Samoan Priest Appointed Apostolic Prefect to the Marshall Islands

By Lagi Keresoma/

Apia, Samoa – 16 January 2025 – Samoan priest Reverend Fr. Tamati Alefosio Sefo has been appointed Apostolic Prefect to the Marshall Islands.

Appointed by the Holy Father Pope Francis, the appointment was announced locally through the Catholic Archdiocese of Samoa.

Speaking on UpumanaTV, Archbishop Mosese Vitolio Lui said the appointment was made early yesterday morning.

Fr. Sefo said “the calling was from God and the reason why it was easy for him to accept it.”

Prior to his new appointment, Rev. Fr. Sefo was serving as a parish priest of St. Peter Chanel in Samoa.

He was born on 28 April 1972 at Tafitoala Safata and studied Philosophy and Theology at the Pacific Regional Seminary in Fiji.

He was ordained as a priest in November 2004.

Returning to Samoa, his first task was as an interim parish priest of St. Andrews at Faleula in 2005.

He returned to Fiji in 2006 and served as a parish priest of St. Agnes in Samabula Fiji from 2006 to 2009.

He later took a course in Formation at Marymount Mercy Centre in New South Wales, Australia in 2010 then went on to serve as Formator then Director of Formation of the M.S.C from 2011 to 2014.

He later served as Chairman of the Chevalier Youth Trust Board from 2015 to 2023, and as Superior of the M.S.C.-Pacific Union from 2015 to 2021. He also served as M.S.C. provincial superior of the islands of the Pacific from 2021 to 2023.

He has been a parish priest of Saint Peter Chanel in Samoa since 2023.