James Joseph Sweeney, as the first Bishop of Honolulu on May 20, 1941; Msgr. Sweeney was subsequently ordained to the episcopate on July 25, 1941, in the Cathedral of Saint Mary of Assumption in San Francisco, California. Soon after Bishop Sweeney's installation, on December 7, 1941, came the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces. Thousands of military and civilians died. Explosions were heard around downtown Honolulu and near the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace. Bishop Sweeney shepherded the diocese throughout World War II. Blessed John XXIII opened the Second Vatican Council on October 11, 1962, and Bishop Sweeney was a council father, one of many prelates from the United States to attend the sessions. Inspired by the reforms agreed upon in Rome, he enacted major changes to the liturgy in the Diocese of Honolulu. One of his actions was to renovate the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in keeping with the newly promulgated Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. Soon all parishes offered Mass primarily in the vernacular in place of Latin and altars were built facing the congregation instead of the sanctuary wall. Slowly, other languages were incorporated into the Mass including the Hawaiian language. Bishop Sweeney also invited the Marist Fathers and Brothers to staff several parishes on the islands of Oahu and Kauai. Bishop Sweeney fell ill and could not perform his duties with full vigor. His request for an auxiliary bishop was granted. He died on his birthday on June 19, 1968, at the age of 70. He was buried in Colma near San Francisco, where he spent his early years as a priest. Scanlan Pope Paul VI appointed John Joseph Scanlan, the diocese's auxiliary bishop and apostolic administrator as its second ordinary on March 6, 1968. A San Francisco archdiocesan priest from County Cork in Ireland, Msgr. Scanlan witnessed the growth of Hawaii, that had passed from a territory to a state of the United States on 1959. He maintained cordial relations with the Catholic Governor of Hawaii, John A. Burns, even when the Hawaii legislature passed a bill permitting abortion on demand and Governor Burns allowed the bill to become law without his signature. Scanlan was also remembered for his invitation of several religious institutes to establish themselves in the Hawaiian Islands. Among such groups were the Society of Jesus, the Christian Brothers of Ireland, the Religious of the Virgin