William M. “Pila” Tulua at his diaconate ordination last August. (HCH file photo)
Bishop Silva to ordain William M. ‘Pila’ Tulua a priest on May 18 at the co-cathedral
By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
Bishop Larry Silva will ordain former tour bus driver William M. “Pila” Tulua a priest on May 18 in the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa.
The ordination liturgy, the final event of the annual convocation of Hawaii priests, begins at 6 p.m.
Contacted by email on April 20, Tulua reflected on his upcoming ordination.
“I was thinking of a particular quote and one immediately came to mind, ‘I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith,’” he said, drawing from St. Paul’s second letter to Timothy.
He said it has been “both joyous and difficult for me” to approach the end of eight years of priestly preparation.
“I have had my fears, wants and desires during my formation,” he said, “but I realize that God has called me to be one of the workers for his vineyard. I am not a perfect person and I will continually pray to be a good priest.”
Tulua gives special thanks to his mother, Hilo resident Nicole Moreno, “who has been with me on my sojourn to the priesthood.”
Tulua made his mandated pre-ordination retreat during Holy Week at St. Joseph Seminary in Dunwoodie, New York, spending “many hours in silence before the tabernacle.”
“It brought me a sense of peace knowing my love for Christ is more than my life,” he said.
For Tulua, 54, a California native who moved to Hawaii in 1986 to attend college, the path to holy orders was a long and varied one.
Besides working in Hawaii’s hospitality industry, he had also been a registered medical assistant and a monk.
In an interview last year, prior to his ordination as a deacon, Tulua explained how driving a bus for Polynesian Adventure Tours for 23 years, a job he started while studying at Hawaii Loa College, unknowingly helped him in his vocational quest.
“I eventually found myself in a full-time position,” he said. “I believe it was the Holy Spirit who had worked on me at this time.”
“I am a very quiet person,” he said, “but I believe this position helped me to get out of my shell and forced me to talk to people.”
“It has gotten much easier over time. Thank you, Holy Spirit for forcing me to speak through tourism,” he said.
Tulua, who is of Tongan-Mexican descent, was born in 1963 in what is now Silicon Valley, California.
After high school, he entered the Brigittine Monastery of Our Lady of Consolation in Amity, Oregon. It would be a temporary but significant stop in his life.
Learning to recognize more clearly the voice of God in his life, he left the monastery and for a while attended Clayton College of Medical Assisting.
He came to Hawaii in 1986 to enroll in Hawaii Loa College in Kaneohe and continue his studies in the medical field with the hopes of being a physician’s assistant.
When that didn’t work out, he switched his major to pre-theology, eventually earning a bachelor’s of religious studies.
The idea of being a priest came as a suggestion from a friend. He inquired further and before long he was packing his bags for Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology in Wisconsin, a seminary for older vocations.
His eight years of theological training included Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) at Queen’s Medical Center and a pastoral year at St. Elizabeth Church in Aiea.
He was ordained a deacon last Aug. 15.
Father Tulua will celebrate his “first” Mass of Thanksgiving on Sunday, May 27, at 10:30 a.m. at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa.
He will be assigned as parochial vicar to St. Catherine Church in Kapaa, Kauai.
