“HERE am I. Send me.” These are the biblical words of Prophet Isaiah after receiving a vision from God in a temple to become a prophet.
These ancient words from the Prophet Isaiah echo the quiet, determined ‘yes’ that Father Frank Hoare gave more than 50 years ago, a yes that carried him from Ireland to the islands of Fiji, where his life of mission began.
The Columban missionary priest recently published two books filled with stories and memories from his time as a missionary in Fiji.
During his time as missionary, Fr Hoare kept (had) a diary in which he recorded (where he would record) incidents that (would), as he put it, “caught my fancy”.
In an interview with The Fiji Times, Fr Hoare said these books, A Missionary Diary and A World of Difference, capture the deep faith, warmth and cultural richness he has experienced across the country.
But before Fiji, before priesthood, before devoting his life to Christ and before he even knew the world beyond his hometown, Fr Hoare’s humble story begins in the quiet town of Portlaoise, Ireland during the postwar era of 1946.
Born to Eileen and Daniel Hoare, Frank was the eldest of five children.
His early life was steeped in simplicity and community.
His mother had been a teacher before marriage, and his father worked in a store before becoming a manager at a structural steel company.
The story of his parents’ meeting is one of quiet romance.
“My mother, Eileen, before she got married, was a teacher,” Fr Hoare said. “And she met my father while going on holiday.
“At that time, that was way back in the 1940s, so it was a time when the war was going on in Europe and people in Ireland were poor.
“She and her friend were going on a cycling holiday, and they came to Portlaoise and they discovered they had a puncture.
“So, her friend said, ‘oh, I know a man working just near the railway station here who will fix it for us.’ So, his name was Daniel Hoare.
“And that’s how my mother met my father, fixing a puncture.”
That serendipitous meeting laid the foundation for a warm and loving household.
Fr Hoare remembers a time when there was little fear and much freedom.
“We didn’t have any fears, there wasn’t much traffic, so danger wasn’t on our minds.”
Their home had a big garden that turned into a neighbourhood playground. Children played football, athletics and even “cowboys and Indians.”
Education was an integral part of Father Hoare’s upbringing. He attended a Christian Brothers primary school close to home, walking back and forth daily for lunch.
“I loved to play football at that time and played on the school team.
“And also we had a wonderful Brother Nolan (brother) who was very musical and he started up a band, a tin whistle band, and I was a member of that tin whistle band.
“We actually won the All-Ireland Championship at one stage when I was about 12 years old.”
After a year at Patrician Brothers’ College in Ballyfin, Fr Hoare completed his secondary education in Salthill, Galway at Colaiste Einde — an all-Irish-speaking boarding school.
Immersed in language and culture, surrounded by native Irish speakers, his worldview began to expand.
As he grew, so too did a quiet stirring in his heart, the call to priesthood. Fr Hoare felt a strong connection to his faith and a desire to live a life of purpose.
“I had a sense of the importance of Jesus Christ in my life and I wanted to do something useful with my life and so that when I came to (this sort of) old age and looked back, (that) I’d be happy that I had been generous and tried to do some good in my life.”
While Ireland had no shortage of priests in the 1960s, a visiting Columban missionary priest spoke of the great need for priests in Latin America. That struck a chord with Fr Hoare.
Instead of serving in Ireland, he would go beyond.
“I think my mother reacted a bit.
“She said, ‘would you not think of being a priest here in Ireland? ‘So, I said, ‘no, I think God is calling me abroad’.
“But then they were happy.”
In 1964, he was admitted to St Columban’s College in Dalgan Park, Navan.
His training lasted nine years, two more than usual, because he was sent to university to study chemistry and mathematics, a decision made based on his academic strength, despite his personal disinterest in science.
His studies, as he described it, were intense, including a 30-day silent retreat upon entering college, a massive shift for a 17-year-old.
“No talking for 30 days.
“Plenty of praying and listening to talks … that was the start.”
Fr Hoare studied in Dublin and later returned to the seminary in Navan to complete his theological training.
Mind you also, these were transformative years, coming during a time of great change within the Catholic Church, following the Second Vatican Council.
According to Catholic history, this ecumenical council introduced reforms aimed at modernising church practices and engaging more effectively with the contemporary world.
But between 1968 and 1974, approximately 4100 diocesan priests left the active ministry in the United States alone. This period of “mass exodus” was a defining moment for the church.
So, Fr Hoare’s calling into the priesthood (church) was almost perfect, or as some would argue “fate”.
“There was an air of uncertainty around at that time. That was the big challenge, really.
“And I remember asking my mother, before I was ordained deacon, what she would say (think) if I (he) later decided to leave the priesthood and marry.
“Her response? ‘I’d say nothing. It’s your life’.”
He said it gave him the clarity and freedom he needed.
“It was like a big weight lifted.”
When it came time to decide where in the world he would be sent, Frank left it to divine choice.
“I said, I think I won’t choose because if I choose and don’t like it, then I can only blame myself … I’ll leave it to God.”
With initial thoughts of heading to Asia or southern America, Fr Hoare never imagined that God would send him here, to Fiji.
He finds comfort in the words of Isaiah 6:8: “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here I am. Send me!’”
The verse rings so true for Fr Hoare and his love for Fiji.
