Bishop of Honolulu
With Hawaiian family roots in Hawaii that extend back to the monarchy of King Kalakaua, Bishop Clarence "Larry" Silva was the Vicar General of the Diocese of Oakland when Pope Benedict XVI appointed him to be the fifth Bishop of Honolulu, since the establishment of the diocese in 1941 and the eleventh since missionaries brought the faith here in 1827. Ordained a bishop and installed as Bishop of Honolulu on July 21, 2005 at the Neal Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii Catholics welcomed a man known to be a great priest, an experienced pastor, and a man of integrity. A parish priest for most of his ordained years, Bishop Silva came to inherit 66 island parishes, 28 mission churches and over 200,000 faithful. Bishop Silva has engaged Hawaii's Catholics on a journey to accomplish a mission, a mission to give "Witness to Jesus. " Not just an episcopal motto, "Witness to Jesus" has become the Road Map by which the diocese operates and fuels our infrastructure. He chose this motto, he said, because he is "convinced that our faith and our Church will be renewed to the extent that all our programs, structures and institutions can be more focused on the fact that Jesus Christ is not just a figure of past history, but is alive and active among us now. I want to be his witness and encourage others to witness to Him as well."