WAILUKU — Bishop Larry Silva of Honolulu called on the Maui community yesterday to follow the example of St. Damien and open their hearts to the forsaken of the world.

It was from Maui that Father Damien de Veuster, canonized on Oct. 11 as St. Damien, volunteered to minister in a leprosy settlement on Molokai where patients were separated from family because of the disease they suffered.
Silva served as the main celebrant last night at a Mass and celebration where a crowd of some 2,300 people honored the saint in song and prayer at the War Memorial Gym.
Silva drew inspiration for his homily from the Gospel according to Mark. In it, Jesus of Nazareth was traveling to Jerusalem when he came across a blind man, Bartimaeus, who was sitting by the roadside, begging.
When Bartimaeus heard Jesus was coming, he shouted for mercy and asked Jesus to give him sight. Jesus told him: "Go, your faith has healed you." Bartimaeus received his sight and followed Jesus.
The bishop said that Father Damien could have pursued a comfortable career as a priest in Hawaii, but instead he "threw caution to the wind" and volunteered to take charge of ministering to patients of Hansen's disease while building both church and community on Molokai.
Like Bartimaeus, Damien chose to see the suffering around him and lead a life of service.
"He followed Jesus," Silva said. "Now we shout with joy. ... God has made him a saint, a holy man, an example for us all.
"We celebrate our brother Damien so we can have the courage he had."
Yesterday's Mass and celebration marked the second day of a three-day Damien relic tour on Maui.
Silva was entrusted with the saint's first-class relic — a bone from his right heel — following the Oct. 11 canonization in Rome. The relic is secured in a small tin box housed in a 15-inch-long wooden reliquary that travels in a larger koa case.
A group of eight women from Maria Lanakila Church in Lahaina carpooled to get to War Memorial Gym yesterday. They stood in line for nearly two hours, waiting for the gym doors to open for Mass.
Esther Guzon, a Maria Lanakila parishioner, held on to a prayer card with Damien's image on it. "What Damien showed was love; he showed us that we have to give love, not hatred, to everyone."
Remy Ea, one of Guzon's carpool companions, said that like many people, she admired Damien's work. "Not all people can do what he did."
Carrying the relic into the gymnasium for Mass were Kalae Martin, youth minister at St. Theresa's Church, and Michelle Esteban, a religious education teacher in the same parish.
"It's such a blessing," Esteban said about the responsibility of carrying the koa case containing the relic. "I love Damien and what he stood for. He followed Jesus and that's what God wants all of us to do."
Martin said she received the sacrament of confession prior to yesterday's Mass as a way of cleansing her soul and heart. "I just felt the need to release myself of the burdens in my heart so that the holy spirit can be with me and I can be a better instrument for God and for Damien," she said.
"I just wanted an openness to whatever comes today," Martin said. Damien is a role model for all of us to do the extraordinary in ordinary ways."
Martin's great aunt, Nellie Kaimu McCarthy, was a Hansen's disease patient sent to Kalaupapa years ago at the age of 20. Martin said she carried a picture of her late aunt with her yesterday to honor her and the suffering she endured from being exiled to Molokai.
Chanel Sijalbo, a St. Theresa's parishioner in the Life Teen program, said she wasn't fully aware of Damien and his works until his Oct. 11 canonization. "Saint Damien is a great leader ... a great leader to me is someone who has self sacrifice."
The Rev. Jack Belsom, pastor of Iao Congregational Church, accepted the Catholic Church's invitation along with at least a dozen other ministers to attend Sunday's islandwide celebration.
"Regardless of your church, this reminds us of a ministry beyond barriers," Belsom said, and one that should be inclusive of all people of all faiths.
Mayor Charmaine Tavares welcomed the crowd just prior to the Mass. "This is very rare," she said about the celebration of Hawaii's first saint. Tavares also challenged people to dedicate their lives to giving to others.
"Let's go forward and emulate the example of Saint Damien."
County Council Chairman Danny Mateo said that for him, "Damien had nothing to do with religion. Damien is about a man with commitment, a man with dedication who served all people, rich or poor, hungry and sick ... there's the basic feeling of humans helping humans."
Pua Le Blanc, a parishioner at St. Theresa's, said Damien's canonization validated his life. "It was like finally, yes," she said.
She said she recently started watching professional football and can relate to fans cheering on their one team.
"It's like we're at a Catholic Super Bowl," Le Blanc said of yesterday's celebration.
The Damien relic tour continues this morning at Holy Ghost Church in Kula with the parish will host the relic from 7 to 11 a.m. At noon, the relic moves to St. Ann Church in Waihee and leaves at 4 p.m. to Sacred Hearts Church in Kapalua. Parishioners at Maria Lanakila Church in Lahaina will keep watch with the relic from 7 to 9 tonight.
Relic visitations are free and open to the public.
The relic will leave Maui at 6:45 a.m. tomorrow when it departs Lahaina by ferry for Lanai.
It will stay all day at the Sacred Hearts Church until Thursday when it's taken to Kauai.
On Friday and Saturday, the people of Molokai where Damien ministered for 16 years will host the relic.
Mateo, who holds the residency seat from Molokai, said residents are patiently awaiting the relic's arrival. "The excitement is definitely there."
A Sacred Hearts priest, Damien ministered to people afflicted with Hansen's disease for 16 years on Molokai where he died in 1889 at the age of 49 from the same disease.
Early Christians started the tradition of relics as they gathered to worship in the catacombs near the graves of Christian martyrs. The tradition developed into the practice of burying a saint's bones in or under a church's altar.
Damien's relic will eventually make its way Nov. 1 to the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu, where Damien was ordained as a priest. It will be placed in a permanent glass case to the right of the church altar.