By Elena Macias
As a child, Father Eliseo Napiere felt the call to be a missionary priest. Born in the Philippines, he recalls a time when Filipino priests were being killed, kidnapped and martyred. A young Fr. Napiere asked himself, ‘who will replace them?’
This September, Fr. Napiere will leave his ministry as pastor of St. James the Less Parish in Perris to return to missionary service as the ecclesiastical superior of the Mission Sui Iuris of Funafuti on the island nation of Tuvalu, following his appointment by Pope Francis on June 3.
Tuvalu is a small country made up of nine islands in the Pacific Ocean located midway between Hawaii and Australia. It is the second least-populous country in the world after Vatican City, but unlike Vatican City, it has only about 100 Catholics and one parish, according to the Association of Religion Data Archives. A “mission ‘sui iuris’” is an independent mission established by the Church in an area where there are very few Catholics, often undergoing persecution or living in a very remote area. Fr. Napiere will take on the role of ecclesiastical superior based in Tuvalu’s capital city of Funafuti.
“I think the Holy Father has sent me back to where I belong,” Fr. Napiere said. “‘I’m a missionary so they send me to the mission field. Using all my experiences, I go to them with the spirit of synodality that I have to walk with the people of Tuvalu. To learn from them, to listen to them, and to walk with them.”
Fr. Napiere was ordained a priest of the Missionary Society of the Philippines (MSP) in 1991. After many years of different ministry assignments throughout Asia, he came to the Diocese of San Bernardino in 2016. His sister lives in the area, along with his parents, and had urged him to seek an assignment in the diocese. His first assignment was as parochial vicar of St. Edward Parish in Corona. Two years later he was assigned as pastor at St. James the Less, where he remained until his appointment in Tuvalu.
“Before I came here, I studied the profile of the diocese and I ran into the vision of the diocese and I fell in love with it,” Fr. Napiere said. “The most beautiful thing, there were the four core values [hospitality, faith-sharing, collaboration and reconciliation] of the diocese that really inspired me.
“That will also be my foundation in going to Tuvalu, to fill lives with hope for those people there that are underserved. That is a remote area in the pacific. I have to invite that spirit of the vision of this diocese as well as the charism of our society, which is to spend and be spent for the glory of God.”
A farewell Mass for Fr. Napiere will take place Aug. 31 at 5 pm at St. James. He will depart for Tuvalu on Sept. 2. Fr. Napiere has enjoyed his time serving the Diocese and says the bishops, priests and especially the parishioners have provided much insight and experience that he will gladly take with him in his next assignment.
“I learned a lot from them, my parishioners here, they are really great,” Fr. Napiere said. “A majority of them are Hispanic, Caucasian and Asian, but we are a group of one people, we belong to one kingdom even though we come from different backgrounds with different languages and different cultures.”
Fr. Napiere says he has already begun his new ministry at Mission of Sui Iuris, contacting the people of Funafuti as they prepare for his arrival.
Although the Diocese and his family members who live locally will miss Fr. Napiere, he embarks into his next assignment with the love of being a missionary still embedded in his heart.
“My role there is to enter into a religious dialogue with the people… to work with the people with different faiths, different religions, to work for the common good,” Fr. Napiere said. “I will not go there to bring what I have but to take off my sandals because that place is holy ground, it’s a holy place, God is already there, only together we have to find God in that particular place and learn from the people.”
Elena Macias is the Managing Editor of the Inland Catholic BYTE and El Compás Católico.