La Salette Missionary Father Francois “Frank” Bourgeois, who served parishes on Kauai and Oahu in the 1990s and early 2000s, died May 11 in the Philippines, where he was retired. He was 89, a member of the La Salette order for 68 years and a priest for 63 years.
Father Bourgeois was born on June 14, 1927, in Massachusetts. He made his profession of vows on July 2, 1949, and was ordained a priest on May 22, 1954.
As a missionary to the Philippines, he served in numerous parishes in the Philippine province of Isabela. He came to Hawaii in 1995 to be pastor of St. Theresa Church in Kekaha, Kauai. He was then named pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in Ewa, Oahu, in 1999.
As pastor of Immaculate Conception, Father Bourgeois oversaw an expansion of the small rural, woodframe church.
When he first arrived at the Ewa parish, the two Sunday morning Masses were so packed that about 75 worshippers had to sit outside on the lawn in folding chairs under tents.
Using as seed money $100,000 from an existing parish building fund, he began a building campaign to enlarge the church. When construction was completed in 2003, the church went from seating 240 to accommodating 350.
Father Bourgeois retired in 2009.
His funeral and burial was scheduled for May 17 at the LaSalette Shrine in Silang, Cavite, Philippines.
