Clarence Silva Ordained & Installed As Bishop of Honolulu

Although I am a Presbyterian pastor, I do have other friends who live in other "neighborhoods" of the Body of Christ. I even have friends who live outside of the Body of Christ......including Buddhist, Unitarian, Muslim, Mormons and Jewish. Tonight, however, I joined all of the above as part of an ecumenical and interfaith delegation invited to attend the ordination and installation of the new Roman Catholic Bishop of Honolulu.

The service was large enough to require the use of the Blaisdell Arena, a sort of combination convention center and venue for concerts, sports and other "events" like Ice Capades and the occasional large, traveling circus.

I believe there must have been at least 6-7,000 people there tonight.

The liturgy was long and unhurried, lasting more than 3 hours. It was virtually identical to the recently televised installation of the new Pope Benedict 16 as the Bishop of Rome......not surprising since both were being installed as bishops!

Among those who I processed in with were these three gentlemen who are leaders in the Egyptian Coptic Church in Hawaii.



During the service of ordination I found it interesting that each of the visiting bishops (there were two archbishops, 12 bishops and 3 auxiliary bishops present) layed their hands on the new bishop individually, one at a time. This is somewhat different from our common Presbyterian practice which involves all ordained pastors and elders laying on hands all at one time....often creating somewhat of a "traffic jam" around the person or persons being ordained!



The "Principal Consecrator" for the service was The Most Reverend William J. Levada, Apostolic Administrator of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of San Francisco. He is the man recently chosen by Pope Benedict XVI to take the new Pope's "old job" as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Vatican.

Bishop Silva appears to be very much like his formal portrait, shown at the top of the post. He seems humble, pleasant and genuinely happy to be back in Hawaii where he was born and raised and where so many of his family still live. Unlike Pope Benedict XVI, he did not have the "deer caught in the headlights" look about him during his installation!

His official Crest shows, on the left, the symbol of the Diocese of Honolulu. On the right is the personal symbol he has chosen....three trees....chosen because his name, "Silva," means "trees" in Portuguese, the language of his forebears.

The little tree on the right is a Kukui tree, native to Hawaii and noted for the nuts that are not only processed to make beautiful leis, but also contain oil once used for "anointings" as well as for a fuel for lamps.

The little tree on the left is an oak tree, representative of Oakland, California, the Diocese where Fr. Silva has spent most of his previous ministry.

The central tree is, of course, the living cross of Christ...bursting with olive leaves, the symbol for peace.

The trees grow on an island, representing Hawaii, and surrounded by the blue waters of the Pacific Ocean, an ocean whose name, in Spanish, also means "peaceful."

Best of all is the motto chosen by the new Bishop...."Witness to Jesus."

I am hopeful that, as I continue to participate in "multi-faith" friendship building in Hawaii, I will have the opportunity to meet and establish at least some measure of personal relationship with Bishop Silva as I have done with other Christian and religious leaders. If my intuition is correct, I believe that I will find him to be not only a good Bishop, but a good man and a good brother in Christ, too!

While we may be divided by our "differences" in doctrine and tradition, what we will have in common will more than compensate for them.......for we will share one Spirit, one hope, "one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all." And that will be more than enough as we "Witness to Jesus" in Hawaii together.