Bishop Silva asks faithful to join his Corpus Christi march from St. Theresa to the cathedral

By Patrick Downes | Hawaii Catholic Herald

Even in the days when eucharistic processions were more frequent occurrences in Hawaii, they didn’t go this far — that is, for a mile and a quarter, over a freeway and across a major boulevard.

Bishop Larry Silva is calling on island Catholics to join him in taking “our faith to the streets” in a noon-day Corpus Christi procession, June 10, from the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa in Kalihi-Palama to the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace downtown.

Bishop Silva said the procession is an expression of his episcopal motto “Witness to Jesus.”

“We honor his living presence among us not only in the actual celebration of the Eucharist (Mass), but in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and in eucharistic processions and congresses,” the bishop said.

“Just as he walked through the towns of Galilee, Judea and Samaria, he also can walk through Honolulu and other cities throughout the world,” he said. “We, who are his Body, take our faith to the streets to demonstrate that our faith is not only meant to be lived inside the church, but it is to transform society, to bring it healing and reconciliation.”

The walk, which should take about an hour and a half for everyone to complete, follows the celebration of a 10:30 a.m. Mass by the bishop in the co-cathedral. The diocese is expecting several hundred people to participate.

In the procession, a time-honored church tradition on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, or Corpus Christi, the bishop will carry the Holy Eucharist in a monstrance at the head of a solemn outdoor public march. At its cathedral destination, a Benediction and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is scheduled for 1 p.m.

“This traditional Corpus Christi procession, like Christ himself, is ever ancient, ever new,” Bishop Silva said. “Christ has always wanted to live in the homes and in the streets of wherever we live. He did ages ago, and he still does today.”

“Our procession is one way of proclaiming that our faith in the risen Jesus Christ is not a private matter but a very public engagement,” he said.

According to “Holy Communion and Worship of the Eucharist Outside Mass, a document issued by the Vatican 34 years ago on the feast of Corpus Christi, a procession of “special importance and meaning of the pastoral life to the parish or city” is “desirable … when it can truly be a sign of common faith and adoration.”

Honolulu’s mini-pilgrimage will be enhanced with hymns, candles, incense, and the pomp and circumstance of the Knights of Columbus in their uniformed capes and plumed hats.

The procession will also employ a eucharistic canopy, a mobile open “tent” for the Holy Eucharist hoisted on poles by four people. The canopy to be used is the property of the Blessed Sacrament Fathers at Star of the Sea Parish in Waialae-Kahala.

‘Bring bottled water’

Although the procession will take place on a Sunday, it won’t exactly be a Sunday stroll through the park. The route traverses some of Honolulu’s busiest roadways. Participants are being advised to “bring their own bottled water.” It’s advice that should be heeded.

The marchers will begin by heading up School Street in the direction of Punchbowl Crater, crossing Liliha Street and proceeding to Liliuokalani Park for about 10 minutes of prayers and blessings.

At Nuuanu Avenue, the procession turns makai crossing School Street and proceeding over the Nuuanu Avenue H-1 freeway overpass, continuing for one block before traversing the six lanes of Vineyard Boulevard.

On the oceanside of Vineyard, the processors will regroup in the parking lot of the Kahiehiemalie Building, before crossing Kukui Street and moving on to Beretania.

The procession will then cross Beretania, proceed a block Diamond Head, crossing Bethel Street before arriving at the Fort Street Mall and the cathedral.

Sacred Hearts Sister Helene Wood, the director of the Office of Worship which is organizing the event with the cathedral staff, took the walk herself and said it took about an hour, with pauses. It will take several hundred people longer, she said.

According to Jonila Kim, secretary for the Office of Worship, the diocese has purchased city street permits and insurance for the walk and the services of six motorcycle police officers.

She said the city will cone off a single lane of roadway for the route where the sidewalks are too narrow for a procession.

The diocese also plans to acquire two vans to drive marchers from the cathedral parking lot to the co-cathedral parking lot, and vice versa, before and after the procession.

Sister Helene said the Knights of Columbus will provide order, security, and, if necessary, minor medical roadside assistance.

Challenge of a long procession

Bishop Silva said that he decided on the co-cathedral-to-cathedral procession after receiving positive comments from a eucharistic procession he led on Oct. 22 through the Union and Fort Street Malls downtown.

“We thought we would try to expand it for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi,” he said.

The bishop said that he intended the Corpus Christi procession to be a physical challenge.

“I believe the challenge of a long procession can itself be formative for all of us, to remind us that we are called to give witness to Jesus not just in convenient and familiar ways but in ways that will really transform our world,” he said.

However, he said, “We will have to evaluate how challenging it is to have such a procession in our urban environment, because we certainly are concerned about the safety of participants and everyone else.”

It has been 25 years since the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace has been the end point of a Corpus Christi procession, which in those days would have been organized by the Holy Name Society. The route during the early 1980s was the three-block length of the pedestrian Fort Street Mall, on the mauka end of which stands the cathedral.

For more information about the procession, call the Office of Worship at 203-6727.