Students break bread with bishop

The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI was on the minds of 75 Saint Francis School seniors Thursday at "Bagels with the Bishop," a series of breakfast chats between Catholic school seniors statewide and Hono­lulu Bishop Larry Silva.

But the teens also queried Silva on a range of subjects, including, "Do you believe in the zombie apocalypse?" — a popular craze about which Silva admitted he had no clue.

The discussion series, which began Feb. 15 at Damien Memorial School and will conclude March 22 at Sacred Hearts Academy, is meant to encourage seniors to stay actively engaged in their faith and church after graduation. Students may also sign up for the Serra Club’s College Connections for Catholics program that links students with a parish when they arrive on college campuses this fall.

For Thursday’s first question, a student asked Silva to describe his reaction to Benedict’s surprise announcement Feb. 11 that he was abdicating the papacy, the first such resignation in nearly 600 years.

"I have great admiration for Pope Benedict resigning because he is honest enough to say, ‘This is a huge job, this is a huge ministry so important for the church and the world that it ought to be done well, and I no longer have the energy to do it well because I’m 85 years old, my body is failing,’" Silva said.

Silva, who attended the canonization ceremonies in Rome for Hawaii Sts. Damien de Veuster and Marianne Cope in recent years, said the pope’s mind "certainly isn’t failing; he has a very sharp mind. … (But) over the few times I have visited Rome, I’ve seen him declining in vigor."

Student Ohu Sanborn asked, "Would you consider being the pope?" There were chuckles in the audience, and Silva replied, "Well, that’s a very, very remote, remote, remote possibility. … I don’t think that’s what God wants me to do at this point."

Kanisa Kaysonphet asked him about the likelihood of the next pope being South American or African.

"I hope the cardinals will choose the best man for the job, whether it’s an Italian or South American or Asian or African," the bishop said. "I do think, however, that the world is much wider than Europe, and we’ve always had popes from Europe for centuries. So it would be refreshing in a sense to have a pope from another continent, but I think that’s secondary."

He outlined the process of choosing a new pope when Benedict’s resignation goes into effect Thursday at 8 p.m. in Rome (9 a.m. in Hawaii). More than 200 cardinals throughout the world will collectively administer the church until a new pope is selected. Only those under 80 years old will be allowed to elect a new pontiff.

One of the first things on the cardinals’ agenda will be to set the date of the conclave, when "they are locked away and cut off from all communications from the outside world" to elect a pope by secret ballot, Silva said.

He surmised that it would be 10 to 15 days after March 1 before the conclave begins. In the meantime the cardinals would need to get to know each other better so as to enable them to elect qualified candidates when they enter the conclave.

On other subjects, Silva was asked what he is giving up for Lent, the 40-day season of fasting and penitence before Easter.

"I’m giving up some something I’m very addicted to, which is ‘Solitaire’ games on the computer," he said, prompting laughter.

Kaysonphet, president of Saint Francis’ first coed graduating class since the school’s establishment in 1924, said of the breakfast talks, "We really appreciate this opportunity. It was a really good experience to hear what the bishop has to say about different things."

It was not the first time she got to interact with the bishop, as she went on a tour attended by Silva to Madrid last summer for World Youth Day.

"He’s a really cool guy, actually," she said. "Being able to see him not so into his work, more as a ‘civilian,’ as he says, I was expecting someone more serious, but he was normal. He was talking to my brother and really showing he cares, more like an uncle, not really a bishop. He’s easy to talk to. He has his own sense of humor."

Kenedee Passos said when Silva first sat down at a table to breakfast with her and three of her friends on the school’s softball team, everyone gulped hard at first.

"I was kinda shocked," Passos said, adding that Silva soon put everyone at ease. "He was nice, he was funny. He talked about what colleges we were going to and what our plans were after. He told about his childhood and where he grew up — it was a comfortable conversation.

"He said he wanted to be a father (priest) since he was 2 years old, and it came naturally. He told us to enjoy our high school years, and when we go to college, choose something we like to do which would benefit others."