Joseph Dutton, layman
By Anna Weaver and Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
It’s another small, but significant, hop forward on the long path to sainthood for Kalaupapa’s Servant of God Joseph Dutton. On March 30, Bishop Larry Silva of the Diocese of Honolulu announced that preliminary steps are now done and the first session of the “diocesan inquiry” into Dutton’s beatification and canonization cause will start.
Bishop Silva will hold a short ceremony to mark that step, during a May 10 Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu on the memorial of St. Damien de Veuster. St. Damien preceded St. Marianne Cope and Dutton in service on the Kalaupapa peninsula, where Hawaii Hansen’s disease patients were isolated for fear of the spread of what was once known as leprosy.
Dutton’s cause first began in the diocese back in 2015 with the formation of the Brother Joseph Dutton Guild. A canonization advocate or postulator was then appointed. In May 2021, Bishop Silva issued an edict saying there had been an official request to open Dutton’s cause and asked for anyone to submit “pertinent information” about Dutton to the diocese. In November 2021, the U.S. bishops agreed that Dutton’s sainthood cause should be advanced by the Diocese of Honolulu.
Dutton’s cause is currently in a phase of three inquiries — of the local faithful, of the bishops of the San Francisco province to which the Diocese of Honolulu belongs, and of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints.
The inquiry of the faithful seeks positive or negative information about the candidate’s potential for canonization, for example, testimony of a person’s private devotion to Dutton or an experience of his intercessory power in prayer.
If the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints finds nothing that would indicate the cause should not be introduced, it gives the cause a “Nihil Obstat,” allowing it to proceed.
The “formal” process begins when the postulator sends the petition to the Congregation and they accept it, Bishop Silva said.
After this current inquiry phase comes the “historical cause” in which the guild researches Dutton’s writings and historical information to help the postulator prepare the “positio,” the position paper regarding the cause, to be presented to the Congregation.
Bishop Silva has appointed Msgr. Robert J. Sarno as Episcopal Delegate, diocesan judicial vicar Father Mark Gantley as Promoter of Justice, and tribunal staffer Roxanne Torres as notary.
Members of the “historical commission of the cause” are Father John Paul Kimes as president, Patrick Boland and Father Joseph Badding.
ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING THE FIRST SESSION OF THE DIOCESAN INQUIRY FOR THE CAUSE OF BEATIFICATION AND CANONIZATION OF SERVANT OF GOD JOSEPH DUTTON, LAYMAN
I am happy to announce that, with the completion of preliminary steps, we are now going to proceed with the First Session of the Diocesan Inquiry for the Cause of Beatification and Canonization of Servant of God, Joseph Dutton, Layman.
On Tuesday, May 10, 2022, I will celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at 6:00 p.m. at the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, 1184 Bishop Street, Honolulu, Hawaii. It is the Memorial of St. Damien DeVeuster. At the end of the Mass, there will be a short ceremony to formally open the Diocesan Inquiry Phase of the cause of Servant of God Joseph Dutton. The members of the Joseph Dutton Guild will be present, and the officials who will play various roles in the investigation of the cause will take their oaths of office.
It should be noted that beatification and canonization in the Catholic Church is a rigorous process, and there is no guarantee that the process will finally result in Joseph Dutton’s beatification or canonization. Nevertheless, many of the faithful in the Diocese of Honolulu and in other parts of the world have spoken favorably and are hopeful that Joseph Dutton’s holiness of life will be deemed by the Church to be worthy of public veneration and imitation. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will guide this process to its completion according to the will of God and for the good of his holy Church.
Most Reverend Larry Silva
Bishop of Honolulu
March 30, 2022
Honolulu Beatification and Canonization of the Servant of God Joseph Dutton, Layman
On 24th May 2021, in the name of the “Joseph Dutton Guild,” canonically accepted by me as Promoter of the Cause for the Beatification and Canonization of the Servant of God Joseph Dutton, Layman, Dr. Waldery Hilgeman, legitimately nominated by the “Joseph Dutton Guild” and approved by me as Diocesan Postulator of the same Cause, presented to me the Petition for the initiation of the Cause for the Beatification and Canonization of the Servant of God Joseph Dutton, Layman.
Having consulted with the Faithful of this Diocese of Honolulu, with the Bishops of the Metropolitan Province of San Francisco and with the Bishops of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, as well as with the Holy See, with this Decree, I, the Most Reverend Clarence Silva, Bishop of Honolulu, competent according to law to initiate the Cause of Beatification and Canonization on the grounds that the Servant of God Joseph Dutton, who died within the confines of this Diocese of Honolulu, and having verified the lack of fraud or deceit in initiating the Cause after more than thirty years since the death of the Servant of God, hereby accept the Petition of the “Joseph Dutton Guild” and initiate the Cause for the Beatification and Canonization of the Servant of God Joseph Dutton, Layman.
Furthermore, with this Decree I hereby nominate to instruct on my behalf the Diocesan Inquiry into the life, heroic virtues and reputation of holiness and of intercessory power of the Servant of God:
- Reverend Monsignor Robert J. Sarno as Episcopal Delegate,
- Very Reverend Mark Gantley as Promoter of Justice, and
- Ms. Roxanne Torres as Notary, with all the rights and duties attributed by special pontifical law contained in the Apostolic Constitution Divinus perfectionis Magister, promulgated by Pope Saint John Paul Il on 25th January 1983, and in the Norms to be Observed in Inquiries Made by Bishops in the Causes of the Saints, published on 7th February 1983 by the then Congregation for the Causes of the Saints.
Furthermore, in accord with n. 14 of the Norms to be Observed in Inquiries Made by Bishops in the Causes of the Saints, I hereby nominate as Members of the Historical Commission of the Cause:
- Reverend John Paul Kimes as President,
- Mr. Patrick Boland, and
- Reverend Joseph Badding
as Members of the Historical Commission.
I hereby order Deacon Keith Cabiles, Chancellor of this Diocese of Honolulu; the Officials of the Diocesan Inquiry; the Members of the Historical Commission; and the Reverend Siegfred Dosdos, Diocesan Postulator of the Cause, to appear before me at a Mass to be celebrated at 6:00 p.m. on 10th May 2022 in the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, Honolulu, so that, together with me, they may take the oath of office as prescribed by n. 6c of the Norms to be Observed in Inquiries Made by Bishops in the Causes of the Saints.
In faith.
Given at Honolulu, this 30th day of March, A.D. 2022.
Most Reverend Clarence Silva
Bishop of Honolulu
Deacon Keith Cabiles
Chancellor
