Deacon Dario Rinaldi assists Bishop Larry Silva at the altar at his deacon ordination Mass July 5 at St. Joseph Church, Makawao, Maui. (Photo courtesy of Dann Ebina )
By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
Bishop Larry Silva ordained Maui resident Dario Rinaldi a deacon during an evening Mass July 5 at St. Joseph Church in Makawao, Maui.
A year away from priesthood, Deacon Rinaldi is a “transitional” deacon as opposed to a “permanent” deacon.
On the phone with the Hawaii Catholic Herald from his parents’ home on July 2, Rinaldi said he had been spending the days leading up to his ordination contemplating his past and anticipating his future.
With his reception of the first sacrament of holy orders, Rinaldi said, “I leave my old self behind and enter into a new state of life.”
Bishop Larry Silva lays his hands on Dario Rinaldi, ordaining him a deacon. (Photo courtesy of Dann Ebina)
He said he had been reflecting on the appropriateness of the Gospel readings of the week before his big day where Jesus told potential disciples they had to “leave everything behind.”
“This is sort of the end of one life, and the beginning of a new life that I will live for the rest of my days,” Rinaldi said.
The sacrament “will provide changes to my very soul,” he said. “It is exciting and at the same time terrifying.”
Dario Luca Rinaldi, 26, of Makawao, Maui, was born in Eugene, Oregon, in 1993. His parents are Steve and Laurie Rinaldi. He has one younger brother, Victor. In 2000, when he was 8, the family moved to Maui for the warmer climate.
Rinaldi attended St. Joseph Elementary School in Makawao and St. Anthony Junior-Senior High school in Wailuku, graduating in 2011. From there, for college, he entered Mount Angel Seminary in St. Benedict, Oregon.
He is currently in post-graduate theology studies at St. Patrick’s Seminary and University in Menlo Park, California.
Rinaldi was 12 when he felt the tug of a religious vocation.
“It sort of happened when Pope John Paul II died and the whole world stopped for a week,” he said.
Watching on video the late pope’s funeral made “such a big impact on me,” he said.
Deacon Rinaldi’s parents, Steve and Laurie Rinaldi, give their son a ti leaf lei. (Photo courtesy of Dann Ebina)
“I was taken aback by the scale of the funeral and what he did to be loved by the whole world, being Jesus Christ to other people,” he said. “It really had an effect on me.”
Being Christ to others
The idea of “being Jesus Christ to other people was the spark” of his calling, which ripened in his final years of high school.
The seminary environment, “straight out of high school,” helped his vocation to mature even more.
“It made a big difference,” he said. In particular, he gained a “deeper understanding of the interior life” he had to develop before he could “bring Jesus Christ to other people.”
“Devotions had to become a central part of my life,” he said. From there he found a “richer understanding of the identity of priesthood as a mode of being, a way to be.”
“It was a massive shift in how I wanted to approach working toward priesthood,” he said. It was less about what you do than “the person you become.”
Rinaldi said that he has come this far only through the “support of multitudes of people in my parish, diocese and beyond” — most especially “spiritual support.”
“Prayer is what helps a seminarian make it,” he said. “Prayer made all the difference in me. The power of prayer couldn’t be understated. It takes rosaries, holy hours, fasting, all the types of prayer God answers.”
“I ask everyone to pray for vocations,” he said.
Moments before his ordination, Rinaldi lies prostrate in the sanctuary as the congregation prays the Litany of the Saints. (Photo courtesy of Dann Ebina)
Father Rheo Ofalsa, the diocesan director of vocations from 2016 to 2019 who entered the seminary in his late 20s after a military career, said he appreciated those who made a religious commitment early, in Rinaldi’s case, “right out of high school.”
“I admire men who, like Dario, have committed themselves to the Lord at an early age and will give the Lord the best years of their life,” he said.
Of Rinaldi’s dedication, Father Rheo said, “I know Dario to have a deep love for the Sacred Liturgy, and I appreciate how deliberate he is when serving at the altar.”
After ordination Deacon Rinaldi will be returning to his summer pastoral assignment at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Ewa Beach, Oahu. In the fall he will begin his last year of academics at St. Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park, California, while being assigned as a deacon to a parish in the San Francisco Bay Area.
His ordination to priesthood will take place next year.
