Honolulu’s fourth bishop steered diocese through contentious times
MEMORIAL MASS: Bishop Larry Silva will celebrate a memorial Mass for Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo at 6 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 7 at the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace.
By Patrick Downes Hawaii Catholic Herald
Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo, who with a buoyant spirit steered the Diocese of Honolulu through contentious times into the 21st century, died late Aug. 17 at St. Mary’s Hospital in Richmond, Virginia, where he was appointed bishop in 2004. He was a priest for 49 years and a bishop for 29 years. He was 75.
He led Honolulu’s diocese for 11 years, from 1993 to 2004, the first year as apostolic administrator and then a decade as diocesan bishop. Known for his self-effacing humor and hearty laugh, he also showed a tough combative side as the first Hawaii bishop to face head-on the issues of same-sex marriage and the clergy sex abuse scandal.
“He was a faithful servant of the church for 49 years and a shepherd of the Diocese of Richmond for 13 years,” said Msgr. Mark Richard Lane, Richmond’s vicar general. He said he was announcing the bishop’s death “with great sadness.”
Bishop DiLorenzo was one of the first to call for peace during the chaos- and hate-filled weekend in Charlottesville, which is in his diocese, when white supremacists holding a rally clashed with counterprotesters Aug. 11 and 12. The events led to the deaths of three people and injuries to more than 19 others. His first statement Aug. 11 was followed by a second one the next day.
“I remain deeply saddened about the devastating events in Charlottesville over the weekend, most especially I mourn the loss of lives and the injuries of many more,” he said. “Hatred, and its manifestations of racism, neo-Nazism and white supremacy, are sins against God and profoundly wound the children of God. I am grateful for the many people, including clergy and people of faith, who bravely stood against hate, whether in prayer or in person.”
Meeting new Hawaii diocesan staff for the first time in 1993.
In a statement about his passing, Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, the other Virginia diocese, said that over the years he knew Bishop DiLorenzo “as a devoted man of God.”
“I respected and admired his zeal for Christ, his pastoral skills, and his administrative abilities,” Bishop Burbidge said. “His joy for the Catholic faith was evident to everyone who knew him or witnessed his devoted service to God’s people.”
Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori remembered Bishop DiLorenzo as a “good moral theologian,” an “excellent seminary rector” and a bishop who “cheerfully did whatever the church asked of him.”
“He had a wonderful sense of humor,” Archbishop Lori said. “He was a realist who understood how to face difficult situations, but he always brought good things out of these situations.”
Archbishop Lori recalled that when he heard his friend’s health was not well earlier in August, he called him.
“He said, ‘You know, I looked over my medical record and found I had never had viral pneumonia before,’” Archbishop Lori recalled. “He said, ‘I thought I had better have that at this time in my life, and so that’s what I got.’”
Even a serious illness was taken in stride and “with a lot of humor,” Archbishop Lori said.
Preaching at Red Mass.
Bishop DiLorenzo was born April 15, 1942, in Philadelphia, the oldest of three children of Samuel and Anita Porrino DiLorenzo. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia on May 18, 1968.
As a priest he served as an associate pastor for one year and then as a high school science teacher for two years. After earning a licentiate and a doctorate in moral theology in Rome, he taught theology at the high school and college levels for eight years. In 1983, he was named vice-rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Pennsylvania and in 1985 was appointed rector.
Pope John Paul II picked him to be auxiliary bishop to Bishop James C. Timlin of Scranton, Pa., on Jan. 26, 1988. He was ordained a bishop on March 8, 1988.
Honoring parish volunteers at Island Treasures gala.
Bishop DiLorenzo took the position of apostolic administrator of the Honolulu diocese on Oct. 12, 1993, the same day his predecessor, the late Bishop Joseph A. Ferrario, retired as Bishop of Honolulu. He served as administrator for about a year until the pope named him on Oct. 4, 1994, as the new Bishop of Honolulu. He was installed on Nov. 30, 1994.
As Bishop of Honolulu, Bishop DiLorenzo established the Hawaii Catholic Conference, the diocesan public policy voice, which spoke out on same-sex marriage, physician assisted suicide and other moral civic issues.
The bishop convened Synod 2000, the first diocese-wide policy planning convention in nearly 50 years. Two years in the planning, the three-day synod resulted in 12 proposals in the areas of youth ministry, religious education, vocations and Catholic schools.
One of the primary efforts of his administration was the “Welcoming Parish” process, a parish-self-evaluation program which included a weekend visit by the bishop during which he discussed parish concerns with parishioners. The success of a parish, he said, should be judged by the way it enables parishioners “to get closer to Jesus.”
With Catholic Charities Hawaii, he began the annual Island Treasure gala in which parish volunteers were recognized at a fancy awards banquet in Waikiki.
He also initiated a clustering parish process by which neighboring parishes were asked to pool their resources to increase service and reduce duplication. Parish clustering led to pastor sharing for nine pairs of churches in the diocese.
The bishop also expanded ethnic ministries in the diocese, bringing in more priests from the Philippines and elsewhere to serve Hawaii’s ethnic Catholic communities.
When faced with use of hula at some parish Masses, he consulted with Vatican authorities and received permission for the liturgical use of “sacred gestures” — culturally appropriate motions that reverently express prayer and worship, rather than a performance.
Bishop DiLorenzo appointed a new director of Catholic Charities, a new superintendent of Catholic schools and a new director of religious education.
He ran the diocese as a fiscal conservative, trimming and balancing the diocesan budget, placing a moratorium on the sale of church land, and proceeding cautiously with construction projects.
Bishop DiLorenzo removed five priests from active ministry for sexual abuse of minors. Four were removed early in his administration, nearly a decade before the scandal exploded, revealing widespread abuse in the American church.
Pope John Paul II nominated Bishop DiLorenzo as a participant in the 1998 Synod of Bishops for Asia. At the synod, he encouraged more collaboration between Asian and U.S. bishops to serve the growing needs of Catholic Asian immigrants in the United States.
Bishop DiLorenzo was a member of the Administrative Committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and had been chairman of the Committee on Science and Human Values. He had also served on the USCCB committee on doctrine and the ad hoc committee on bishops’ life and ministry.
In a Hawaii Catholic Herald article marking the 10th anniversary of his arrival to the islands as apostolic administrator he said that he would be happy to retire in Hawaii. “I am a happy bishop,” he said, “and a lucky one.”
A Hawaii retirement wasn’t to be. Bishop DiLorenzo was named the 12th bishop of Richmond by St. John Paul II March 31, 2004. He is the only Bishop of Honolulu to move on to serve another diocese.
He is survived by his sister, Anita Lawler of Cape May, New Jersey, and brother Paul DiLorenzo of Philadelphia, and close family friend, Sister Janice Johnson, Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Catholic News Service contributed to this story.
