Marc R. Alexander

Marc R. Alexander (born April 13, 1958) is a Roman Catholic priest of the diocese of Honolulu, and its vicar general. Prior to February 1, 2006, he served the diocese as diocesan theologian and pastor of a clustered parish known as the Manoa Punahou Catholic Community. He was born in Sagami, Japan. He was educated in Hawai‘i at Saint Anthony of Padua Elementary School in Kailua, and Damien Memorial High School in Honolulu. He completed his secondary education in 1974 at Mount Vernon High School in Alexandria, Virginia. He studied at Saint Meinrad School of Theology in southern Indiana, as well as the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. He also studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, earning a doctorate in sacred theology in 1993. He is fluent in French, Italian, German, Dutch, Hebrew, Latin and Greek.

Priestly ministry

After completing his seminary studies in the American College of Louvain (Leuven), he was ordained to the presbyterate for the diocese of Honolulu at Saint John Vianney Church in Kailua on October 18, 1985 where he served as a parochial vicar. From 1987 until 1990 he served as an associate director for catechesis at Saint Stephen Diocesan Center. In 1989, he was appointed interim pastor of another clustered parish, the Molokai Catholic Community, where he served until 1990. After his doctoral studies in Rome, he returned to Hawaii in 1993 to be appointed diocesan theologian and director of the Hawaii Catholic Conference from 1994 until 1998. In 1998, Bishop Francis DiLorenzo appointed him as Pastor of the Sacred Heart Church and Maryknoll School in Punahou; in 1999 he was subsequently appointed as Pastor of Saint Pius X Church in Manoa. Both parishes have since been a part of the canonically erected church known as the Manoa Punahou Catholic Community. Father Alexander serves as a member of the Diocesan Screening Committee (for evaluation of existing clergy and potential clergy). He has also served (from 1995 until 1998) as the co-chair of Hawaii’s Future Today (an LDS-funded organization to oppose gay marriage). He also worked closely with political activist Mike Gabbard and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in opposing gay marriage. He was also a member of the Hawaii State Commission on Sexual Orientation and the Law in 1994 [1]. Bishop Clarence Silva appointed Father Alexander to the office of Vicar General for the Diocese of Honolulu effective February 1, 2006. Bishop Silva appointed Father Alexander as his Moderator of the Curia, on May 5, 2006.

Sources

• Hawaii Catholic Herald, Vol. 68, No. 29, December 30, 2005

Publications

• "Catholic Perspectives on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide: The Human Person and the Quest for Meaning," Cultural Issues in End-of-Life Decision Making (Sage Publications, 2000)
• "Church and Ministry in the Works of G.H. Tavard" (Leuven University Press, 1994)
• "G.H. Tavard's Concept of Tradition," The Quadrilog: Essays in Honor of George H. Tavard (Liturgical Press, 1994)