Bishop Clarence “Larry” Silva was ordained and installed as bishop of Honolulu at age 55. He will reach his 20th year as Honolulu’s bishop next year. He is the second longest serving diocesan bishop after the first one, Bishop James J. Sweeney, who served from 1941 to 1968.
Here are highlights of his service for the past two decades.
2005
- Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, apostolic nuncio to the United States, on May 17, announces the appointment by Pope Benedict XVI of Father Clarence “Larry” Silva, vicar general of the Diocese of Oakland, California, as the fifth bishop of Honolulu.
- Bishop Larry Silva is ordained and installed July 21 in the Neal Blaisdell Center Arena as Bishop of Honolulu.
- Ordains Johnathan Hurrell a priest of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts.
2006
- Introduces a strategic planning program for the Diocese of Honolulu.
2007
- Ordains 17 permanent deacons in six ceremonies on five islands.
- Ordains Paul Li, Peter Miti and Cletus Mooya as diocesan priests.
2008
- Opens the “With Grateful Hearts” capital and endowment campaign office.
- Introduces “Witness to Jesus: Diocesan Road Map for Pastoral, Program, and Facility Needs.”
- Writes “A Parish Pastoral Response to Job Loss” in the wake of the closings of Molokai Ranch and Aloha Airlines.
- Travels to Sydney, Australia, for World Youth Day.
2009
- Hires a new diocesan finance officer, a diocesan human resources director and a diocesan director of real estate.
- Ordains Marvin Bearis a Capuchin Franciscan priest.
- Ordains Jon Cabico a priest for the Diocese of Honolulu.
- Attends the Oct. 11 canonization by Pope Benedict XVI of Blessed Damien in Rome.
- Appoints a diocesan director of youth and young adult ministry.
- Installs St. Damien’s relic in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace.
- The With Grateful Hearts capital campaign brings in more than $57 million in pledges.
2010
- Blesses Catholic Charities Hawaii’s new 2.2-acre Clarence T.C. Ching campus in Makiki.
- Establishes HOPE Services Hawaii, a diocesan nonprofit agency to help the homeless on the Big Island.
2011
- Vatican approves the cure of a New York woman from pancreatitis as the second miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Marianne Cope.
- Travels with more than 100 Hawaii pilgrims to World Youth Day in Madrid, Spain.
- Blesses and dedicates the new St. Damien Church in Kaunakakai, Molokai.
- Ordains Anthony Rapozo of Kauai a priest for the Diocese of Honolulu.
2012
- Hires a full-time diocesan young adult ministry coordinator.
- Travels to Rome for “ad limina” visit with Pope Benedict XVI.
- Hires a new director for the Office of Development and Stewardship.
- Attends the Oct. 21 canonization in Rome of Mother Marianne.
- Enshrines St. Marianne’s relic in the Honolulu cathedral.
- Launches a new diocesan website, www.catholichawaii.org.
2013
- Writes “A Pastoral Letter to Surfers in the Year of Faith.”
- Celebrates election of Pope Francis.
- Is made an honorary knight of the Royal Order of Kamehameha I.
- Launches campaign to raise $15 million for renovations to the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace.
- Travels to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for World Youth Day.
2014
- Centralizes payroll system for parishes, schools and diocesan offices.
- Ordains Sacred Hearts brother Ajit Baliar Singh of India a priest.
- Vatican names Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace a minor basilica.
- Full remains of St. Marianne are permanently enshrined in the cathedral.
- Hires a new full-time diocesan Safe Environment director.
- Welcomes to Hawaii the India-based Missionary Sisters of Mary Help of Christians.
2015
- Ordains Edwin Conselva of Waipahu a priest for the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette.
- Ordains 13 permanent deacons from three islands.
- Blesses the new St. Michael Church in Kailua-Kona on the Big Island, replacing the original 160-year-old church.
- Ordains Honolulu native Nick Brown a priest for the Diocese of Honolulu.
- Approves the Joseph Dutton Guild, a preliminary step in the sainthood cause for Ira “Brother Joseph” Dutton, the American lay man who worked alongside St. Damien.
- Travels to Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families and Pope Francis’ U.S. visit.
- Unveils “Stewards of the Gospel,” a new five-year pastoral plan for the diocese.
2016
- Announces a five-year “Restoring Proper Order” initiative, bringing the sacraments of initiation back to the “original” sequence of baptism, confirmation, holy Communion with the aim to have confirmation for second graders by 2021.
- Leads a pilgrimage group to Cebu, Philippines, for the International Eucharistic Congress.
- Closes Cathedral Catholic Academy in Honolulu.
- Ordains Kauai native EJ Resinto a priest.
- Announces closure of St. Peter Church in Milolii, a mission of St. Benedict in Honaunau.
- Leads a pilgrimage group to World Youth Day in Krakow, Poland.
- Blesses “Mercy House,” a Windward Oahu home for women transitioning out of prison.
2017
- Writes pastoral letter on the topic of physician-assisted suicide.
- Blesses first phase in the Catholic Charities Hawaii Meheula Vista low-income senior housing project in Mililani Mauka.
- Ordains Alfred Omar Guerrero to the diocesan priesthood.
- Begins phase two of the renovation of the cathedral.
- Ordains Jeremy Sabugo a priest for the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
2018
- Gives general absolution to about 45 people at a deacon formation gathering at St. Stephen Diocesan Center when an alarm (which turned out to be false) sounded for an incoming missile attack on the Hawaiian islands.
- Ordains 10 permanent deacons for the Diocese of Honolulu.
- Blesses phase two of Catholic Charities Hawaii’s Meheula Vista.
- Ordains Father William “Pila” Tulua as a diocesan priest.
- Sees the special group confirmations of 3,700 children and youth over the Pentecost weekend, culminating three years of preparation for the sacraments of initiation in their proper order.
- Closes St. Anthony School in Kalihi.
- Authorizes relief and recovery collection to help victims of the Big Island eruption and Kauai’s historic floods.
- Travels with deacons, wives and deacon candidates to New Orleans for the National Diaconate Congress.
- Oversees the completion of phase 2 of the renovation of the cathedral sanctuary.
- Issues instructions for sacraments and funerals involving physician assisted suicide, which is legalized on Jan. 1, 2019.
2019
- Sees the closing of Saint Francis School in Manoa.
- Ordains Father Romple Emwalu and Father Vincent Ahn Vu to the diocesan priesthood.
- Gives Hawaii’s Korean Catholic Community a church of its own, a former Episcopalian church, naming it the St. Andrew Kim Taegon Oratory.
- Welcomes five Carmelite sisters from the Philippines for the re-founding of Hawaii’s Carmel of the Holy Trinity monastery.
- Ordains Sacred Hearts Father Esitio Niuliki.
2020
- Makes his second “ad limina” visit to the Vatican and Pope Francis with 33 other bishops from California and Nevada.
- Cancels public liturgies prompted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation that gatherings of 50 or more be stopped due to the coronavirus. Holds Holy Week and Easter Vigil services in private. Many parishes livestream Masses. Bishop’s Easter Sunday Mass is prerecorded and airs on network TV.
- Hawaii Catholic Schools announces distance learning for the rest of the school year.
- Churches reopen May 30-31. Mass-goers are required to wear face masks and maintain social distancing.
- Closes Our Lady of Perpetual Help School in Ewa Beach and St. John the Baptist School in Kalihi.
- Blesses Catholic Charities Hawaii affordable apartment building Kahului Lani on Maui.
- Welcomes a new law that permits churches to build columbaria, structures for the keeping of cremated remains.
- Extends the dispensation from the obligation to attend Sunday Mass until the day before Ash Wednesday in 2021.
2021
- Strongly recommends, but does not mandate, the COVID-19 vaccine for Catholic Church employees.
- Ordains 13 permanent deacons for the Diocese of Honolulu.
- Extends for the sixth time the dispensation from the obligation to attend Mass.
- Introduces a new “Order of Naming” giving parents the opportunity to name their babies who died through miscarriage.
- Sees an increase in Catholic school enrollment numbers mostly due to the pandemic.
- Ordains Ese’ese “Ace” Tui a priest for the Diocese of Honolulu.
- Closes St. Ann School in Kaneohe.
- Expands his annual appeal, the Bishop’s Circle, under the new name ‘Ohana in Christ.
- Ends social distance seating at Mass but continues the requirement to wear masks.
2022
- Releases Pope Francis’ new rules on the use of the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass and gives permission to celebrate the Mass to 10 priests in Hawaii.
- Joins the pope and the world’s bishops in the consecration of the world, particularly Russia and Ukraine, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
- Opens the diocesan inquiry for the canonization cause of Joseph Dutton, the Civil War veteran who spent 48 years caring for the patients of Kalaupapa.
- Contracts COVID-19. In his place, then-auxiliary Bishop of San Diego John Dolan ordains Dario Rinaldi to the priesthood for the Diocese of Honolulu.
- Changes the name of the diocesan Office of Religious Education to “Office of Faith Formation.”
- Dedicates the final phase of Catholic Charities Hawaii’s Kahului Lani senior affordable rental housing.
- Blesses the diocese’s first columbarium at St. Ann Church in Kaneohe.
- Blesses phase three of Catholic Charities’ Meheula Vista senior affordable rental development.
- Announces the merger of Big Island parishes, Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, Papaikou (which includes Good Shepherd Church in Honomu), and St. Anthony Parish, Papaaloa.
2023
- Ordains Oahu native Michael “Maiki” Kamauoha as a priest of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts.
- On Holy Thursday, brings back reception of the Communion cup for the first time since March 2020, the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Visits Stowe, Vermont, the birthplace of Joseph Dutton, for his 180th birthday.
- Ordains Arrion Rosales-Llantos to diocesan priesthood.
- Wildfires hit Lahaina town and Kula, Maui, killing at least 102 in Lahaina, destroying the entire town, leaving thousands without homes or places of employment. The Lahaina fire, the deadliest in the U.S. in over 100 years, prompts worldwide attention, prayers and donations. Maria Lanakila Church and rectory in Lahaina miraculously survives the fire which leveled the parish’s Sacred Hearts School. Presides at Mass on Maui to grieve those who lost their lives.
- The second parish columbarium is installed at Resurrection of the Lord in Waipio.
- Celebrates the 50th anniversary in Hawaii of the Community of Carmel of the Holy Trinity monastery.
2024
- Ordains eight new deacons for the diocese.
- Sees 241 catechumens statewide baptized at the Easter Vigil, a 10% increase from the year before.
- Completes the local phase for the canonization cause for Joseph Dutton and forwards the case to the Vatican.
- Sees the closure of St. Catherine School in Kapaa, Kauai.
- Celebrates with the Dominican Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary their 60th anniversary in Hawaii.
- Participates in events across the diocese celebrating the National Eucharistic Revival.
- Ordains to the diocesan priesthood Kurt Meyer, Francis Hai Pham and Anthony Tran.
