Bishop Larry Silva resides at St. Stephen Diocesan Center in Kaneohe, which houses a number of diocesan offices. (Celia K. Downes / Hawaii Catholic Herald)
Bishop Larry Silva prepares to celebrate 50 years of priestly ordination
By Celia K. Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
One of Bishop Larry Silva’s greatest joys over his 50 years of priesthood has been tending to and being among his flock — the countless parishioners and communities he has led in California and Hawaii.
One of his greatest challenges, he says, has been growing that flock in a meaningful and enduring way.
Bishop Silva has guided the Diocese of Honolulu for nearly 20 years — an entire generation of isle faithful has grown up with him as the state’s shepherd.
But before that, he spent the first 30 years of his priesthood in California, serving in 10 churches in mostly low-income areas with high crime rates.
In an April 9 interview with the Hawaii Catholic Herald, Bishop Silva said that no matter where he has been called to minister, he has met “thousands of real saints — just wonderful people who are devoted to the Lord and whose faith is very real and very important to them, and they have been great inspiration to me.”
“And hopefully I’ve (played some part in) contributing to their holiness and their saintliness, but they have certainly contributed a lot to me.”
Early focus
Bishop Silva was ordained May 2, 1975, in St. Francis de Sales Cathedral in Oakland. He was 26, but knew he wanted to be a priest since he was a child.
According to a biography published in the Herald last year, Clarence Richard Silva would have entered a seminary after eighth grade, but at the urging of his father finished high school first.
Upon graduation from his Oakland high school, he entered a college seminary in Mountain View, California, then furthered his studies at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, California.
After his ordination, Father Silva remained in the Diocese of Oakland, serving as associate pastor or pastor in 10 churches over 28 years.
He was elevated to vicar general — the No. 2 person in a diocese behind the bishop — in 2003 by Oakland Bishop Allen Vigneron. Less than two years later, in May 2005, Father Silva was informed by Bishop Vigneron that he was appointed the next bishop of the Diocese of Honolulu.
“It was a little surreal,” Bishop Silva told the Herald April 9. “It was exciting in one sense, a little overwhelming in another sense. … I felt very humbled and honored that I would be selected.”
Island roots
The appointment was a full-circle moment for Father Silva — who, though he grew up in California, was born in Honolulu and spent the first year of his life in Hawaii.
He is the Diocese of Honolulu’s first native-born bishop.
Bishop Silva said that all eight of his great-grandparents migrated to Hawaii in the 1870s from the island of San Miguel in Portugal’s Azores archipelago.
He described to the Herald his family’s deep roots across the island chain, from Kauai (paternal grandparents) to Maui (maternal grandfather) and Oahu (maternal grandmother).
Bishop Silva’s father and maternal grandmother were baptized at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in downtown Honolulu, and both sets of grandparents were married at the cathedral — which received the honorary title of “minor basilica” in 2014 after he successfully petitioned the Vatican a year earlier.
His connection to the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace has held great significance in his time as Honolulu bishop, and it has played a powerful role in his leadership — as well as in his pending retirement.
When asked whether his deep ties to Hawaii might have been a factor in his appointment as bishop of Honolulu, Bishop Silva said that one can never be sure of the Vatican’s reasons for selecting leaders — the process is “always done under pontifical secret,” he explained.
However, he visited Hawaii often as an adult and knew many people, including priests, in the islands.
“So I suspect that when people here were asked for names of who could be a good bishop, I suspect that at least one or two sent my name in (…) and put me on the radar screen” of the Vatican, he said.
New role, similar goal
Bishop Silva’s brief tenure as vicar general of the Diocese of Oakland provided some “practice” for leading a diocese himself, he said, as he occasionally had to make higher-level decisions.
He recalled one instance when a priest called with a “very thorny problem” — Bishop Silva struggled with his response, but “the Holy Spirit guided me and I think I gave (the priest) some advice that was helpful to him.”
“I think that’s always the case,” he added. “Whatever incompetencies or lack of abilities we have, the Holy Spirit kind of fills in the gaps.”
Bishop Silva likened his role leading of the Diocese of Honolulu as being the pastor of a very large parish, with priests and deacons holding essential roles within that parish.
He is also keenly focused on parishioners: “I try to be with them as much as I can because I think that’s what a parish priest does and I think that’s what a good pastor should do … it’s certainly been enriching for me to have all these wonderful people that I’ve gotten to know.”
There have been challenges, of course, during the past 50 years. One of the biggest Bishop Silva cited was the clergy sex abuse crisis, which he had to navigate both in California and in Hawaii.
As bishop, he said it has been “probably the most difficult thing I’ve dealt with … trying to promote the healing of the victims (and making sure) the systems are in place so that we can prevent these things from happening again as much as possible.”
Another challenge as bishop, he said, is “fostering a sense of mission.”
“I think we Catholics are very good about taking care of those who come to us and we have a lot of programs for people who come to us, but we’re not that good about going out to people who don’t come to us and preaching the Gospel to them,” he said. “And so I think we really need to get better at that.”
While it’s important to strive to improve liturgies or activities like Bible study, which help people who are already churchgoers, “I think we kind of miss the fact that we are called to be missionaries, and that really is the nature of the church — to be missionaries.”
But Bishop Silva can count many blessings, too, such as the two canonizations he has been able to celebrate (with a third candidate for sainthood — Servant of God Joseph Dutton — also in the pipeline).
He emphasized that he had more to do with celebrating the canonizations than making them happen, but he was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time.
Looking ahead
Last year, when Bishop Silva turned 75 and fulfilled the mandate to submit his resignation letter, he asked the Vatican to allow him to remain in Hawaii until the long-awaited renovation of the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace is complete.
The Vatican has accepted his resignation but has not yet named a successor, he said, though officials are looking at possible candidates as well as a “state of the diocese” report he submitted.
“There is a process that they go through,” Bishop Silva said. “Now, I have no idea whether I’m at the top of the list of that process or at the bottom of the list of that process.”
In the meantime, amid his packed schedule he has begun to think more about where he will live once he is officially retired. He currently resides at St. Stephen Diocesan Center in Kaneohe but would likely move to a more senior-friendly location — still in Hawaii.
With the exact date of his 50th jubilee around the corner, Bishop Silva repeated his gratitude for the life God has blessed him with.
“I’ve been blessed more than I deserve to be blessed, and I’m just very grateful to the Lord and to all of the people who have been a part of my life these 50 years.”
