THIS December will mean a lot to Rev. Father Luello Nafarrete Palacpac. It will be Father Palacpac’s 25th year as a priest and despite the trials and tribulations that come along with it, he’ll be the first one to tell you that he’s still having a great time serving God.
“My ordination motto, ‘Lead me Lord,’ had always resonated in my life,” he said to the Asian Journal. “Christ’s loving presence in my life is palpable all these years, in good times and in challenging times, he comes fulfilling his promise of comfort, of love.
“At this stage of my life, after being a priest for 24 years I must confess that what I consider as most fulfilling aside from celebrating the Eucharist is being able to serve especially the poor both in the material sense and those in need of spiritual healing, the sinful, the sick and the dying.”
Palacpac added: “When I meet people and feel their warmth and support. It is through these experiences that I am able to put into concrete ways the Eucharist I celebrate as I minister to people. It is when I see people smile and are happy then I am able to have a sound sleep.”
Palacpac is a parochial vicar at St. Augustine Parish in South San Francisco.
Palacpac has come a long way. His journey into the priesthood began after graduating elementary school in Bani, Pangasinan, Philippines when his parents enrolled him in the seminary. He followed his two older brothers who were also studying there at the time.
Palacpac admits he didn’t want to become a priest at first. But slowly God’s seed was planted inside him.
“The grace of God slowly opened my heart to acknowledge the growing vocation,” he said. “When I realized that God is calling me to be a priest with the help of my formators, I sought the help of God to sustain the seed of vocation that I slowly recognized.”
Palacpac said as the days and years went by, he continued to nourish that seed God had planted in him by studying and praying at the seminary.
He went on to graduate high school from Mary Help of Christians Minor Seminary before attending the San Pablo College Seminary in Baguio City.
“There the call of God was becoming clearer and I became more convinced that God indeed is calling me so I decided to continue on to the Mary Help of Christians School of Theology in Vigan, Ilocos Sur.”
Three years later, he was ordained to the Deaconate saying, “I sealed my yes, to the Lord’s invitation by getting ordained as a priest. God did not only initiate and I did not just respond to his invitation but above all, God sustains and I continue to respond.”
He credited his parents for helping him follow God’s call.
“They [his parents] instilled in us important lessons in life: fear of God, honesty, integrity, industry and hard work among other values in life,” he said. “My parents’ example of integrity, hard work and generosity along with relatives, not to mention their prayers; these have inspired me to carry out with charity my vocation of the priesthood. I consider them as God’s manifestations of his presence in my life. They are God’s fulfillment of His promise that He will take care of me.”
For 22 years after being ordained, Father Palacpac worked closely with Bishop Jesus A. Cabrera, a revered figure in Alaminos.
Palacpac was first assigned at the St. Joseph Cathedral Parish and served as an assistant to the Pastor. He also led the parish as Director of the Youth Ministry. As the years went by, he served in several other capacities. He became a parish priest for four other parishes; a manager at the church’s AM and FM radio station, and served as director of the Media Apostolate of the Diocese. He said he also performed administrative responsibilities as chancellor-secretary before being appointed vicar-general, a position he held before leaving to the U.S. in 2008.
Leaving the Philippines to serve God in the United States posed a lot of difficulties, he said. Many of his parishioners and friends in the Philippines questioned his move. They asked him how he could he could help the poor here in the U.S., how was he going to adjust to the different culture, etc.?
“I myself discovered this in the short time that I have stayed in the parishes.” he explains. “Indeed, the pastoral situation here is different. But what encouraged me was the warmth and hospitality of the parishioners I have encountered so far.”
“The pastors in these two parishes I have been assigned to (Parish of Mission Dolores and St. Augustine) have also been very supportive and understanding to my needs. But what helps me in my integration is the attitude ‘to be as empty as possible’. To leave behind everything and allow myself to learn more from each one, to understand the pastoral direction of the Diocese, to get immersed in the life of the people as I learned the language and the culture. I may have encountered some difficulties, but I rather consider these as challenges and opportunities to become better.”
It’s these kinds of challenges that has allowed Father Palacpac to serve God to the fullest. He knows that God is watching and protecting over him. It doesn’t matter whether he’s in the Philippines or in the US. He will continue to spread God’s word.
He said 24 years have gone by quickly. His advice to those who are thinking of entering the priesthood is to be a good and hard working priest, “to be the priest Christ wants us to be.”
“Priesthood is a gift and a task,” he said. Palacpac then quotes a passage from the Acts and Decrees of the Second Plenary Council (PCP II), “The priesthood is instituted within the People of God, for the sake of the People of God. Priests are ordained in order to enable God’s priestly people to actualize their common priesthood, so that they may indeed become God’s holy people. It is Christ Himself who through their service preaches the word of God, administers the sacraments, incorporates new members into the body and directs and guides his people on their journey to eternal salvation.”
With so many wayward people in the US seeking a way into God, Palacpac advises those who want to become better servants to the Lord to “learn from Jesus, who showed the way to fulfill this mission.” “He was a king but he washed the feet of his own disciples,” Palacpac said. “He came not to be served, but to serve, to lay down his life. Jesus reminds us, ‘whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you shall make himself slave of all’ and to be fully united with Christ, like how the vine is united with the branches.”
It’s been 24 years for Palacpac. This year will be his 25th. For Palacpac, here’s to another 25 years of serving the Lord.
St. Augustine Catholic Parish
3700 Callan Blvd. South
San Francisco, CA 94080
(650) 873-2282
Father - Professor Leoncio Aseo Palacpac (deceased)
Mother Nemesia Urbano Palacpac
Siblings : Dr. Leon N. Palacpac (Baltimore, Maryland)
Louis N. Palacpac (Artesia, CA)
Dr. Perpetuo N. Palacpac (Buena Park, CA)
Virgilio N. Palacpac (Wilton, Connecticut)
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