FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
A service for retired Bishop Joseph Ferrario was held yesterday at Our Lady of Peace Cathedral on Fort Street Mall. The body lay in state throughout the day.
Vigil honors Ferrario’s
efforts at reform
Four mainland Catholic bishops will join Honolulu Bishop Francis DiLorenzo at the altar today for the funeral Mass of retired Bishop Joseph Ferrario at the Co-cathedral of St. Theresa.
Ferrario services
A funeral Mass for retired Bishop Joseph Ferrario will be celebrated at 11 a.m. today with Bishop Francis DiLorenzo presiding at the Co-cathedral of St. Theresa, 712 N. School St. Burial will be at 1 p.m. in Hawaiian Memorial Park.
Archbishop William Levada, of San Francisco, and Bishops Daniel Walsh, of Santa Rosa, Calif., and Patrick J. McGrath, of San Jose, Calif., will take part in the church pageantry, as will retired Bishop James Timlin, who formerly headed the diocese of Scranton, Pa., where Ferrario was born and ordained.
Ferrario died Dec. 12 in St. Francis Medical Center at age 77.
Yesterday, friends and parishioners from Ferrario's 50 years as teacher, pastor and bishop here paused for quiet prayer and farewells at Our Lady of Peace Cathedral where the body lay in state throughout the day. The vigil at the historic Fort Street cathedral was low key and upbeat, traits that friends used to describe "Bishop Joe."
"In baptism, Bishop Joe died in Christ and rose with new life," DiLorenzo said, using a ti leaf to sprinkle water on the casket as it was brought into the church. "We share the pain of loss, but the promise of eternal life gives us hope."
A procession of priests, nuns and lay people offered condolences to the bishop's sister-in-law, nephews and nieces, here from the mainland.
"A new priest needs a mentor, and he was truly a mentor and a friend," said the Rev. Gary Secor, the head of the diocese Office of Clergy. "He was vocation director when I entered the seminary, and my first assignment was to St. Anthony's where he was pastor."
Ferrario's efforts for practical ministry to the poor and ecumenism were underscored by Patricia Tossey, who was Ferrario's secretary in his early assignment as director of the Catholic Youth Organization and continued as administrative assistant to the bishop.
"He opened the Office for Social Ministries, he appointed the first woman chancellor and founded a women's concerns committee," Tossey recalled. "He was good friends with the rabbi and the Episcopal bishop. His dream was to unite efforts with partners in other faiths."
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
April Ahlf and Cathe Wong sang during the service yesterday at Our Lady of Peace Cathedral. Friends and parishioners paused for quiet prayer and farewells at the vigil.
"He was a consummate gentleman and church man, a caring shepherd all the time," said the Rev. William Kunisch, pastor of Maria Lanakila Church on Maui.
The way his peers celebrate the Mass of the Resurrection today would interest the man who served as bishop from 1982 to 1993, a time when the way Catholics worship was still changing to implement decisions of the Second Vatican Council of 1962-65. The council had changed the language used in services from Latin to vernacular languages and increased participation by the congregation in Mass.
"He was a liturgist. He paid attention to how the worship would flow," said Sister Helene Wood, head of the diocese Office of Worship. "He helped people understand the liturgy and enacted reforms so that people cared not just about being there, but about praying there and singing there, taking part along with the priest.
"He did have resistance," Wood said. "It wasn't an easy road. He was persevering."
Ferrario was dogged through much of his 11 years as bishop by a group organized as "Concerned Catholics" who opposed the switch from the centuries-old Latin Mass format and launched personal attacks on their weekly radio show.
The bishop excommunicated six of the group for "schismatic" activities, an action that was later denied by the Vatican. He granted permission for a weekly Latin Mass to appease the group.
Ferrario retired in 1993 after undergoing heart bypass surgery. He continued to work part time as first vice president and chief executive officer of the Augustine Educational Foundation, which administers an endowment that has provided 4,000 scholarships for students in Catholic schools.
Burial was scheduled for this afternoon in Hawaiian Memorial Park.
