HCH photo

By Anna Weaver

January

• A memorial service for Army Reserve Sgt. Myla Maravillosa, who was killed in Iraq, takes place at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace on Dec. 31, 2005. Maravillosa had

  HCH photo Army Reserve Sgt. Myla Maravillosa, a Hawaii soldier who had been considering religious life, is killed in Iraq on Christmas Eve 2005. Her funeral was at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace on Dec. 31, 2005.

  been considering religious life before she died after a rocket propelled grenade hit her Humvee on Christmas Eve.
• Bishop Larry Silva appoints his 17-member presbyteral council, or priests’ council, one of his primary groups of consulters.
• A nonfiction book about the Hansen’s disease settlement at Kalaupapa, “The Colony: the Harrowing True Story of the Exiles of Molokai” by John Tayman is published receiving largely negative reaction and reviews from residents and people associated with Kalaupapa.
• Father George Clements of Chicago, the first Catholic priest in the United States to adopt a child, is the visiting homilist at the annual Red Mass on Jan. 19 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace. Father Clements urges Hawaii families to open their homes to “modern day orphans.”
• Bishop Silva formally installs 16 men preparing for the permanent diaconate into the ministry of reader on Jan. 15 at St. Stephen Diocesan Center. Reader is the first major designation for the deacon trainees since their acceptance as candidates three years earlier.
• The Father Damien and Mother Marianne Commission meets for the first time on Jan. 18. The commission was created by Bishop Silva to foster devotion to Hawaii’s two beatified religious.
• Catholic Charities Hawaii announces on Jan. 19 that it will buy the two-acre First Presbyterian Church in Makiki where it will consolidate offices and services operating in three Honolulu locations.
• At the second annual Catholic Social Ministry Gathering on Jan. 18-20, 50 parish volunteers from across the diocese gather at St. Stephen Diocesan Center to learn how to more effectively serve Hawaii’s poor and neglected.
• Bishop Silva is a featured speaker at the Jan. 20 March for Life at the state capitol, an

  HCH photo Former superintendent Msgr. Daniel J. Dever receives an honorary degree of Doctor of Human Letters from Chaminade University Jan. 27 at the Annual Conference for Catholic Educators.

  annual event that protests the U.S. Supreme Court Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion.
• Forty cyclists ride from Sacred Hearts Academy in Kaimuki to the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in downtown Honolulu on Jan. 21 for “Brake the Cycle of Poverty,” an event organized by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development to raise awareness about poverty in the United States.
• Bishop Silva goes to Kalaupapa on Jan. 22 to preside at a Mass in honor of Blessed Marianne, whose first authorized feastday is the following day, her birthday. The diocese celebrates on Jan. 23 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace. Mother Marianne was beatified on May 14, 2005.
• Chaminade University of Honolulu recognizes Karen Harp, Glennie Adams, and Dan Kava with awards for their exemplary examples of Marianist values on Jan. 25.
• Nine hundred Hawaii Catholic school administrators, teachers and staff gather in the Neal Blaisdell Arena Jan. 27 for the Annual Conference for Catholic Educators. Former superintendent Msgr. Daniel J. Dever receives an honorary degree of Doctor of Human Letters from Chaminade University. Catholic school educators celebrating 20, 30, and 50 years of service are recognized.
• Catholic home schooling families on Oahu receive a blessing from Bishop Silva at a special Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace on Jan. 29.

February

• Catholic Charities Hawaii presents its annual Ulu Award to Jim Walsh and its Partners in Mission Awards to St. John Vianney Parish in Kailua and the Notre Dame Club of Hawaii at its annual meeting on Feb. 3.
• Members of Catholic Ministry for Single Adults (CMSA) participate in the inaugural CMSA Fest in Laie, Feb. 10-12.
• On Feb. 14, 3-year-old Nalani Chock presents the new bike she won as top fundraiser for St. Ann Model School’s “Jump Rope for Heart” campaign to 4-year-old classmate and leukemia patient Addie Fisette. KHON-TV features the two girls on its Valentine’s Day morning news program.
• Seven-year-old Meaghan Ababa recovers completely from heart failure caused by a rare disease in a Los Angeles hospital on Feb. 15 at the same time as her catechism classmates at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace are praying for her in Honolulu.
• Bishop Silva travels to California and Nevada for the installation of Archbishop George Niederauer on Feb. 15 in San Francisco, the ordination and installation of Bishop Randy Calvo on Feb. 17 in Reno, and the annual retreat of the bishops of San Francisco province, Feb. 20-28.
• Archbishop Ernesto Salgado of the Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia in the northern Philippines visits Hawaii at the end of February and announces that five more priests from his archdiocese will come to work at Hawaii parishes by June.
• The associates of Sacred Hearts receive 11 new members on Feb. 26 at St. Anthony Retreat Center in Kalihi.

March

• Walter S. Kirimitsu, the future headmaster of St. Louis School is introduced to students, faculty and special guests on March 15 at the all-boys school’s campus. He takes over the position on July 1.
• A “new” main altar at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace is dedicated by Bishop Silva on March 25. The altar was originally created for the former convent chapel of Cathedral School from parts of the cathedral’s 19th century pulpit.
• Fifty Big Island Catholics gather in Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Honokaa on March 25 for an “Enrichment Day” of classes for parish ministers on various Catholic topics.
• Bishop Silva blesses the holy oils for use in Oahu parishes for the upcoming year at the annual Chrism Mass on March 30 at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa. He also celebrated chrism Masses on Kauai, Maui and the Big Island in March.
• Cardiovascular Hospitals of America and the Hawaii Physicians Group, the future buyers of Oahu’s two St. Francis Medical Centers, agree to follow the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Healthcare Services upon taking ownership of the hospital.

April

• Chaminade University hosts a month of alumni activities in April as part of its yearlong 50th anniversary celebration. Alumni events include a kick-off celebration, alumni night, family luau and alumni Mass.
• Dr. Gabriel W.C. Ma receives Maryknoll Schools’ 2006 Monsignor Charles A. Kekumano Award at the school’s annual scholarship dinner on April 9 in the Hilton Hawaiian Village Coral Ballroom.
• St. Francis Healthcare System welcomes two new sisters — Sister Patricia Schofield and Sister Jean Canora — to its healthcare ministry on Oahu.
• The Catholic Church in Hawaii receives 188 new members into the church when they are baptized at the Easter Vigil, April 15, in parishes throughout the diocese. Around 125 adults and children also receive Confirmation and Holy Eucharist bringing them into full communion in the church.
• Twenty-six Hawaii sisters, brothers and priests celebrate their 25th, 50th, 60th and 75th anniversaries of vows and ordinations at an annual liturgy celebrating the religious jubilarians at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa on April 21.
• Bishop Silva dedicates the Diocese of Honolulu to the Divine Mercy devotion of St. Faustina Kowalska at a Mass on Mercy Sunday, April 23, at Star of the Sea Church. He is the first bishop in the nation to do so.
• Provincials and delegates of the four U.S. provinces of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts gather at St. Anthony Retreat Center in Kalihi Valley, April 24-27, for their annual meeting. Formerly known as the English Speaking Inter-Provincial Conference, the group renamed itself the U.S. Conference during the Hawaii meeting.
• The Island Treasures celebration, hosted by Catholic Charities Hawaii, honors 100 outstanding parish volunteers at a banquet April 28 at the Sheraton Waikiki.
• In an April 28 letter to island priests, Bishop Silva revives the Welcoming Parish program begun in 1997 by Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo. Welcoming Parish director Sharon Chiarucci resumes her place at the helm of the parish self-evaluation program.
• In his first public service announcement produced for television, Bishop Silva appears in a 60-second Easter spot distributed to all the major television stations in Honolulu.

May

• Bishop Silva appoints vicar general Father Marc Alexander to be moderator of the curia, the person who oversees the administration of the diocese’s central offices, on May 1.
• The Office of Social Ministry holds a “Still No Place in the Inn” meeting at Holy Family Church on May 2, bringing together representatives from 27 Oahu parishes and other Catholic organizations to address the pressing issue of homelessness in the islands. The homeless situation received attention on March 27 when the city began nightly closures of Ala Moana Beach Park where many homeless people lived.
• Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary representatives join Catholic schools students Blessed Damien statue at the state capitol on May 10 to celebrate Damien’s feast day.
• Maui Deacon James Ron Gonsalves pleads guilty to 62 counts of sexual assault against a minor on May 17. Gonsalves, the former administrator of St. Ann Parish in Waihee, Maui, assaulted an unnamed minor between 2002 and 2005. This is the first current case of sexual abuse of a minor by a member of Hawaii’s Catholic clergy to come to light since the national sex abuse scandal broke in 2002.
• Ewa Beach native Dennis Bautista makes his first profession of vows as a Marianist brother on May 20 in Dayton, Ohio.
• Maryknoll School in Honolulu bids a fond aloha to its last two Maryknoll sisters on staff, Sister Maria Rosario Daley and Sister Marie Patrice Kehoe, at a farewell luncheon on May 27. The two sisters leave the school, founded by the Maryknoll Sisters in 1927, on June 2.

June

• The four remaining Religious of the Virgin Mary sisters close their Hawaii mission on June 10 after 35 years at St. Anthony Parish in Kalihi. Replacing them are three members of the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres who arrive in Hawaii from the Philippines.
• Bishop Silva welcomes the spirits of his Portuguese heritage on June 11 when he attends the 115th annual Holy Ghost procession, a tradition brought to Hawaii by Portuguese immigrants in the late 1800s.
• Seventeen permanent deacon candidates receive the designation of “acolyte,” a major step toward the diaconate, on June 11 at St. Stephen Diocesan Center chapel.
• Father Eustaquio Van Lieshout, a native of Holland who became a Sacred Hearts priest because he was inspired by the example of Blessed Damien of Molokai, was beatified June 15 in an open-air Mass in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
• Starting on June 29 and running until July 27, five “talk story” sessions take place at various Catholic churches across Maui to address the county’s affordable housing crisis.
• A group of 18 Chaminade University “ohana” take a pilgrimage to Paris and Bordeaux, France, and Zaragoza and Barcelona, Spain, to explore Marianist sites and famous landmarks. French native Blessed William Joseph Chaminade, the namesake of Chaminade University, founded the Society of Mary, or Marianists, in Bordeaux in 1817.

July

• Ten island parishes receive new administration or pastors in July. Seven parishes also receive new associate pastors, or parochial vicars.
• On July 5, Bishop Silva appoints Tom Papandrew, former general administrator of Sacred Heart Parish, Punahou, and St. Pius X Parish, Manoa, to head the new diocesan strategic planning process.
• St. Joseph Church in Waipahu is rededicated on July 15 after a $3.5 million renovation that took close to a year to complete and increased the church’s width by an additional 40 feet.
• Bishop Silva celebrates the one year anniversary of his ordination as bishop of the Diocese of Honolulu on July 21.

August

• The St. Francis Medical Center Chapel is renamed the Mother Marianne Cope Chapel on Aug. 9 in a ceremony at the Liliha-area hospital in preparation for the sale of St. Francis Medical Center.
• Bishop Sam Jacobs of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux in Louisiana speaks about living a joyful life as the keynote speaker at the Hawaii Catholic Charismatic Conference at St. Philomena Church in Salt Lake, Aug. 11-13.
• Brother Marvin Castillo Bearis becomes the first from Hawaii to make his final profession of vows as a Capuchin Franciscan friar on Aug. 12 at his home parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Ewa Beach.
• St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawaii announces plans for a new 24-bed freestanding hospice in East Oahu.
• The Mary Jane Program celebrates the 30th anniversary of the building of its first residential facility for single women with unplanned pregnancies.
• Hawaii’s last Holy Family Sister, Sister Elizabeth Murray, leaves the islands for health reasons on Aug. 15 to return to the order’s motherhouse in Fremont, Calif., just shy of the 60th anniversary of the Holy Family Sisters coming to Hawaii.
• Five hundred Oahu Catholic educators gather at St. Ann Church on Aug. 21 for the annual Mass of the Holy Spirit that begins each Catholic school year. Kauai Catholic school educators hold their Mass the same day. Maui and Big Island Catholic school educators held Masses of the Holy Spirit on July 31.
• Hawaii priest Father Thomas Coughlin and five other men make their first profession of vows as Dominican Missionaries for the Deaf Apostolate, an order Father Coughlin founded, on Aug. 27 in Oakland, Calif.

September

• St. John Vianney Church is rededicated on Sept. 2 after a major $2.6 million renovation that took more than a year to finish.
• Sacred Hearts Church in Lanai City, Lanai, celebrates its 75th anniversary with several days of prayer and a Foundation Day Mass and party on Sept. 3. Bishop Silva blesses new parish building additions.
• A Mass honoring Maui’s sakadas, Filipino immigrant plantation workers, is held at Christ the King Church on Sept. 3, coinciding with the 100th anniversary year of the first Filipino immigrants coming to Hawaii.
• The Molokai Catholic Community holds “A Lei of Aloha for Father Damien — A Gala Dinner Event” on Sept. 8 at the Hilton Hawaiian Village to raise money for a new parish church on Molokai.
• Much of St. Francis Medical Centers’ extensive collection of artwork is sold at auction on Sept. 9 to raise money for future long-term care projects, in particular a hospice in East Oahu.
• The second annual Divine Mercy Conference in Hawaii is held at the Hawaii Convention Center, Sept. 8-10.
• Chaminade University wrapped up its 50th anniversary year on Sept. 16 with a Mass and reception in the Mystical Rose Oratory on campus.
• The Diocese of Honolulu accepts three seminarians — Zambia’s Peter Miti and Cletus Mooya and China’s Paul Dong-Min Li — with the “call to candidacy” at the 6 p.m. Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace on Sept. 17. At the same Mass, the administrator of St. Jude Parish in Kapolei, Father Khanh Hoang, is incardinated into the diocese.
• Catholic Charities Hawaii staff gathers at the former First Presbyterian Church, the organization’s future headquarters, for a blessing by Bishop Silva, lunch and a chance to explore the Makiki campus.
• Bishop Silva meets for the first time with his newly appointed Diocesan Pastoral Council Sept. 22-23 at St. Stephen Diocesan Center. The 14-member council of mostly lay people from across the state is one of two primary advisory groups for the bishop, the other being the Presbyteral Council composed entirely of priests.
• Hawaiian clothing company Reyn Spooner releases a new aloha wear line on Sept. 25 designed by Big Island artist Dietrich Varez featuring images of Blessed Damien and Blessed Marianne.
• Piolani Motta, a member of Ka Ohana O Kalaupapa, a group of Kalaupapa patients, family members and friends, testifies before the U.S. House Resources subcommittee on National Parks in favor of a bill that would establish a memorial to all 8,000-plus patients who were sent to Kalaupapa between 1866 and 1969.
• Hawaii’s last Maryknoll pastor, Father Robert Wynn, leaves the Big Island’s Annunciation Parish and Ascension Mission on Sept. 30 to become a missionary in Cambodia. Three Maryknoll priests and one brother remain in the islands.
• The Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa on School Street in Honolulu marks the 75th anniversary of the parish and school with a Mass and luncheon on Sept. 30.
• Diocesan director for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development Sister Roselani Enomoto is recognized by the national CCHD for her leadership in increasing Hawaii’s contribution to the 2005 CCHD national collection by 23.86 percent, the largest increase ever for the diocese.
• Three state review panels recommend approval of the sale of St. Francis Medical Center-West and St. Francis Medical Center-Liliha to Hawaii Medical Center. The Vatican also approves the transfer ownership.

October

• Bishop Silva introduces his strategic planning process for the Diocese of Honolulu, which will be led by vicar general Father Marc Alexander and is scheduled to continue until fall 2007.
• Two Hawaii clergy have books published. Oratorian Father Halbert Weidner, the pastor of Holy Trinity Church in Kuliouou wrote “The Shadow Side of Ministry,” and Deacon Andrew J. Gerakas of Star of the Sea Parish wrote “The Origin and Development of the Holy Eucharist: East and West.”
• St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawaii rededicates and renames its St. Francis Medical Center-West chapel as the St. Francis of Assisi Chapel.
• St. Theresa Parish in Kekaha, Kauai, celebrates the 60th anniversary of its school and the coming of the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity who have staffed it since it opened with a weekend of activities, Oct. 13-15.
• The biggest earthquake to shake Hawaii in more than two decades causes minor damage to Catholic churches on the Big Island and Maui and major damage to St. Joseph Mission in Paauilo on the Big Island when it hit the islands on the morning of Oct. 15.
• Hundreds of men and boys, including Bishop Silva, and a handful of women march through Honolulu on Oct. 19 as part of the 12th Annual Men’s March Against Violence.
• Bishop Silva leads the first public eucharistic procession in possibly decades through downtown Honolulu on Oct. 22 in a prayer for vocations to the religious life.
• St. Francis School announces Oct. 23 that it will begin to accept boys to the sixth grade next year. St. Francis began admitting boys to its kindergarten class this school year.

November

• The Father Damien and Mother Marianne Commission of the Diocese of Honolulu takes a “prototype pilgrimage,” Nov. 3-5, to holy sites on Molokai to prepare for what they hope will be future regular pilgrimages for the general faithful.
• Bishop Silva travels to Syracuse, N.Y., on Nov. 8 for his first visit to the Franciscan Sisters’ motherhouse where Blessed Marianne’s remains rest. The bishop also traveled to Baltimore for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ fall meeting, Nov. 13-15.
• As part of Homeless Awareness Week Nov. 12-18, a new video presentation titled “Catholic Hawaii: Shelter the Homeless, Feed the Hungry” is sent to all parishes in the diocese by the Office of Social Ministry.
• The Hawaii Catholic Schools Band makes a special appearance with the Royal Hawaiian Band on Nov. 18 at the Iolani Palace grounds.
• The Hawaii Daughters of St. Paul and Pauline Books & Media sponsor an early screening of new film “The Nativity Story,” Nov. 21.
• The annual Vietnamese Holy Martyrs Mass takes place at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa on Nov. 26.
• The first Bishop’s Convocation on Catholic Education is held at St. Stephen Diocesan Center for Oahu Catholic school administrators, pastors, and members of the diocesan board of education, Nov. 29.
• Bishop Silva ordains seminarians Peter Miti, Paul Dong-Ming Li and Cletus Mooya as deacons on Nov. 30 at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa.

December

• Five members of Hawaii’s first deacon class celebrate their 25th anniversary on Dec. 5 with a Mass at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa.
• The “Star Light, Star Bright!” Christmas party sponsored by the diocese for children of women prisoners is held Dec. 16 at St. Stephen Diocesan Center for the fifth year.
• It is announced that Bishop Silva will lead the Hawaii delegation to Sydney, Australia, for World Youth Day in July 2008.
• Bishop Silva travels to the Philippines from Dec. 26 to Jan. 9 to visit dioceses and orders that send priests, brothers and sisters to Hawaii.