Thousands of people attended the installation of Christopher Michael Cardone as the third archbishop of the Honiara Diocese on Saturday 10 September.
Among those present in the Holy Cross Cathedral for the ceremony were the Governor General Sir Frank Kabui, government ministers
Overseas dignitaries, and family and friends included the retired archbishop of Gizo western province, Bishop Bernard O’p Granty, from Australia, who had spent almost 30 years doing religious work in Solomon Islands, Sr Mary McCarthy PBVM Religious education coordinator CBC in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, the superior of the Salesian Sisters, Sr Edner Mari, and Fr Moses Paluku SDB from Congo Africa.
Cardone succeeds Archbishop Adrian Smith, who served the church for more than 50 years.
The Honiara Diocese covers Honiara town and the provinces of Guadalcanal, Makira, Temotu and Central.
Archbishop Christopher Michael Cardone OP was born was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1957.
He was ordained to the priesthood on in May 1986 and assigned to the Dominican Novitiate and parish of St Gertrude in Cincinnati, Ohio.
In 1988 he answered a call from the Australian Dominicans to spend three years in Solomon Islands teaching and doing pastoral work in Gizo Diocese in the Western Province.
In Gizo he was cathedral and administrator, Vicar General, founding parish priest in Noro Catholic Community and parish priest and secondary school teacher in the most far western parish of Holy Rosary in Nila in the Shortland islands.
The original three years commitment was extended four times and on March 25th in 2001, he was appointed by St. John Paul to be the auxiliary bishop of Gizo Diocese where he was vicar for youth and Education.
In October 2004, on the retirement of the Marist Bishop Gerald Loft, Cardone was appointed Bishop of Auki Diocese in Malaita.
Auki is one of the fastest growing dioceses in Oceania with one of the highest percentage of local priests.
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