Hawaii gains a new priest

Bishop Silva ordains William ‘Pila’ Tulua May 18 in a joyous two-hour liturgy at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa

By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald

By the grace of God, the power of the Holy Spirit and the laying on of hands, Hawaii gained a new priest May 18.

Bishop Larry Silva ordained William “Pila” Gene Matekiahelotu Tulua in a joyous two-hour Friday evening liturgy in the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa.

“Overjoyed” was the word his mother, Nicole Moreno, chose to describe how she felt seeing her son ordained a priest.

“It is overwhelming,” said Moreno, a Hilo resident. “We have waited so long for this. I knew he would do it.”

“The Lord could not have chosen a better man,” she said.

The ordination rite was a celebration of priestly brotherhood full of ancient rituals: a formal summons and recommendation, a prostration, the laying on of hands, an anointing, an investiture, a recitation of promises, a presentation of the symbols of ministry, a traditional prayer, a fraternal kiss of peace.

The Mass began with a procession of nine seminarian altar servers, 17 deacons, 62 priests, the bishop and the candidate for ordination, escorted by the Knights of Columbus wearing their new uniform berets.

The priests were vested in white and wore purple orchid leis. The bishop, in gold vestments, had a maile and tuberose lei.

After blessing the altar with incense, Bishop Silva greeted everyone.

“We thank God for the gift of the Holy Spirit that will be outpoured on Pila today,” he said.

The Mass continued with the Liturgy of the Word. After Deacon Rafael Mendoza read the Gospel — a passage about the Good Shepherd — the ordination rite began.

Tulua, in a white alb and the diagonal stole of a deacon, was presented ceremonially to the bishop as a candidate for holy orders. The bishop asked if he was “worthy.”

Father Rheo Ofalsa, the diocesan vocations director, replied that he was.

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 priesthood.”

The congregation replied, “Thanks be to God” and applauded.

In the midst of wolves

The bishop’s homily was a warning against the “wolves” that stalk shepherd-priests and their flocks.

Addressing Tulua directly, the bishop said, “And now you, Pila, have been chosen by God through the discernment of his church, to join the ranks of these good shepherds who will be your brothers and friends.”

“But good shepherds know that life is not always peaceful and tranquil,” he said. “There are wolves from which the flock needs to be protected.”

Bishop Silva defined the “wolves” as a priest’s own sinfulness, self-centeredness and contentment.

“Sometimes we want to be the center of attention, to make all the decisions, to do things that please us and neglect things that we find difficult,” he said.

“We can be so focused on the service of the altar and those who gather around it that we neglect to recognize that if we are going to bring glad tidings to the lowly, we must go out where the lowly are,” he said.

“It is in the midst of all these wolves that the Lord has called you to shepherd his beloved flock as a priest, Pila,” the bishop said. “When they are howling and hissing all around us, it is hard to feel like you are in verdant pastures.”

Bishop Silva concluded, “But the grace of Jesus, the Good Shepherd … will always give you courage to stay and never to run away, so that all the strays can be brought back, all the wounded healed, and all who are strong give eternal glory to the Eternal Priest and Shepherd of our souls.”

The bishop then queried Tulua regarding adherence to his priestly and spiritual duties. To five questions the candidate responded “I do.”

Last, the bishop asked for respect and obedience.

A large lauhala mat was then unrolled in front of the altar and Tulua lay face down on it as the church sang the long Litany of Supplication, its melody based on a Hawaiian chant, asking for the prayers of a host of saints, and God’s blessings upon the one to be ordained.

Tulua then knelt in front of the bishop who silently, solemnly laid his hands on his head, ordaining him a priest. All 60-plus priests, standing in the sanctuary, lined up to do the same.

After the last priest, a frail Father Dennis Koshko, laid his hands upon the newly ordained, Bishop Silva prayed the formal “Prayer of Ordination” over Father Tulua.

“May he be a faithful steward of your mysteries,” the bishop read, “so that your people may be renewed in the waters of rebirth and nourished from your altar; so that sinners may be reconciled and the sick raised up.”

Two priests then helped Father Tulua put on his priestly stole and chasuble, the outer garment, distinctive in its elbow-length, a style named after the 16th century St. Phillip Neri, whose feast day falls on the new priest’s birthday.

The bishop anointed the priest’s hands with sacred chrism stored in a calabash carved from the wood of Hawaii’s first Kiawe tree, planted by the first Catholic missionaries to the islands.

The bishop placed into the priest’s hands a chalice holding wine and a paten carrying the host for the Mass, saying “Receive the oblation of the holy people, to be offered to God.”

Bishop Silva then gave Father Tulua a “fraternal kiss of peace,” an embrace. In a show of fraternity, the priests all followed suit.

The Mass continued with the new priest at the bishop’s left, reading portions of the Eucharistic Prayer.

From beginning to end, the Mass was enriched by a strong multi-parish choir leading a wide variety of music, from the Hawaii-influenced compositions of Robert Mondoy to chants in Latin.

The church was about half filled with groups of religious sisters, friends, Mainland visitors, members of St. Elizabeth Parish in Aiea where Tulua worked for a year as a seminarian and others.

Seated in the front pew with Father Tulua’s mother were his grandmother Ruth Moreno, his aunt Olga Interiano, his uncle Charles Moreno and friend Isabel Cortez, all from California.

Charles Moreno told the Hawaii Catholic Herald that he was “not surprised at all” by his nephew’s priestly calling.

As a child, he was kind and considerate, he said. “He was always there for people.”

Before Mass concluded, Father Tulua gave his first priestly blessing to Bishop Silva and addressed the congregation.

“Thank you very much,” he said. “This has been a long time coming.”

He thanked his mother, the bishop, his seminary rector, his fellow seminarians and others.

“It is amazing what has transpired here,” he said. “I ask that you pray for me.”

Father Tulua, 55, was born in California in 1963 in what is now Silicon Valley.

After high school, he entered the Brigittine Monastery of Our Lady of Consolation in Amity, Oregon. He left after a few years and began studies in medical assisting.

He came to Hawaii in 1986 to enroll in Hawaii Loa College in Kaneohe with hopes of becoming a physician’s assistant, but later changed his major to pre-theology, earning a bachelor’s of religious studies.

While at Hawaii Loa, he started work as a bus driver for Polynesian Adventure Tours, a job he held for 23 years.

The idea of being a priest came as a suggestion from a friend. Tulua inquired further and was accepted by the Diocese of Honolulu. He was sent to Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology in Wisconsin, a seminary for older vocations.

His eight years of theological training included Clinical Pastoral Education at Queen’s Medical Center and a pastoral year at St. Elizabeth Parish in Aiea.

He was ordained a deacon last Aug. 15.

Father Tulua was to celebrate his “first” Mass of Thanksgiving on Sunday, May 27, at 10:30 a.m. at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa.

He has been assigned as parochial vicar to St. Catherine Church in Kapaa, Kauai.