Hawaii, Capuchins blessed with new priest

With the laying on of hands, Bishop Larry Silva ordains Marvin Bearis a priest on June 13.

By Patrick Downes | Hawaii Catholic Herald

Hawaii has a new priest.

Marvin Bearis, a big Ewa Beach boy with close-cropped hair and a bushy goatee, dressed in the sandals and the brown hooded robe of the Capuchin Franciscans, the son of Ben and Carmen, was ordained by Bishop Larry Silva during a jubilant Mass June 13 in the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa in Honolulu.

Family and friends from Guam to Boston filled the church. Eight fellow Capuchin priests, three of whom flew in from points east and west, and 22 Hawaii priests formed a backdrop of presbyteral brotherhood for the almost two-hour-long liturgy.

“I’m very happy,” Father Bearis’ mother said afterward. “We are blessed with a priest in our family.”

She summed up the feelings of everyone — the Bearis family, the Capuchin family, the Ewa Beach family, the Hawaii family. All were happy and blessed at the first Hawaii-born vocation to the Capuchin vice-province of Guam and Hawaii.

The ordination liturgy, rich in gesture and symbol, swirled around Bearis, climaxing a third of the way through with the silent, solemn laying on of hands by the bishop and his brother priests.

Prior to that moment, the candidate had been formally presented to the bishop, approved by the applause of the people, and had lain face down prostrate in the sanctuary as everybody called upon the intercession of heaven during a lengthy Litany of the Saints.

After the laying of hands, the actual moment of ordination, two fellow Franciscans dressed the new priest in his stole and chasuble. Bishop Silva then anointed Father Bearis’ hands with a liberal flow of Sacred Chrism, presented him with the bread and wine, and sealed the rite with a fraternal “kiss of peace,” which was repeated by each of the priests present.

Father Bearis then joined the bishop and his Capuchin superior, Father Joseph English, at the altar for the rest of the Mass.

Looking at first a little nervous, Father Bearis extended his hand tentatively during the consecration. But when it was time to recite his solo portion of the Eucharistic prayer, he did so forcefully and with confidence.

Earlier in the Mass in the homily, Bishop Silva, a preacher fond of rhetorical imagery, had grabbed Jesus’ Gospel metaphor of the apostles as fishermen and cast it wide throughout his lesson.

Priests, like fishermen, are men of hope, the bishop said.

“They cast their nets or their hooks, not knowing what will come up, but they cast them nonetheless, filled with hope for what is yet unseen,” he said.

“Perhaps Jesus chose fishermen as his first disciples because the task before him was so enormous,” Bishop Silva said. “He knew he would need people filled with hope for what they could not see in order to move his mission forward.”

“Today, dear Brother Marvin, the Lord will count you among his special fishers of men,” he said.

“But let us also recall that fishing is not all glory,” the bishop said. “There are days when nothing is caught, despite very hard work. That is why you must always keep your eyes fixed, at every moment of the day, on Jesus, who has called you to be his priest for his people.”

“Today we rejoice that you, Marvin, have been hooked by Jesus and his love,” he said. “While he has never lied to you, he sometimes lures with a promise of happiness; then he hooks you on laying down your life in sacrifice for others.”

Bishop Silva anoints the hands of Father Marvin Bearis.

The bishop called the priesthood a vocation “whose greatest joy is to catch people for eternal life in Christ Jesus.”

Seated in the front pew during the Mass were Father Bearis’ parents Ben and Carmen, his brothers Patrick, Michael and Mark, and his sister Maribel.

Filling three rows opposite them and wearing purple orchid leis were about 25 young parishioners of St. Mary Church in Dedham, Mass., where Marvin spent the past year in pastoral work as a deacon, working with the Life Teen group.

“We have been praying for him a lot,” said Heather Flynn, one of the group’s leaders, before Mass started.

Flynn, who described Father Bearis as “one of my best friends,” said he was “very good with youth and reaching out to teens.”

“He has a great spirit and personality,” she said, “and is very outgoing.”

Assisting in the Mass was Father English, the head of the Capuchin vice-province of Guam and Hawaii. Father English, who is part-Hawaiian, is from Guam like his mother. His father was born in Paia, Maui.

The other visiting Capuchins were Father John McHugh, the vicar provincial, or second in charge, of the province of St. Mary of New York and New England, and Father Michael Greco of New York who had been in formation with Father Bearis a few years earlier.

Guam-Hawaii is a vice-province of the New York-New England province.

A robust 40-person choir, directed by veteran musician-composer Robert Mondoy, was accompanied by piano, guitar and percussion, woodwinds, flutes and brass. The music ranged from traditional Franciscan-inspired hymns to contemporary acclamations. After Communion, a Mondoy-arranged rendition of the Cesar Franck’s classic “Panis Angelicus” was sung with shimmering clarity by soprano Shanita Akana.

A breeze blowing through the Kalihi-Palama church helped alleviate the summer-like temperatures that were heating up the bright clear morning outside.

As the Mass came to an end, Father Bearis gave his first priestly blessing to a kneeling Bishop Silva who responded by grasping the Franciscan’s hands and kissing them.

Father English told the Hawaii Catholic Herald after Mass that it had been about five years since the vice-province’s last priestly ordination. There are about 16 priests in the vice-province, he said.

“I hope there will be more like him,” he said.

Father English said Father Bearis will be assigned to Guam or Hawaii. “We’ll know in a few weeks,” he said.

Everyone then retreated to the parish hall for lunch. While the guests were scraping the last of the fried noodles and mac salad from the over-sized aluminum trays, the new priest was still greeting a long line of people, young and old, cheerfully giving them his blessing and his hugs.

The newly ordinained with his parents Carmen and Ben, and his siblings, from left, Patrick, Maribel, Mark and Michael.