Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu

Pierre Coudrin founded the Picpus Order, which sent the first missionaries to Hawaii.

In 1825, Pope Leo XII established the Prefecture Apostolic of the Sandwich Islands, a part of the Vicariate Apostolic of Oriental Oceania. He tasked the Picpus Order with evangelizing the Kingdom of Hawaii (Sandwich Islands). Leo XII appointed the missionary Reverend Alexis Bachelot, as its prefect.[4][5]

Bachelot and two other Picpus priests, Reverend Abraham Armand and Reverend Patrick Short, arrived in Honolulu in the summer of 1825. However, the Hawaiian royalty had been converted to Protestantism four years earlier. Queen Kaʻahumanu ordered the priests deported, but the ship captain refused to take them because he had received no payment for their passage. After a two-day standoff, Kaʻahumanu allowed the priests to remain in Hawaii.

When the priests finally disembarked, they were joined by six lay brothers. They performed the first baptism in November 1825. The priests began their missionary work, but encountered suspicion from most chiefs. The members of the party had great difficulty defending themselves, as none of them was fluent in English or Hawaiian.[6] But, the group were favorably received by the high chief Boki, the royal governor of Oahu, and his wife Kuini Liliha.

The Picpus priests learned the local language, went into the Native Hawaiian community and began preaching to them. They distributed Hawaiian language Bibles. Hundreds of Native Hawaiians were baptised. The first converts included Kalanimoku, chief minister of the kingdom. The royal governors of Oahu, Boki and Liliha were also baptised.

The coat of arms of Bishop Rouchouze on a stained glass window in the cathedral.

Woodcuts showing the persecution of Catholics in Hawaii in 1839. On the left, a woman tied to a tree. On the right, a man in chains.

The American Congregationalist missionaries in Hawaii were alarmed at the growth of Catholicism in the islands. They influenced Kaʻahumanu to persuade King Kamehameha III to enact repressive policies against Catholics. The king expelled Bachelot and Short in 1831 and banned other priests from entering the Kingdom. After the priests' departure, many Native Hawaiian converts complained of being imprisoned, beaten and tortured. Commodore John Downes of the United States Navy USS Potomac intervened on the converts' behalf with Kamehameha III, stopping the mistreatment.[7]

In 1835, Vicar Apostolic Etienne Rouchouze and Bachelot dispatched Columba Murphy, a Picpus religious brother, to Hawaii to evaluate the situation. Kamehameha II allow Murphy in since he was not a priest. After several months, Murphy left to report to his superiors.

In 1836, Bachelot sent Reverend Arsenius Walsh to Honolulu to continue Murphy's work. Kamehameha III initially refused Walsh's entry, but a French naval officer persuaded the king to let him stay. Kamehameha III also agreed to permit the Picpus Fathers to work freely in Hawaii so long as they only ministered to foreigners.

On April 17, 1837, Bachelot and Short sailed into Honolulu, thinking that they were now allowed back. However, two weeks later, the Hawaiian government forced them back on their ship. The American and British consuls, with the assistance of the Royal Navy and the French Navy, forced Kamehameha III to allow Bachelot and Short to disembark. In 1839, the French Navy frigate Artemise sailed into Honolulu Harbor.[7] Captain Cyrille Laplace had been ordered by his government to:

''...to make it well understood that it would be to the advantage of the chiefs of those islands of the Ocean to conduct themselves in such a manner as not to incur the wrath of France.''

Fearing a French assault, Kamehameha III issued the Edict of Toleration on June 17, 1839,[8] granting religious freedom to all Catholics in Hawaii:

''That the Catholic worship be declared free, throughout all the dominions subject to the king of the Sandwich Islands; the members of this religious faith shall enjoy in them the privileges granted to Protestants.''

Shortly after the Edict of Toleration, Rouchouze arrived in Honolulu with three Picpus priests, including the previously exiled Louis Maigret. The priests broke ground on Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu, the first permanent church in Hawaii, in 1840. As an act of reconciliation, Kamehameha III had donated land for the church.[7]

During the groundbreaking mass, 280 Native Hawaiian catechumens received the sacraments of baptism and confirmation. For the rest of 1840, devotees harvested large blocks of coral off the Oahu coastline to build the future Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace.

Rouchouze commissioned the construction of mission churches on the other Hawaiian islands. He also started building schools to teach in the Catholic traditions of academia. Rouchouze brought a printing press to Honolulu to print Catholic literature, including missals and hymnals, in the Hawaiian language. St. Raphael's Parish was established on the Island of Kauai in 1841, the first Catholic church there.

In January 1842, Rouchouze set sail to France to recruit more Picpus priests and brothers to serve in Hawaii. However, his ship sank enroute and he was lost at sea. In 1846, the first Catholic priest arrived on the island of Maui.[7]

Five years after Rouchouze's disappearance, the Vatican decided in 1847 to elevate the prefecture of the Sandwich Islands in 1847 to the Vicariate Apostolic of the Sandwich Islands.[9]

The coat of arms of Bishop Koeckemann on a stained glass window in the cathedral

Pope Pius IX appointed Maigret in 1847 as the first vicar apostolic of the Sandwich Islands. The next year, the vicariate was renamed the Vicariate Apostolic of the Hawaiian Islands. Maigret completed the construction of the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace. He also invited the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and priests and religious brothers of the Society of Mary (Marianists) to open schools in the kingdom. The first permanent church on Maui, Maria Lanakila Catholic Church, was dedicated in 1858. Maigret died in 1882.

The coat of arms of Bishop Ropert on a stained glass window in the cathedral.

Pope Leo XIII named Monsignor Bernard Koeckemann as the second Vicar Apostolic of the Hawaiian Islands. During his episcopate, over 16,000 Catholic Portuguese workers arrived in Hawaii to work on the sugarcane plantations. Given the simultaneous decline in the Native Hawaiian population, Koeckemann focused his evangelism efforts on the new immigrants. He made Catholic education a priority and built many schools.[7]

Koeckemann also saw the rise of leprosy cases throughout the kingdom. Kamehameha III ordered all leprosy victims to travel to the Kalaupapa Leper Colony on the island of Molokai. Reverend Damien De Veuster and Sister Marianne Cope organized and operated the colony. Koeckemann died in 1892.[7]

The coat of arms of Bishop Boeynaems on a stained glass window in the cathedral.

In 1892, Leo XIII named Reverend Gulstan Ropert as third vicar apostolic of the Hawaiian Islands. One year later, a group of American businessmen, aided by a contingent of United States Marines, overthrew Queen Liliʻuokalani and established a Republic of Hawaii. Many Native Hawaiian Catholics urged Ropert to speak out against Liliʻuokalani being tried for treason, but he remained silent.

Ropert provided support to the Hawaiian families of men who fought in the Spanish–American War of 1898 and the Philippine–American War of 1899 to 1902. In 1900, the Republic of Hawaii was admitted to the United States as the Territory of Hawaiʻi. Ropert died in 1903.

Bishop Alencastre depicted on a stained glass window in the cathedral.

The next the vicar apostolic of the Hawaiian Islands was Monsignor Libert Boeynaems, appointed by Leo XIII in 1903. With the establishment of Fort Shafter, Naval Station Pearl Harbor and Schofield Barracks, Boeynaems started ministering to many Catholics in the US Armed Forces. To assist Boeynaems, Pope Pius XI appointed Reverend Stephen Alencastre in 1924 as coadjutor vicar apostolic.

After Boeynaems died in 1926, Alencastre automatically became the next vicar apostolic. Seeing a need for new locally trained priests, Alencastre established Saint Stephen's Seminary in Kalihi Valley. He also oversaw the renovation of the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, modernizing it in time for the centennial celebration of the Catholic Church in Hawaii in 1927. Alencastre died in 1940.

An iron cross at the burial site of the bishops of Honolulu, Honolulu Catholic Cemetery

Pope Pius XII in 1941 suppressed the Vicariate Apostolic of the Hawaiian Islands, replacing it with the Diocese of Honolulu.[2] He appointed Monsignor James Sweeney, as of the Diocese of San Francisco as the first bishop of Honolulu.

Motivated by the reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the early 1960s, Sweeney renovated the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in keeping with the newly promulgated Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. Soon all the parishes offered Mass primarily in the vernacular in place of Latin and altars were built facing the congregation instead of the sanctuary wall. Other languages were incorporated into the mass including the Hawaiian language. Sweeney also invited the Marist Fathers and Brothers to staff several parishes on Oahu and Kauai. In 1959, Hawaii was admitted as a state. Sweeney died in 1968.

Pope Paul VI appointed Auxiliary Bishop John Scanlan as the second bishop of Honolulu.. Scanlan invited the Society of Jesus, the Christian Brothers of Ireland, the Religious of the Virgin Mary, and the Dominican Sisters of Iloilo to enter the diocese. The Jesuits primarily minister to the students of the University of Hawaii at Mānoa. Scanlan died in 1997

Co-Cathedral of Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus

The next bishop of Honolulu was Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Ferrario, selected by Pope John Paul II in 1982. One of his first actions was firing Monsignor Francis A. Marzen as editor of the diocesan newspaper, the Hawai‘i Catholic Herald. Marzen had served as editor of the newspaper for 20 year. He complained about his dismissal in an editorial published in the Herald.

Ferrario revamped major diocesan offices and appointed pastors to parishes that were supportive of his vision of implementing the Second Vatican Council. Bishop Ferrario's harshest critics were the conservative followers of the Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre's Society of Saint Pius X. Ferrario, through his judicial vicar, Father Joseph Bukoski, issued a canonical decree of excommunication to six individuals in that group in 1991. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, reversed the excommunications.[10] Ferrario retired in 1993.

In 1994, John Paul II, appointed Auxiliary Bishop Francis DiLorenzo from the Diocese of Scranton as the fourth Bishop of Honolulu. He served in Honolulu until his appointed as bishop of the Diocese of Richmond in 2004.

Diocesan Pastoral Center

Monsignor Clarence Silva of the Archdiocese of San Francisco became the first native-born person bishop of Honolulu, named by Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. Over 3,500 attended his consecration, making it one of the largest events ever held by the diocese. As of 2023, Silva is the current bishop of the Diocese of Honolulu.

Silva was a principal promoter for the causes of sainthood for Damien De Veuster and Marianne Cope. Silva travelled to Kalaupapa in 2005 to pay homage to them. Speaking of his trip, Silva said, "I will let that empower me in my ministry to the people of Hawai'i. Damien has been my hero since I was a boy." Silva's great-grandfather had been a patient at the leper colony.

In 2003, Bishop DiLorenzo removed Reverend Roberto Batoon as pastoral administrator of Molokai Catholic Community, a cluster of parishes on Molokai. Batoon had been accused of sexual abuse by several individuals when he was a priest in the Philippines.[11]

In April 2020, Bishop Silva announced during a Sunday mass that the Diocese of Honolulu was paying millions to settle prior sex abuse cases.[12] Silva also acknowledged that the Diocese was still facing a large of number of sex abuse lawsuits as well.[12]

Louis Desire Maigret, SS.CC. (1847–1848)

1. Louis Desire Maigret, SS.CC. (1848–1882)
2. Herman Koeckemann, SS.CC. (1882–1892)
3. Gulstan Ropert, SS.CC. (1892–1903)
4. Libert H. Boeynaems, SS.CC. (1903–1926)
5. Stephen Alencastre, SS.CC. (1926–1940)

1. James Joseph Sweeney (1941–1968)
2. John Joseph Scanlan (1968–1981)
3. Joseph Anthony Ferrario (1982–1993)
4. Francis X. DiLorenzo (1994–2004), appointed Bishop of Richmond
5. Clarence Richard Silva (2005–present)

• John Joseph Scanlan (1954-1968), appointed Bishop here
• Joseph Anthony Ferrario (1978-1982), appointed Bishop here

• Damian de Veuster (1840–1889), priest of the Picpus Order who established the leper colony on Molokai
• Marianne Cope (1838–1918), member of the Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse who worked with the lepers in Hawaii
• Joseph Dutton (1843–1931), lay missionary in Hawaii

• Helio Koa'eloa (ca. 1815–1846), lay missionary
• Gulstan-Francois Ropert (1839–1903), priest of the Picpus Order who was Apostolic Vicar of the Hawaiian Islands
• Ambrose Kanoealu'i Hutchison (ca. 1856–1932), lay superintendent of the leper colony of Molokai
• Leopoldina Burns (Maria Leopoldina) (1855–1942), member of the Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse who served at the leper colony
• Aloysius Schmitt (1909–1944), priest and chaplain who displayed heroism during the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

• Saint Francis School, Honolulu