ASSOCIATED PRESS
Honolulu Bishop Francis DiLorenzo gave a shaka sign yesterday in Richmond, Va.
Isles’ bishop leaving
for VirginiaDiLorenzo is praised for making
churches more welcoming
Francis DiLorenzo, the bishop of Honolulu for the past 10 years, focused on making each of Hawaii's 66 parishes "welcoming places" that were more responsive to the daily needs of the state's 215,000 Catholics.
The grandson of Italian immigrants and the son of a Philadelphia butcher, DiLorenzo defied the stiff, formal bearing of some bishops with an open, down-to-earth manner, said several parish priests.
At a news conference in Virginia yesterday, it was announced that Pope John Paul II had appointed DiLorenzo, 61, as the new bishop of Richmond, Va. After his May 24 installation, he will oversee 143 parishes in southern Virginia with more than 213,000 Catholics.
DiLorenzo's replacement has not yet been announced. The diocese said yesterday that an administrator will likely be appointed to run the diocese while a new bishop is chosen.
DiLorenzo will replace Richmond Bishop Walter Sullivan, who retired Sept. 16 at the age of 75, the normal retirement age for bishops. DiLorenzo, the fourth bishop of Honolulu, would have marked his 10th anniversary as bishop in November.
DiLorenzo, who was in Richmond for the announcement, could not be reached for comment.
In a statement, the diocese said DiLorenzo's appointment "came as a complete surprise."
It is unclear what DiLorenzo's departure will mean to the Catholic Church in Hawaii.
The Rev. John Sullivan, of Star of the Sea in Waialae-Kahala, speculated that while bishops have different personalities that have an impact, the "life of the parish and diocese will continue on."
Patrick Downes, a spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu, which covers the entire state, said DiLorenzo "was most proud of making the church a more open and welcoming place that could bring Catholics closer to Jesus."
Downes said: "In the Catholic faith, the parish is where the rubber hits the road. It's where Catholics experience and practice their faith. And he wanted the parishes to be open places for people to grow their faith."
To put parishes in closer touch with people's daily lives, DiLorenzo established the "Welcoming Parish," a self-evaluation process in which people weighed where their parish succeeds and fails. As part of that, DiLorenzo made frequent visits to talk directly with parishioners.
"He really enjoyed getting out and meeting with ordinary people and asking them if the church is doing what it needs to do for them," Downes said.
As part of this process, DiLorenzo also expanded the church's ethnic ministries by bringing in more Philippine, Korean, Vietnamese, Samoan, Chinese and Hispanic priests.
During his tenure, DiLorenzo removed five priests for sexual abuse of minors. Four of the priests were removed early in his leadership, about a decade before the exposure of widespread sexual abuse among priests.
