Hawaii’s Bishops

During its mission period (1827-1940), the Catholic Church in Hawaii had six bishops. Officially referred to as vicars apostolic, they all belong to the France-based Congregation of the Sacred Hearts who sent the first Catholic missionaries to Hawaii in 1827. Since the establishment of the Diocese of Honolulu in 1941, Hawaii has had four bishops, the fourth being Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo.

BISHOP STEPHEN ROUCHOUZE (1833-1843)

Hawaii’s first missionary bishop was a Frenchman. He was consecrated a bishop in l833 at the young age of 35 to head the mission of “Eastern Oceania” which included the islands of Hawaii, Tahiti, Gambier, Marquesas, and Tuamotu. He was stationed in Gambier in 1835, and after religious freedom was declared in Hawaii, arrived here on May 15, 1840.

On June 6, the eve of Pentecost, he baptized 195 native Hawaiians at the Honolulu mission on Fort Street, signed a contract on June 22 for the building of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace; and in December ordained Sacred Hearts Father Bamabe Castan to the priesthood, the first ordination in Hawaii.

Bishop Rouchouze sailed for Europe on Jan. 3, 1841, to gather more missionaries and supplies for his Pacific missions. But on his return voyage in early 1843, his ship, the “Marie-Joseph,” sank and all were lost at sea.

BISHOP LOUIS MAIGRET (1847-1882)

A French Sacred Hearts priest who worked with Bishop Stephen Rouchouze in (Gambier and Hawaii, Father Louis Maigret was exiled from Hawaii in 1839 with the dying Sacred Hearts Father Alexis Bachelot. He buried Father Bachelot, Hawaii’s first Catholic priest, in Ponape.

Made a bishop in 1847, Bishop Maigret’s jurisdiction was limited to the Hawaii mission. He completed the cathedral planned by his predecessor in 1843; founded the island’s Catholic school, Ahuimanu, in 1846; and brought in Hawaii’s first nuns, the Sacred Hearts Sisters, in 1859.

Bishop Maigret ordained Father Damien de Veuster in the Honolulu cathedral on May 14, 1864, and in 1873 assigned him to Molokai. In late 1869, he attended the First Vatican Council in Rome.

Bishop Maigret died on June 11, 1882, after 42 years of service in Hawaii, 35 of those years as a bishop. He is buried in a crypt below the cathedral sanctuary.

BISHOP HERMAN KOECKEMANN (1882-1892)

German-born Bishop Herman Koeckemann was a brilliant scholar. He arrived in Hawaii in 1854 as a young priest and was assigned continually to the Honolulu mission. He was made coadjutor bishop, one designated to follow the present bishop, on Aug. 21, 1881, to assist the aging Bishop Louis Maigret.

Bishop Koeckemann became Hawaii’s third vicar apostolic following Maigret’s death nearly a year later. With the quickly diminishing population of the native Hawaiians, his administration saw a new apostolate with the growing Portuguese immigrants. He strongly promoted education, introducing the Marianist Brothers to staff Catholic boys’ schools in Honolulu, Wailuku and Hilo. He welcomed Mother Marianne Cope and her Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse to work with Hansen’s disease patients in Honolulu and Molokai.

The bishop’s relationship with Father Damien was stormy at times but he always showed a fatherly concern for the great “Apostle of Molokai.”

Bishop Koeckemann died shortly after been stricken with paralysis on Feb. 22, 1892. He had hoped to be buried next to Bishop Maigret in the cathedral crypt but was finally laid to rest under the tall iron cross in the Catholic cemetery on King Street in downtown Honolulu.

BISHOP GULSTAN ROPERT (1892-1903)

Father Gulstan Ropert came to Hawaii from France in 1868 and was assigned to Hamakua on the Big Island where he immediately fell in love with the Hawaiian people. He made Waipio Valley his center and had Father Damien, his neighbor in Kohala, build a couple of chapels there.

After 15 years in Hamakua and nine years in Wailuku, Maui, he was appointed bishop, despite all his protests, on Sept. 25, 1892. He followed his predecessor in supporting education with the building of Catholic schools and assisted the Franciscan Sisters with their hospital program at Kalaupapa, Molokai.

In December, 1892, Bishop Gulstan constructed an impressive two-story residence for the mission fathers on the cathedral grounds and, fronting it, he erected the statue of Our Lady of Peace that still stands today in the cathedral courtyard.

Gulstan’s administration witnessed the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy and the eventual annexation of Hawaii by the United States. The bishop was a good administrator, mild-mannered, and extremely kind and patient. Many say that his disposition suited well the quiet conducting of the affairs of the Catholic mission through Hawaii’s disturbing political era. After patiently bearing an illness for several years, Gulstan died on Jan. 4, 1903. He is buried next to Bishop Herman Koeckemann at the King Street cemetery.

BISHOP LIBERT BOEYNAEMS (1903-1926)

Bishop Libert Boeynaems came from Belgian to Hawaii in 1881 and spent his first 14 years here on the island of Kauai before being assigned to Wailuku, Maui.

Appointed bishop on July 25, 1903, he initiated many building projects throughout the missions~ three major churches were built during his office: Sacred Heart Church, Punahou. (1914), St. Joseph Church in Hilo (1919), and the renovation of St. Anthony in Wailuku (1920).

St. Anthony’s Orphanage in Kalihi Valley (1909), St. Anthony’s Orphanage, Wailuku (1923), and Father Louis Boys’ Home, Hilo (1916) were all part of his building program. He also had an ambitious plan to convert the Fort Street cathedral into an impressive Gothic structure.

In 1910 Bishop Boeynaems constructed an ornate Gothic porch fronting the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace as a first phase of his proposed plan to renovate the church.

BISHOP STEPHEN ALENCASTRE (1926-1940)

Born of Portuguese parents in Porto Santo, near Madeira, the future Bishop Stephen Alencastre migrated to Hawaii with his family when he was just an infant, living on Hawaii, Kauai, and later on Maui.

Desiring to be a priest, he was sent to Europe for his seminary studies. He was ordained a priest at our Fort Street cathedral on April 5, 1902. In l9l3, he was assigned to the Punahou mission in Honolulu and the following year constructed the present Sacred Heart Church on Wilder Avenue. On April 29, 1924, Father Alencastre became a coadjutor bishop to the sickly Bishop Boeynaems, succeeding him upon his death in 1926.

The new bishop, Hawaii’s sixth and last vicar apostolic, realized the changing times and saw the need for training island boys for the priesthood. He founded the first St. Stephen’s Seminary in Kalihi Valley. Bishop Alencastre also did some major renovation to the Cathedral, importing the marble main altar to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Catholic Faith in Hawaii in 1927.

Alencastre was also responsible for the continual building of schools and churches in the islands. On Nov. 11, Bishop Alencastre died of illness on board a passenger ship returning to Hawaii from Los Angeles. With his passing, the mission era of the Catholic Church in Hawaii came to an end.

BISHOP JAMES J. SWEENEY (1941-1967)

Father James J. Sweeney of San Francisco was named by Pope Pius XII on May 20, 1941, as the first bishop of the newly established Diocese of Honolulu. He was 42.

Bishop Stephen Alencastre had died six months earlier.

Bishop Sweeney’s appointment occurred seven months before the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. During the war, he organized a Crusade of Prayer where the children of the diocese each adopted one of the many servicemen who flooded the islands and prayed for him and his safety. The bishop confirmed nearly 400 troops during this time, visited hospitals, and expanded St. Francis Hospital to improve medical facilities for the civilian population.

Catholic education blossomed under Bishop Sweeney. When he was appointed in 1941, there were 19 Catholic schools.

By his 25th anniversary, the diocese had two seminaries, 10 Catholic high schools and 30 elementary schools with 17,150 students enrolled. Bishop Sweeney also established the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) to teach the faith to children attending non-Catholic schools. By 1966, there were 22,613 students in religious instruction class from the public schools.

Sweeney also created many new parishes: 10 on Oahu, six on the Big Island, three on Maui, one on Lanai, two on Kauai, and one on Molokai.

To increase the number of priests for the diocese, Bishop Sweeney purchased the Harold Castle home in Kailua and turned it into St. Stephen’s Seminary in May 1946.

He built up the diocese’s Catholic Social Service, reorganized Catholic Charities in 1943 and again revamped it in 1948.

With his auxiliary Bishop John J. Scanlan, Bishop Sweeney also attended the first session of the Second Vatican Council 1962.

BISHOP JOHNJ SCANLAN (1967-1982)

Born in County Cork, Ireland, in 1906, and serving San Francisco since his ordination in 1930, Bishop Scanlan was named auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Honolulu in 1954. He attended sessions of the Second Vatican Council starting in 1962 until their completion in 1965. In 1967, Pope Paul VI appointed him apostolic administrator of the diocese when illness forced Bishop Sweeney to retire.

Upon Bishop Sweeney’s death the next year, Bishop Scanlan was named the second Bishop of Honolulu. As bishop, he created four new parishes in Hawaii and built nine churches. He welcomed Hawaii’s increasingly diversified ethnic mix by establishing Masses in different parishes in Korean, Filipino, and Vietnamese, and also and helped to establish a Samoan Catholic Council.

Bishop Scanlan was responsible for inviting nine new religious communities to serve in the diocese in schools, hospitals, outreach, and the contemplative life.

Bishop Scanlan lead a public demonstration against a proposed abortion bill in the rotunda of the State Capitol in 1970, and after the bill became law, he was an outspoken proponent for the respect and reverence of life. As a response to the abortion issue, he opened the Mary Jane Pearson Center for unwed mothers and their babies, inviting the Sisters of the Good Shepherd to Hawaii to operate the facility in 1976.

In 1981, he ordained the diocese’s first class of permanent deacons.

Bishop Scanlan ordained Bishop Joseph A. Ferrario as his auxiliary bishop in 1978.

Bishop Scanlan retired at the mandatory age of 75 in 1981, remaining as apostolic administrator of the diocese until Bishop Joseph A. Ferrario was appointed bishop in 1982.

BISHOP JOSEPH A. FERRARIO (1982-1993)

Born in Scranton, Pa., Bishop Joseph A. Ferrario came to Hawaii as a Sulpician priest to teach at St. Stephen’s Seminary, a position he held for nine years.

After then joining the diocese, he held various administrative positions including the directorship of the Catholic Youth Organization. As head of CYO for five years he helped recruit island teens and young adults to serve hundreds of disadvantaged children in camping and summer fun programs.

In 1978, after serving as pastor in two Oahu parishes, Father Ferrario was ordained auxiliary bishop to Bishop John J. Scanlan, succeeding him four years later in June, 1982, as the third Bishop of Honolulu.

Under the goals of “outreach, unity and renewal,” Bishop Ferrario reorganized Catholic Charities, established the Office for Social Ministry, and various ethnic ministries, encouraged parish renewal, and actively promoted the concept of stewardship in the diocese.

A strong supporter of liturgical renewal, Bishop Ferrario established the Office of Worship and encouraged the updating of church interiors.

He also established the St. Augustine Educational Foundation to provide tuition assistance for children in Catholic schools.

During his 11 years as bishop, he established two new Oahu parishes. In 1985, he donated church land in Maui to establish transitional housing for Oahu’s growing population of beach people.

Catholic Charities continued to pioneer progressive transitional shelters on three islands offering not only a place for the homeless to live, but also vocational, medical and counseling services.

Bishop Ferrario retired on Oct. 13, 1993 because of ill health.

BISHOP FRANCIS X. DILORENZO (1993-2004)

Philadelphia native Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo was the auxiliary Bishop of Scranton when Pope John Paul II named him to be administrator of the Diocese of Honolulu immediately upon the retirement of Bishop Joseph A. Ferrario.

He served as administrator for year before the pope appointed him as the fourth Bishop of Honolulu.

Installed on Nov. 30, 1994, at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa, Bishop DiLorenzo introduced a diocese-wide parish renewal and review program called the “Welcoming Parish.” The program involved the bishop visiting each parish for meetings with parishioners and parish leadership, a liturgical celebration and a discussion of the parish’s strengths and needs.

In June 2000, Bishop DiLorenzo convened the diocese’s second synod to prepare the church in Hawaii for the 21st century through the drafting of 12 major proposals. Youth ministry and religious education were the top concerns of the synod delegates.

The bishop also increased and strengthened the diocese’s ministry to newly arrived immigrants, in particular the Filipinos, Vietnamese, Samoans, Hispanics, Koreans, and Chinese. He substantially increased the number of clergy from the Philippines, first to work among Hawaii’s Filipino Catholics, then to staff many of Hawaii’s parishes.

During Bishop DiLorenzo’s administration, the diocese actively joined a coalition to block a move to legalize same-sex marriage in Hawaii through court mandate. The effort led successfully to the adoption a state constitutional amendment, which gave the power to ban same-sex marriage back to the legislature.

Other public policy battles the diocese fought under Bishop DiLorenzo was proposed legislation that would legalize physician-assisted suicide and another proposed bill that would force our two Catholic hospitals to dispense emergency contraceptives.

Bishop DiLorenzo administration also responded to the national sexual abuse scandal by heightening its response to victims, establishing a victim assistance program, publicizing its sexual misconduct policies and mandating safe environment training for all clergy and church and school employees.

After nearly 11 years in Hawaii, Bishop DiLorenzo was appointed by the Holy Father to be Bishop of Richmond, Va. He was installed in Richmond on May 24, 2004.