Bishop Silva made member of Royal Hawaiian order

The Royal Order of Kamehameha I has granted Catholic Bishop Larry Silva membership into an elite fraternity established by Kamehameha V.

Silva, who became bishop of the Diocese of Honolulu in 2005, was inducted Tuesday into the Royal Order’s Hawaii Chapter 1 as an honorary alii knight companion, seventh degree, at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace.

The investiture ceremony included a speech by Robert Alm, an honorary alii, a performance by the Royal Hawaiian Band and a reception.

The order was created to honor Kamehameha the Great and defend Hawaii’s sovereignity, its website says. The organization aims to "guard, maintain and preserve the rituals and the memory of the ruling Chiefs of Hawaii."

The order recognized Silva for his work spearheading the celebration of St. Marianne Cope’s canonization.

Cope was a nun who aided St. Damien’s transformation of Kalaupapa’s leprosy colony.

Silva was responsible for getting a relic of Cope for the Honolulu cathedral, traveling with the relic to neighbor islands and organizing a procession from the cathedral to Iolani Palace last October.

"I’m very honored and humbled by (the investiture)," Silva said. "I think it really is a way of honoring all of the people that I represent."

Silva said the local Catholic Church works closely with the Order of Kamehameha.