Pope Francis to bishops: be in the midst of your flock

The Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist - Visiting Bishop's homily

Visiting bishop and pastor this morning after Mass

Today Saints Peter and Paul Church in Honolulu, was privileged to have a visiting bishop from the Philippines, celebrate Mass.

In his homily about the gospel reading of the death of St. John the Baptist,  he gave two examples of two very young people who were not afraid to stand up for the truth and to stand up for their faith.

The first story was about a busload of people traveling into Muslim territory in the Philippines. The Muslim bandits stopped the bus and ordered all the Christians off the bus.  Not one person on the bus had the courage to stand up and state that he or she was a Christian. However, one small boy stood up.  His mother frantically tried to tell him to be quiet and to stay down.  He responded that he had just learned in his catechism class to stand up for the faith.  The bandits lead him off the bus. They were actually impressed by this brave little Christian and thank God, nothing bad happened.

The second and less dramatic story was about the bishop and some Catholic volunteers bringing relief supplies to a tent city of homeless people.  Upon seeing extra relief supplies, one man asked for another bag.  His little daughter spoke out and told her father and the volunteers that they had already had their share and maybe someone else could use it. The father told her to be quiet but the little girl insisted it they had already had their share.  Later that night, the angry father slapped his daughter on her face.

We can learn much from these two young people who followed the example of the baptizer who stood up for truth, regardless of the danger to themselves.

EWTN Family Prayer - For Our Bishop

One week from today...

Bishop Larry Silva celebrated his installation and 5-year term as bishop of the Diocese of Honolulu last Wednesday, July 21. The Holy Mass he officiated was held at his home parish, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace. Among those who concelebrated were Vicar General Fr. Marc Alexander, Fr. William Kunisch, Fr. Peter Dumag, and Fr. Jon Cabico; Dcn. John Coughlin was the assisting deacon.

I still recall the day when Bishop Larry was installed as bishop of our diocese; it was a beautiful day, the 21st of July, in the year 2005. There were over a hundred of us who sang for that occasion, who are parishioners from different choirs on the islands. Thousands flocked at Blaisdell Arena to witness the occasion: to welcome the new bishop and be a part of an exciting history-in-the-making, after having been without a bishop for many months.

Cake was served at the Kamiano Center after Mass. Before that, of course, were pictures taken of bishop and many of our parishioners -- with many smiles, a true gesture of our aloha spirit.

It was a joy to be at Mass that day! It was a blessing to see four of my children serve once again. I was hoping to have taken many pictures but my camera that was working for many months, after it was ran over by a car, finally bade me farewell. It was my husband's gift for me three years ago, so it was a very special tool and gadget for blogging and preserving hallmark moments. I am, however, looking forward to having a new one so I can take many pictures of events in our parish and be able to portray the joy of serving -- of serving God, right here in Hawai'i!

Holy Saturday

Morning Prayer at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace

Bishop Larry Silva, with Deacon John Coughlin

my son, TJ, holds the book

Paula Manz, cantor

Music Director Calvin Liu, organist (not shown)

Blessing of the Catechumens

Ash Wednesday at Cathedral

Procession, with Bishop Larry as the presider at the 12 noon Mass. The five altar servers are my children. It is always a joy for them to serve at Mass, an honor to do as homeschoolers.

Hawai'i Priests and Bishop Larry Silva in Concert

With Grateful Hearts Concert keeps getting stronger. Our priests with our bishop, Bishop Larry Silva, and several of our nuns were at Our Lady of Good Council on Friday, January 8, for another performance. They will be at St. Jude's in Kapolei on February 19 at 7 p.m.

Once again the objectives are: to raise funds for our seminarians and to promote vocation to the priesthood.

Cds are available at the Cathedral Gallery for $10.00.

Rosary for the Bishops

Check out this wonderful new website where we can actually do something to help our bishops!

Heaven knows that our good Bishops are under fire for standing up for our Catholic Faith nowadays. What can we do about it? Support them with our prayers!

Rosary for the Bishop is a project that aims to support Catholic Bishops through prayer of the Rosary. Please take a few minutes to join in praying for your Bishop.

Rosary for the Bishop

A big mahalo to friend Anne for sharing this on her blog.

What transpired after the dinner

I invite you to read my post on A Tribute to Our Priests.

So what was served at the Bishop's Home?

Parial view of Bishop's residence

My son Joseph has a tone of eagerness in his voice as he relates to me what foods were served at the Dinner with Bishop:

There were softdrinks, cheese and grapes for starters. Then they all moved to the dining area were they were served salad, then kalua pig with cabbage (Yummm!), rice and noodles; and for dessert, rhubarb pie!

We must encourage prayer and sacrifice for our priests

Last week’s liturgical observance of the memorial of St. John Vianney served as a wonderful reminder that this has been designated as a Year for Priests and offers the opportunity to once again encourage prayer and even sacrifice for our priests. It is no secret that priests are quite imperfect and often even seriously flawed. Some may manifest character flaws or even personality disorders. They are, after all, taken from among men for the service of God and so bring to the priesthood many of the same flaws and faults present in the general population. “Every high priest is taken from among men and made their representative before God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring, for he himself is beset by weakness and so, for this reason, must make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people.” (Hebrews 5:1-3)

Despite these shortcomings, however, I have every reason to believe that practically every priest, with very few exceptions, possesses a strong desire to be in proper relationship to God and offer himself as a living sacrifice for the sake of the people entrusted to his pastoral care...

Read the rest of Bishop Robert Vasa's Pastoral letter here

Happy Birthday Bishop Larry!

A very happy and blessed birthday to our dear bishop who celebrates his 60th birthday today, August 6th.