FATHER JOVEN T. JUNIO | 1958-2016
By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
La Salette Father Joven Junio
Everyone called him Father “Jojo.” It was easier to say than his formal name, Father Joven Toledo Junio, and it fit his effervescent personality and boyish looks. So it was a surprise to many who knew the La Salette missionary from his 17 years of service in Hawaii to learn that he died March 6 in the Philippines. He was 57.
In a message to parishioners, La Salette Father Efren Tomas, pastor of St. Joseph Church in Waipahu, which was Father Junio’s last Hawaii assignment, said that Father Junio “was found dead and had apparently been dead for some time when he was discovered in his room at the Provincial House of the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette in Quezon City, Philippines.”
His funeral and burial took place in the Philippines. A memorial Mass was scheduled to be celebrated at St. Joseph Church, Waipahu, on March 22.
Father Junio came to Hawaii in 1991, the second priest from the Philippines to serve in the Diocesan Office for Filipino Ministry, recruited by the office’s director Maryknoll Sister Grace Dorothy Lim. The mission of the office was to send priests out to work primarily among first generation Filipino Catholics in an effort that supplemented normal parish services.
In 1996 Father Junio was assigned as pastor of St. Anthony Parish in Kalihi and in 1999 appointed pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Waipahu where he served until 2008.
He recently visited Hawaii for the Jan. 3, 2015, ordination of fellow La Salette Father Edwin Conselva.
Father Gary Secor, diocesan vicar general, said Father Junio was “always very supportive of the diocese, and very concerned about integrating his Filipino community into the life to the church.”
“He did a great job in that capacity,” Father Secor told the Hawaii Catholic Herald. “He was very active and engaging and always reaching out to the community.”
“He was very well respected here,” he said.
Father Junio lays his hands on Father Edwin Conselva at his ordination Jan. 3, 2015.
Father Junio kept busy in Hawaii serving in numerous capacities. He was the district representative of his religious order in the Islands. He was a member of the Catholic Charities Community and Immigrant Services Board, spiritual director of the Diocesan Congress of Filipino Catholic Clubs, a member of the diocesan Presbyteral Council and a member of the Diocesan Pastoral Council.
He was also chaplain for the Knights of Columbus and AGAPE Youth and Young Adult Ministries.
Blessed with a strong singing voice and a comfortable way with an audience Father Junio was also at ease in a tuxedo as emcee the Annual Bishop’s Concert of Choirs at the Neal Blaisdell Center Arena.
Father Junio was born Dec. 15, 1958, in Bayambang, Pangasinan, Philippines. He made his profession of vows as a member of the Ina ng Pag-asa Province of the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette on May, 1, 1981.
He was ordained a priest on April 15, 1986.
Father Junio served as a parish priest in Isabella, Philippines, until 1991 when he came to Hawaii where the La Salette Fathers had already been working for about five years.
After he left Hawaii in 2008, he served as pastor of St. Christopher Parish, Moreno Valley, in southern California. He had been ending a sabbatical when he died.
Father Gregorio Honorio, who followed Father Junio as pastor of St. Joseph, Waipahu, said his predecessor was known for his smile and “warm and welcoming personality.”
“He was well-loved by the people,” said Father Honorio, now pastor of the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa in Honolulu. “He was generous with his time.”
Father Honorio also complimented Father Junio for being a very effective administrator.
Regarding the parish projects he inherited, such as the major renovation of the church, “I enjoyed the fruit of his hard work,” Father Honorio said.
In 2006, on the 25th anniversary of his final vows, Father Junio reflected on his own religious calling as a missionary priest of La Salette.
“There’s so much brokenness in the world today — homes, families, relationships, society — there’s a need for reconciliation; to be reconciled with God; with others and with one’s self,” he said.
