Fr. Edwin Damien Conselva
HONOLULU — Hawaii-born Edwin Damien Conselva, a priest of the Missionaries of La Salette, was ordained by Bishop jLarry Silva January 3, in his home parish church of St. Joseph, Waipahu.
The 49-year-old former Polynesian dancer and flight attendant is the first local man ordained for the Philippine province of the La Salette order, which has 12 priests serving in eight Hawaii parishes. Conselva is a 1983 graduate of Waipahu High School. The ordination date was the 175th anniversary of the birth of St. Damien de Veuster.
Conselva told the Hawaii Catholic Herald December 17 that he was first attracted to the priesthood while in high school through the example of his pastor, Sacred Hearts Father Herman Gomes. But, he said, he let that thought slip “to the back of my mind” until many years later.
The desire came back in his late 30s, he said, when St. Joseph Parish was visited by the La Salette vocations director from the Philippines.
“I felt that God was calling me again,” Conselva said. “I needed to find out.”
He applied to the congregation in 2005 on his 40th birthday and was accepted. He was invited to visit the seminary in the Philippines for a week to get a feel for the religious life.
Conselva said that by the time the visit was through, he knew “this is where I wanted to be.”