Observance marks bishop’s 10th year as head of church

A special Mass and dinner reception Tuesday July 21 at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa celebrated Bishop Clarence “Larry” Silva’s 10th anniversary as head of the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu.

“I love being able to be with the people of the diocese and seeing how many of them are so filled with faith and the Lord and want to share that faith in many ways with others,” Silva said in a news release. “That is a great inspiration to me and especially the young people — the youth and young adults.”

Silva was a priest and vicar general of the Diocese of Oakland, Calif.,California before he was selected to be Hawaii’s fifth bishop, a news release said. He was ordained a bishop and installed July 21, 2005.

Silva said the the highlights of the last decade included the canonizations of Sts. Damien de Veuster in 2009 and Marianne Cope in 2011, both of whom were among the few to minister to abandoned victims of Hansen’s disease on Molokai.

“I was blessed to be bishop during those wonderful events and all of the things that surrounded them. I also think receiving St. Marianne’s body back to Hawaii (in 2012) was a great thrill,” he said.

The most challenging aspect of his job has been “dealing with the clergy sex abuse issues … trying to be fair and just to everybody concerned and to make sure that we are diligent about all things that we need to be diligent about. The issue in itself is very painful, so that’s a difficult thing.”

Another adversity involved resolving conflicts. “In the parishes there are inevitably conflicts with the pastor, with the people. Sometimes it is difficult to know what the truth really is, and so I try to listen and be fair to people. That’s the least fun part of the job,” Silva said.

The Catholic diocese in Hawaii and others across the country saw an increase in the number of new seminarians for the priesthood, despite the scandals, the release said.