The Roman Catholic Bishop of Honolulu is the diocesan bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu in the United States, which encompasses the entire state of Hawaii and the unincorporated Hawaiian Islands. The Honolulu diocese is a suffragan see in the metropolitan province of the Archbishop of San Francisco. The Bishop of Honolulu is a member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. He has two ecclesiastical seats: the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace and the Co-Cathedral of Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus, both located in the City of Honolulu.
Previous to the canonical election of the Diocese of Honolulu, a single priest led what was the Prefecture Apostolic of the Sandwich Islands. The prefecture apostolic was later incorporated into another ecclesiastical territory, led by a bishop serving as Vicariate Apostolic of Oriental Oceania. The prefecture was later elevated to a vicariate apostolic. The phrase "Sandwich Islands" was later deleted and replaced by "Hawaiian Islands". Five bishops have led the Vicariate Apostolic of the Hawaiian Islands. All bishops were members of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
Four diocesan bishops have served the Diocese of Honolulu. On May 17, 2005 Pope Benedict XVI appointed the fifth bishop of Honolulu Msgr. Clarence Silva, who was consecrated and installed on July 21, 2005.
Under civil laws, the Bishop of Honolulu acts as president of the Roman Catholic Church in Hawaii as corporation sole. He oversees several agencies and departments that include but are not limited to: Augustine Educational Foundation, Catholic Campus Ministry, Catholic Charities, Department of Religious Education, Ethnic Ministry, Office of Worship, Eastern Catholic Vicariate, Saint Stephen Diocesan Center, Social Ministry, Diocesan Tribunal. He is also the publisher of the Hawai‘i Catholic Herald newspaper.
Efficient administration necessitated the creation of several vicariates served by vicars forane directly subordinate to the Bishop of Honolulu. The vicariates forane are: West Honolulu Vicariate, East Honolulu Vicariate, Windward O‘ahu Vicariate, Leeward O‘ahu Vicariate, Maui Vicariate, West Hawai‘i Vicariate, East Hawai‘i Vicariate and Kaua‘i Vicariate. A separate vicariate was created for ethnic communities and persons belonging to any of the Eastern Catholic Churches. Within each vicariate are the individual parish churches, each led by pastors.
All those who served as Vicar Apostolic of the Hawaiian Islands or Bishop of Honolulu are buried in the Honolulu Catholic Cemetery, with the exception of Bishop Louis Maigret, Bishop James Sweeney, Bishop John Joseph Scanlan and Bishop Joseph Anthony Ferrario. Bishops Maigret and Scanlan were buried in the crypt of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace. Bishop Sweeney was buried in his family crypt in Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma, California. The location of the remains of the Vicar Apostolic of Oriental Oceania, Bishop Etienne Jerome Rouchouze are unknown. He is believed to have died at sea in a shipwreck. The remains of the only Prefect Apostolic of the Sandwich Islands, Msgr. Alexis Bachelot, SS.CC. are believed to be buried on Naha in the Marshall Islands.
Prelates are listed below with their terms of service and titles held while in Hawaii. Msgr. Alexis Bachelot lead the Prefecture Apostolic of the Sandwich Islands.
Portrait | Name | Term | Title |
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Alexis Bachelot | 1825–1837 | Prefect Apostolic of the Sandwich Islands | |
Étienne Jérôme Rouchouze | 1833–1843 |
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Louis Désiré Maigret | 1847–1881 |
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Bernard Hermann Koeckemann | 1881–1892 |
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Gulstan Francis Ropert | 1892–1903 |
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Libert Hubert Boeynaems | 1903–1926 |
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Stephen Peter Alencastre | 1926–1940 |
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James Joseph Sweeney | 1941–1967 | First Bishop of Honolulu | |
John Joseph Scanlan | 1968–1981 |
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Joseph Anthony Ferrario | 1982–1993 |
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Francis Xavier DiLorenzo | 1994–2004 |
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Clarence Richard Silva | 2005– | Fifth Bishop of Honolulu |
The Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace — also known by its original French name Cathédrale de Notre Dame de la Paix, its Portuguese variant Catedral de Nossa Senhora da Paz and its Hawaiian derivative Malia o ka Malu Hale Pule Nui — is the mother church of the Diocese of Honolulu and houses the cathedra of the Bishop of Honolulu in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. It is located at the north end of Fort Street Mall in downtown Honolulu. Another cathedra was installed in the Co-Cathedral of Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus, also serving the diocese.
The Co-Cathedral of Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus is a cathedral of the Roman Catholic Church and its Diocese of Honolulu. Located in the outskirts of downtown Honolulu, Hawaii. It was named in honor of the Saint Theresa of Lisieux.
Joseph Anthony Ferrario was the third bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu and served from 1982 to 1993.
The Catholic Diocese of Honolulu, officially in Latin Dioecesis Honoluluensis, is an ecclesiastical territory or particular church of the Catholic Church in the United States. The diocese comprises the entire state of Hawaiʻi and the unincorporated Hawaiian Islands.
Bishop Stephen Peter Alencastre, SS.CC., was a Roman Catholic bishop who served as the fifth and last Vicar Apostolic of the Vicariate Apostolic of the Hawaiian Islands. He was also an apparent titular bishop of Arabissus.
Libert H. Boeynaems, formally Libert Hubert John Louis Boeynaems, SS.CC.,, was the fourth vicar apostolic of the Vicariate Apostolic of the Hawaiian Islands — now the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu.
Gulstan Ropert, SS.CC., of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary served as the third vicar apostolic of the Apostolic Vicariate of the Hawaiian Islands — now the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu, from 1892 to 1903. Born in France at Kerfago, St. Gildas de Rhuys, Morbihan, in Brittany, he was baptized as François. François Ropert entered the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary at age 20 and took the name Gulstan. He was ordained to the priesthood on May 26, 1866, at the age of 26. He was sent to the Kingdom of Hawai‘i to assist the Vicariate, arriving in Honolulu on June 9, 1868. He was in charge of the Hamakua district on the island of Hawai‘i until October 2, 1883, when he was assigned to the Wailuku mission. He left Wailuku for Honolulu in 1891 having been appointed Vice-Provincial.
Herman Koeckemann, formally Bernard Hermann Koeckemann, SS.CC.,, served as the second vicar apostolic of the Vicariate Apostolic of the Sandwich Islands — now the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu — from 1881 to 1892.
Louis Désiré Maigret, SS.CC.,, served as the first vicar apostolic of the Vicariate Apostolic of the Sandwich Islands; now the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu. Born in Saint-Pierre-de-Maillé (France), Maigret was ordained to the priesthood as a member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary on September 23, 1828 at the age of 24. As part of his missionary work, Father Maigret sailed to the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi to l.p. build its Catholic community of native Hawaiians.
Étienne Jérôme Rouchouze SS.CC. was a French Catholic missionary in the Eastern Pacific.
An apostolic prefect or prefect apostolic is a priest who heads what is known as an apostolic prefecture, a 'pre-diocesan' missionary jurisdiction where the Catholic Church is not yet sufficiently developed to have it made a diocese. Although it usually has an (embryonal) see, it is often not called after such city but rather after a natural or administrative geographical area.
Saint Anthony Catholic Church in Honolulu is a parish in the West Honolulu Vicariate Forane of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu.
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