Bishop Larry Silva congratulates the newly ordained Father Arrion Rosales-Llantos after his ordination Mass May 19 at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa. (HCH photo | Anna Weaver)
By Anna Weaver
Hawaii Catholic Herald
As Deacon Arrion Rosales-Llantos emerged from the minivan that delivered him to the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa in Honolulu for his ordination on May 19, someone shouted nearby.
“The bridegroom has arrived!”
The voice was that of the Diocese of Honolulu’s Office of Worship director, Father Alfred Omar Guerrero, himself celebrating six years of priesthood that very evening.
“Are you nervous?” Father Guerrero gently teased the soon-to-be priest. “It’s not too late!”
Deacon Rosales-Llantos did indeed seem a little nervous as he carried a garment bag inside to get ready for the 6 p.m. Mass from which he would emerge “a priest forever” as Scripture puts it.
But his mother, Lovette Llantos, said that her only child seemed less nervous on this evening than he was ahead of his diaconate ordination last year “because he said that was his real entry into priesthood, the first steps into that.”
Arrion Rosales-Llantos speaks with retired diocesan priest Father Clarence “Larry” Fisher before Mass on May 19. (HCH Photo | Anna Weaver)
Dressed in an elegant white Filipiniana dress, the proud mother said she was looking forward to receiving a first blessing from her son shortly after his ordination, and she mentioned that Rosales-Llantos is related to the late Cardinal Julio Rosales y Ras, the second archbishop of Cebu in the Philippines.
She and her husband, Errol Llantos, moved from the Philippines to the Washington, D.C., area, where Arrion was born in 1995. The family moved to Kailua-Kona, which reminded them of their home country, when Arrion was still small, and he grew up there.
While much of the extended Rosales and Llantos families weren’t able to attend the May 19 ordination, there was still a large number of local family and friends who did, plus friends from the seminary and other mainland guests.
Touches of the Philippines ran throughout the Mass, in the Filipino formal attire worn by some guests, in the responsorial psalm sung by Robert Mondoy in a “Filipino Harana style,” and in the Tagalog communion offering song, or Pag-aalay.
The repetitive sound of kā’eke’eke nui (bamboo drums) brought over from the Wailau Valley on Molokai also added a striking addition to the Litany of Supplication, where the congregation asks God’s blessing on the priest candidate, who lies prone on the altar floor.
HCH Photo: Anna Weaver
Just before this moment and the “Promises of the Elect” where Rosales-Llantos pledged his resolve to be a priest and his respect and obedience, Bishop Larry Silva gave his homily.
He spoke about the “historical memory” people have of Jesus.
“But we are here tonight because we know with certainty that Jesus is not only living in the past tense but is present with us here, now, in the flesh,” he said. “We can touch him and taste him and see how good he is.”
(HCH Photo: Anna Weaver)
The bishop told Deacon Rosales-Llantos that he would become “a sacrament of this one high priest who offers all to the Father by first offering himself.”
He told the future priest to “attune your human voice to the voice of the Holy Spirit itself.”
Bishop Silva also spoke of how a priest consecrates people in many ways — baptism, confession, counseling and pastoral presence. In those and many other ways, he makes Jesus known as a living and breathing person to others.
“They will know he is not just once upon a time and far away,” through you, the bishop said to then-Deacon Rosales-Llantos.
Bishop Larry Silva ordains Rosales-Llantos to the priesthood. (HCH Photo | Anna Weaver )
After the moment of ordination itself when the bishop and all the priests in attendance lay hands on the head of the new priest one by one, his St. Michael Kailua-Kona pastor, Father Konelio Faletoi, and Sacred Hearts, Punahou, pastor Father EJ Resinto vested him in his new stole and chasuble. Father Rosales-Llantos went over to greet his parents, who presented him with a green ti leaf and white orchid lei and gave him long hugs.
Bishop Silva then anointed the newly ordained’s hands with oil and his parents brought up the wine and bread for consecration, followed by the Fraternal Kiss of Peace where all the priests gathered once again to go up one by one to embrace their new brother.
Then the Mass continued mostly as usual, ending with Father Rosales-Llantos bestowing his first blessing on the bishop and processing out to “O God Beyond All Praising” and the applause of the congregation.
New priest Father Rosales-Llantos gives a first blessing to his parents, Errol and Lovette Llantos, after his ordination Mass. (HCH Photo | Anna Weaver )
As his mother had hoped, Lovette and Errol Llantos received their son’s blessing before all over well-wishers after Mass. A post-Mass reception took place at the parish hall.
It was a busy week and weekend for the bishop and most of the Diocese of Honolulu’s priests. The annual priests’ retreat took place Monday through Friday at St. Stephen Diocesan Center.
And after Father Rosales-Llanto’s ordination Friday evening, there was another ordination Mass Saturday morning for two transitional deacons on their way to diocesan priesthood, Deacon Kurt Meyer and Deacon Hai “Francis” Pham.
