishop to ordain Tulua.
The bishop responded, “Relying on the help of the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ, we choose William, our brother, for the Order of the Diaconate.”
The congregation responded with a loud, “Thanks be to God!” followed with applause.
Bishop Silva, seated on the bishop’s chair, asked the candidate if he was ready to take on his new responsibilities.
“Do you resolve …” he asked seven times, outlining the obligations of the deacon.
“I do,” said Tulua, adding to his last response, “with the help of God.”
Then, in one of the more moving parts of the rite, Tulua laid prostrate, face down, on a lauhala mat as the cantor led the congregation in the Litany of Supplication, asking a lengthy list of saints to “pray for us.”
Then, at 7:45 p.m., halfway through the Mass, in the solemn act of ordination, Bishop Silva placed his hands on the head of the kneeling Tulua for eight silent seconds.
The new deacon was helped into his diaconal vestments, the diagonal stole and the dalmatic, a T-shaped outer-garment, after which Bishop Silva presented him with the Book of the Gospels, symbolizing the deacon’s duty to proclaim the Gospel.
The ordination rite concluded with the bishop and the 16 deacons present one-by-one embracing the newly ordained.
Deacon Tulua then took his place at the bishop’s right hand side, assisting him through the remainder of the Mass.
The liturgy was solemn. The music, a mix of old and new, Latin and English, accompanied by a robust organ punctuated by drums, bells and horns, vibrated through the long, tall church.
Near the end of Mass, the newly ordained Deacon Tulua gave a lei to his mother Nicole Moreno, who was seated in the first pew. He then walked with his mother to present a bouquet of roses to the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the left of the sanctuary.
After Mass, Moreno said she was “overwhelmed” by what just happened. Asked if she was surprised that her son choose the path to priesthood, said, no, that she had sensed her son’s religious calling when he was still a child.
Outside the church, Deacon Tulua, smiling, looking calm and serene, greeted friends and posed for pictures.
Born in San Jose, California, Deacon Tulua came to Hawaii, where he had family, in 1986 to go to college. He worked for many years as a tour bus driver before he seriously considered a vocation to the priesthood, a path he had tried briefly as a contemplative monk soon after high school.
He has been in formation at Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology in Wisconsin for the past seven years. The deacon has one more year of formal studies before his ordination to priesthood next year.
