Priests forever

 
Photo by Anna Weaver

Fathers Peter Miti, Cletus Mooya, and Dong Min Paul Li receive the blessing of their fellow priests shortly after being ordained by Bishop Larry Silva.

Bishop Silva ordains three in a joyous multicultural celebration

By Patrick Downes | Hawaii Catholic Herald

There is a moment during the ordination of a priest when his brother presbyters line up to lay their hands silently on his head. That moment seemed to go on forever Friday night, June 8, at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa, as 67 priests walked around the altar to face, one-by-one, their three newest brothers kneeling in the sanctuary.

Some lightly, some stiffly, some tenderly, all solemnly, the hands were placed on the three bowed heads by men whose own identities were forever changed by the same gesture years earlier, sanctifying a fraternal bond the lay congregation could witness with awed respect, but not share.

That interlude was one of the highpoints of Hawaii’s first triple ordination in 15 years. That evening Bishop Larry Silva elevated Peter Miti, Cletus Mooya and Dong Min Paul Li as “priests forever” in a joyous two-hour multicultural celebration attended by an assembly so large it spilled into the drizzly night outside.

The ordinations were even more distinctive because the men came from far-off foreign countries — Li, 32, from China, and Miti, 36, and Mooya, 34, from Zambia in south central Africa — to serve the Diocese of Honolulu.

The liturgy began a little after 7 p.m. As the large multi-parish choir sang “There is One Lord,” a new Scripture-based composition by Robert Mondoy proclaiming the diversity of gifts of the Body of Christ, a procession of 28 deacons, 67 priests, the three candidates, Bishop Silva, plus eight Knights of Columbus and an assortment of acolytes and ministers entered the church.

After all had taken their places, Bishop Silva, a thick green and yellow lei around his neck, gave his opening greeting. “What joy, what gladness, what thanksgiving fills our hearts today,” he said.

Invoking Damien

The first reading was proclaimed in melodious Chinese by Yi-Jie Zhao. The second reading was delivered in Zambian through the strong, expressive voice of Michael Miti, father of Peter, one of the three being ordained. Both readings were repeated in English.

The formal ordination rite followed the reading of the Gospel. The three men, dressed in albs and deacon stoles draped over their left shoulders, were summoned by name to the sanctuary and presented to the bishop for ordination.

“I testify they have been found worthy,” announced vicar of clergy Father Gary Secor to Bishop Silva on behalf of the three.

The bishop’s verbal consent was followed by the congregation’s approval by applause.

The bishop continued by reading a two-page instruction to the candidates that took the form of a prayer to Blessed Damien de Veuster, whom the bishop sought to “rouse from his eternal rest.”

The bishop invoked comparisons between candidates and Damien who had come from Belgium a century and a half earlier to be ordained a priest in the Cathedral of Lady of Peace.

“These men, too, have come from far away places,” he said.

Despite the distances and separation from family, “these brothers are filled with joy,” he said. “The kingdom of God … makes the world very small.”

“We beg your prayers that these men will have the untiring love you had,” Bishop Silva asked Damien, and that they will “imitate you in recognizing the outcast, the poor.”

Miti, Mooya and Li then lay prostrate, face down, in the sanctuary, while Mondoy intoned in Hawaiian-style chant the lengthy Litany of the Saints. As the assembly prayed for the intercession of the martyrs of Japan, China, Korea, Africa, the Philippines and Polynesia and dozens of other saints, the bishop knelt and, with eyes closed, sang along.

Ordination of Father Paul Li	Ordination of Father Peter Miti	Ordination of Father Cletus Mooya

The ordination

The act of ordination, conferred by the bishop’s laying on of hands, followed.

Bishop Silva, who uses his hands and arms in an expressive manner, swept his hands through the air before lowering them wordlessly on the heads of Mooya, Miti and Li.

After a short concluding prayer of ordination, the bishop’s laying on of hands was repeated by the nearly 70 priests in attendance. The final priest performing the action was co-cathedral’s rector Father William Kunisch who, that night, relinquished his status as the diocese’s youngest priest.

In the concluding rites of ordination, the three new priests received their vestments, had their hands anointed, were presented with eucharistic bread and wine, and exchanged a “fraternal kiss of peace” one-by-one with the bishop and each of the priests present.

Fathers Miti, Mooya and Li were helped into their priestly vestments — the stole and chasuble — by their current pastors and by their parents.

In the anointing, Bishop Silva poured sacred oil into their palms and wrapped their hands in linen.

The “kiss of peace” — expressed as a full embrace between old priest and new, sometimes followed by handclasps and brief words of congratulations — was conducted in a fashion similar to the laying on of hands, the priests approaching again in a single line.

The rest of the Mass continued normally with the newly ordained joining the bishop at the altar and reading selected parts of the Eucharistic Prayer.

Robert Mondoy leads the Chinese Catholic Community choir

Global sounds and rhythms

The buoyant Mass music, conducted by Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace music director Calvin Liu, floated pieces old and new, borrowed and true throughout the liturgy.

In honor of the two new priests from Zambia, Mondoy, a veteran diocesan musician, composer, arranger and director, wrote a melody using indigenous African rhythms and harmonies for responsorial Psalm 96, “Go Out, Go Out to the world.”

Peloquin’s Mass of the Bells, based on the Renaissance’s memorable “Missa de Angelis,” provided the Glory to God and the Lamb of God.

The Communion meditation, Psalm 23 “The Lord is My Shepherd,” sung by the Chinese Catholic Community Choir in the Chinese language and lilting musical style, drew appreciative applause.

Mondoy’s pen also contributed the lyrical Litany of Saints, Psalm 110 sung during the vesting with stole and chasuble, and Psalm 100 sung during the exchange of peace between the newly ordained and the already ordained.

Many in the assembly were from the three parishes where the new priests have been residing as seminarians and deacons: St. John Vianney in Kailua, St. Philomena in Salt Lake, and St. Jude in Kapolei.

Seated in the co-cathedral’s front row were family members of the newly ordained — on one side of the aisle those from China, on the other side those from Zambia.

Father Li’s father, Xingshan Li, and exuberant mother, Shujun Liu, wore leis, as did Father Miti’s parents, Michael and Euphrasia Miti, and Father Mooya’s father, Joseph Mooya. With Joseph was Harriet Chatembwa, “auntie of Peter and Cletus.”

Euphrasia also wore a traditional African headpiece in a bright green patterned fabric that matched her dress.

Shujun Liu, Xingshan Li and Paul Li	Michael and Euphrasia Miti, Joseph Mooya, Harriet Chatembwa

Distance travelers    

The African visitors, here since May 30, had traveled the farthest to reach Hawaii. According to Michael Miti, they spent a total of 30 hours in the air, plus several stops, traversing the globe from Africa, over Asia, to America. Father Miti said it was the first time his parents had ever left Zambia.

A handful of young Africans from Zambia, Congo and elsewhere who live in Hawaii were also there.

Father Li’s parents arrived May 20 from a coastal province in northeast China.

The local Chinese Catholic Community was well represented. Many were dressed in red as members of the choir.

The final hymn, “At the Name of Jesus,” was a bouncy century-old Hawaiian melody put to even older sacred lyrics, all arranged for modern use by Mondoy.

After Mass on the lanai outside the church, the newly ordained met a crush of faithful eager to give them leis and gifts and receive a first blessing.

The celebration ended with a reception in the parish hall.

The last triple ordination in Hawaii was at the co-cathedral on June 6, 1992, when Bishop Joseph A. Ferrario ordained Scott Bush, Konelio Faletoi and Marvin Samiano.

The passage to the priesthood for Fathers Miti, Mooya and Li started in seminaries in their home countries and came together in Hawaii under the sponsorship of the Oratorian Fathers at Holy Trinity Parish in Kuliouou. They later asked to join, and were accepted by, the Diocese of Honolulu.

The three new priests have each received their new assignments. Father Miti will remain at his present parish of St. John Vianney as an associate pastor. Father Mooya will stay at St. Jude as an associate. Father Li will move from St. Philomena to his new assignment at  St. John Apostle and Evangelist Parish in Mililani.