With Hawaiian chant and hula juxtaposed against the rich tapestry of Roman Catholic tradition, the Rev. Larry Silva will be ordained and installed the fifth bishop of the Diocese of Honolulu in a ceremony Thursday evening at Blaisdell Arena.

Early estimates from church officials are putting the price tag at around $100,000, including a meal for thousands after the ceremonies and hotel accommodations for 20 bishops coming from as far away as the Philippines, Guam, Saipan and American Samoa to honor Hawai'i's new bishop.

The sound of a conch-shell trumpet in an arena elaborately decorated with tropical flowers and foliage will begin the processional, which could take as long as half an hour for all the dignitaries to enter and be seated.

The chair in which the new bishop will sit for his installation — reupholstered in burgundy velvet — will be carried into the arena by the hula halau of Kumu John Lake, on a newly made platform specially built for the occasion to carry the cathedra, as the chair is called.

Lake's halau will play an integral part in the ceremonies, with Lake performing a chant of welcome as dancers perform a hula kahiko before the Mass begins. Brother Franklin Pa also will perform a prayer chant or oli.

Also borne in by members of the halau will be the three symbols of the bishop: his ring, miter or pointed hat, and pastoral staff. Each will be placed on a special table on the stage.

"Then they will dress with lei the ambo and altar," said Monsignor Terrence Watanabe, speaking of the maile lei which will be draped in reverence across the altar and pulpit. "We're trying to make sure the culture has a part to play."

Watanabe is coordinator for major diocesan events.

Leading the procession will be kahili, traditional Hawaiian feathered standards borrowed from St. Patrick's Church in Kaimuki, followed by members of the Royal Hawaiian societies, the processional cross and then a long entourage of clergy including deacons, priests, the new bishop in traditional vestments, and those who will consecrate him.

Silva will be escorted by two longtime friends, the Rev. Gary Secor, delegate for clergy for the Diocese of Honolulu, and the Rev. Antonio Bico from the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J.

About 200 priests and 100 deacons will wear white stoles emblazoned with the coat of arms of the diocese. On the underside, against a red background, will be the new bishop's own coat of arms, a crest bearing three trees, kukui, oak and the cross which represents the tree of life. The trees grow out of an island set against a blue background, symbolizing the Pacific.

The coat of arms was designed by the Rev. Quang Dong and Thanh Dong of the Diocese of Oakland, Calif., and the finished stoles are coming from Vietnam and are expected to arrive Tuesday, just two days before the ordination and installation.

Principal consecrator is the Most Rev. William J. Levada, formerly archbishop of San Francisco, who has assumed the position formerly held by Pope Benedict XVI, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The priests will sit on risers to the left of the stage as one faces it, and a 200-person choir drawn from parishes throughout the Islands will sit on the right. Members of the public coming to the free ceremony and dinner will be able to sit in the seats around the second floor of the arena.

Across the way in the meeting-room area, 300 tables will be set with tropical flower centerpieces for a dinner in which church officials expect to feed a flock of 3,500 to 4,000 who will be bused in from parishes throughout the island to attend the ceremonies.

Early Wednesday morning, more than 40 people will begin dropping off donated heleconias, orchids, ginger, anthuriums, colored ti leaves and palm fronds at the arena, as 50 volunteers and designers begin the process of designing the stage where the koa altar and chair will be placed for Thursday's ordination and installation. The 8-foot altar and 4-foot ambo or pulpit will be borrowed from St. Philomena's Church.

"It's very exciting and wonderful the way the community has come together to help and donate," said volunteer Gail Berengue, who, with Barbara Akeo, has been handling the planning for the massive decorations. "We have some wonderful designers. They'll design what they feel like doing at the moment. The Holy Spirit works through them."

With final arrangements still coming together, church officials are awaiting completion of three large banners that will hang behind the stage — a 14-foot banner in the middle bearing the new bishop's coat of arms, and two 10-foot banners on either side, one with a portrait of Mother Marianne Cope of Moloka'i and the other Father Damien.

And just the other day, St. Stephen's Diocesan Center handyman Gene Pollock put the second coat of varnish on the device that will be used to carry the new cathedra into the arena.

"What do they call this thing I'm building?" Pollock asked, and was told it was called a cathedra. But he says, "you might call it a fancy gurney with two poles.

"They didn't know what they wanted, so I made my own creation. I kind of gave it an ancient design. You can envision the Egyptians carrying the king."

Pollock, who has worked for the church for 25 years, said the redwood handles curve down in the center, and the stand where the chair sits has four pukas for the legs, "like little coasters so the chair doesn't slide around."

He said the bearers, one on each end, will carry it like a gurney, but will be able to put it down as well, because it has short legs.

"I said, 'Holy mackerel, the bishop's going to sit on it?' and they said, 'No no,' so I made it lighter for them to carry."