By Lisa Dahm
Hawaii Catholic Herald
At the heart of Bishop Michael T.T. Castori, SJ’s coat of arms are two symbols that represent his loving embrace of family.
On the left are poppies and lupines signifying his home and family in California, and on the right is a Tongan kumete — a large, wooden ceremonial bowl that honors his adopted Tongan family and culture.
Throughout his Mass of ordination and installation as shepherd of the Diocese of Honolulu, both sides of his California and Tongan families held important roles. The lectors, for example, were one of his sisters, JoAnn Castori, and a cousin, Sitina Inukihaangana.
At the opening of the ordination rite, Bishop Castori’s Tongan brother, Father Emenisilito Tupou, presented him to principal consecrator Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone. After he was anointed with sacred chrism, some of his youngest relatives presented to him the episcopal insignia — ring, miter and crosier.
Pamela Castori, Bishop Castori’s other sister, created his episcopal coat of arms.
“With the appointment to the episcopacy, one’s life changes, and at times it can feel overwhelming, so to have family and friends who have shared my life so integrally involved in the Mass is both consoling and, I would say, ‘centering,’” Bishop Castori said.
During his ordination, Bishop Castori lay prostrate on a fine woven mat — a traditional Tongan practice. The mat was made by his Tongan family and was topped by Hawaiian kapa cloth.
According to Sacred Hearts Father Lane Akiona, pastor of St. Augustine Church in Waikiki and superior of the U.S. Province of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, the Tongan communities from Oahu, Maui, Kauai and Hawaii island also contributed a fine Tongan mat to the celebration.
(Father Akiona is the longtime chaplain of the diocese’s Tongan Catholic community.)
The Tongan choir, comprising members from across Oahu who were joined by family and friends who traveled to the event, sang a communion hymn. And the Lataki group of youth and young adults performed during the reception after the Mass.
The Lataki group presented a song and dance that told the story of Lapaha, the ancient capital of Tonga where many Catholics still reside, said Petronilla Sole, director of religious education for the Tongan community. The performance offered the young people a chance to share their culture and love, as well as show their respect, Sole added.
“I am grateful that all of my family who are attending my ordination — the Castoris of California and the Tupous of Tonga — are somehow involved in the Mass,” Bishop Castori said in an email interview with the Hawaii Catholic Herald before his ordination and installation Mass July 28 at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa in Honolulu.
Embracing the islands
Young Michael Castori was raised in a caring home with a father who was an elementary school principal and had a school named after him, and a mother who was a lifelong teacher. His two older sisters were also teachers.
After earning a bachelor of arts degree in classics from Harvard University in 1982, the eager scholar joined the Society of Jesus (also known as the Jesuits) in 1987 and completed a master’s degree in philosophical resources from Fordham University in 1991. As a young seminarian, he traveled to the South Pacific, serving in pastoral ministry and education in Tonga, Guam, Fiji and the Marshall Islands.
From 1991 to 1994, seminarian Castori ministered in Suva Prison in Fiji, and he also served in pastoral ministry in Tonga — over the summer at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Nuku’alofa in 1995, and at St. Teresa of Avila Church in Ha’apai in 1997.
Even before he was ordained a priest in 1998, Father Castori was named chaplain to the Tongan Catholic communities in Northern California. He served as chaplain from 1996 to 2024 and speaks fluent Tongan.
Sacred Hearts Father Christopher Kaitapu first met Bishop Castori when they were both seminarians, and Castori was teaching in the Pacific Regional Seminary in Fiji during his pastoral years from 1992 to 1993.
“First and foremost, he is a very intellectual person,” said Father Kaitapu of the bishop. “He is very bright, and he is down to earth — very humble and simple.”
Father Kaitapu’s cousin, Father Emenisilito Tupou, who was in his final year of seminary, introduced Bishop Castori to the group of seminarians, Father Kaitapu recalled.
“He was still a seminarian, but he was lecturing, teaching philosophy for us,” Father Kaitapu remembered.
During their summer break, Emenisilito Tupou took Castori to Fasi-moe-afi ’a Tungi, Tonga. The Tupou family loved him so much, they soon adopted him, giving him his middle name, “Tupou.”
“In the Tongan culture, when you adopt somebody, it’s blood relative already,” Father Kaitapu said. “That’s why when somebody is being adopted, it’s for life and so he’s part of the family.”
Father Kaitapu said there is no word for cousin in Tongan — they are called brothers, or “tokoua.” This makes Bishop Castori his brother, too.
Father Kaitapu, who served as the pastor of St. Damien Church in Kaunakakai, Molokai, from 2017 to 2019, said he remembers talking on the phone with then-Father Castori while the Sacred Hearts priest was serving on topside Molokai. Father Castori told him that he envied him for being in Hawaii.
“Funny when we talk after the announcement (that Father Castori would become bishop) … I reminded him about that conversation,” Father Kaitapu said with a laugh.
Father Kaitapu said he thinks Bishop Castori will do well as bishop of Honolulu because he “worked around the Pacific; he has the sense of the Pacific people.”
“He understands people in their culture,” he said. “For instance, when he had his motto for being the bishop, he chose the Hawaiian way — ‘Let thy kingdom come’ — in Hawaiian. He wants to be in it already.”
Like meeting family
Tonata Lolesio, who is Tongan and the principal of Sacred Hearts School in Lahaina, Maui, said she had heard about the warmth and dedication of Father Castori for many years from her cousins in California, Mosese and Lafulafu Otuhiva, who met the Jesuit priest in 2010.
In 2014, Mosese Otuhiva was the pulengaue, or director, for the Tongan Community when Father Castori became the associate pastor at All Saints Church in Hayward, California.
“Father Michael has been a mentor and a dear friend to our family,” Lafulafu Otuhiva said. “He helps support our Hayward Tongan Community with liturgy and singing at church. He was also a big part of our family spiritually and supported our children’s educational achievements.”
Once Lolesio saw the press conference that Father Castori would be the sixth bishop of the Diocese of Honolulu, she knew she had to honor her family and travel to Oahu for his thanksgiving Mass May 7 despite her intense fear of flying.
“This man is like more than just the next bishop, I feel like I already know him,” Lolesio said. “I feel like I’m going to see a family member, and this is his Thanksgiving Mass.”
Lolesio did not arrive empty-handed. She asked her auntie, Anasisile’o “Le’o” Sulunga, who is a catechist at Maria Lanakila Church in Lahaina for the Tongan ministry, to sew a special Tongan lei for Father Castori. Sulunga stayed up late into the night making her creation for Father Castori.
Lolesio was able to present the lei to the bishop-elect before Mass and address him in Tongan, and she even had time to snap a photo of the momentous event.
“The relationship that he has with the Tongan community is vast and broad, and it’s true — his heart never left the South Pacific,” Lolesio said. “And it’s the same way with the people. Their hearts have never left him. He’s always been a part of that special relationship with them.”
Top: Above, then-Father Michael T.T. Castori, SJ, performed during the parish fiesta at All Saints Church in Hayward, California, where he served as associate pastor for 10 years. (Courtesy Bishop Michael T.T. Castori, SJ)
Middle: Sacred Hearts School Principal Tonata Lolesio asked her auntie to create a special Tongan lei for Father Castori, just in time for his thanksgiving Mass May 7 at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa in Honolulu. (Courtesy Tonata Lolesio)
Bottom: Tonata Lolesio’s cousins, Mosese and Lafulafu Otuhiva, were parishioners at All Saints Church in Hayward, California, when then-Father Castori was the associate pastor there. Lafulafu Otuhiva said he “has been a mentor and a dear friend to our family,” supporting the local Tongan community through liturgy and championing educational achievements. (Courtesy Tonata Lolesio)