Father Chapa celebrates his first Mass at St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles Church. 

Mary Cottingham, South Texas Catholic

 

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Joyous applause and cheers met the announcement that Father Eric Gabriel Chapa was found worthy and had been chosen to join the brotherhood of priests at his ordination on Dec. 3 at Corpus Christi Cathedral. “Eric is clearly a hometown boy,” Bishop Michael Mulvey said, in response to the cheers directed toward the newly ordained priest. “This is a joyful day for all of us.” 

The Cathedral pews were filled with Father Chapa’s family and friends, his St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles parish family and parishioners from parishes where Father Chapa had been assigned as a seminarian and later as a deacon. On the altar was a picture of the late Msgr. Morgan Rowsome, Father Chapa’s role model.

In his homily Bishop Mulvey said to Father Chapa to first follow the ministry of God. The bishop said that the Word of God must not be just intellectually understood; “it must be felt in our hearts, so they can see it in your life.”

Father Eric Gabriel Chapa gets ordained a priest on Dec. 3 at Corpus Christi Cathedral. Mary Cottingham, South Texas Catholic

“It is a glorious beautiful day, but your life and your ministry is now a sacrifice, an offering to the people of God who have been at your side. The Lord is calling you to serve the royal priesthood of the people of God,” Bishop Mulvey said. 

“Don’t try to do it all yourself,” the bishop advised him. “Let everyone assist you in becoming a holy person.”

On the following day, Father Chapa celebrated his first Mass at St. Peter’s. The church was filled to capacity and Msgr. Rowsome’s picture was again displayed.

Parish staff, remember Father Chapa as always “being holy”. He would say he was going to grow up and be Father Morgan, parish CMSE coordinator Janie Pena said. “It is such a blessing that he remembers Msgr. Morgan by having his picture up on the altar.”

“After Mass, his mother told me, he would put on his cape and have another Mass,” said Julie Andersen, who assists Father Chapa’s mother Priscilla who has served as the parish’s DRE director for more than 15 years.

“We always knew he’d be a priest,” Pena said.

In his homily Father Chapa encouraged the congregation to wait for Christ to come—just as John the Baptist had foretold. “Stay here with his Church. Do not give up on him. There is only here, because here is God and each other. God will come to us if we wait. That’s what Advent is, that’s what waiting means, that’s what life means. Stay here. Have no fear.” 

Brother priests, Father Paul Hesse, Father Richard Gonzales, Msgr. Larry White, Msgr. Seamus McGowan, and Father Piotr Koziel, concelebrated Mass with Father Chapa and Deacons Allen Cicora, Eleuterio Farias and Stacy Millsap assisted.
 

Father Chapa celebrates his first Mass at St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles Church. Mary Cottingham, South Texas Catholic

When he was in junior high and high school, Chapa helped with Vacation Bible School and taught religious education to the younger children. Brothers Brenden and Bailey Ayers would sometimes help him with the summer programs. “We tried to follow in his footsteps as best as we could,” Brenden said of his Godfather. Bailey was one of the altar servers at Father Chapa’s first Mass. 

“He spent a lot of time with us when he was younger. He really taught us a lot and he showed us how strong he was in his faith and it really inspired me and Bailey. We have a very strong Catholic family, but to see someone older, just graduating high school and to still have such a strong faith was really inspiring,” Brenden said.

Many parishioners have known Father Chapa all his life. Marian Tajchaman was his teacher for CCD at St. Peter’s and she has known him since he was a baby. “In his teens he was very quiet, very shy, an all around good kid, but extremely shy. He sure has come a long way,” Tajchaman said.

Ann Sherman remembered a time when Chapa played the role of Jesus at a nativity scene. “I encouraged him to be a priest,” she said. “His mother told me that he would go home and take crackers or cookies and pretend he was holding up the Eucharist.”

Robert Aguilar recalled that Msgr. Morgan had been Father Chapa’s idol since he was seven or eight years old. “He (Father Chapa) is the first priest from our parish,” Aguilar said.

Pax Christi Sisters Guadalupe Maria Cervantes and Mother Maria Elva Reyes have known Father Chapa since he was a three-year-old. During Bible school he helped the sisters at St. Peter’s and St. Mary’s Mission. 

Mother Maria Elva remembers that as an Altar server, “he was always very devout and very reverent. Always with his hands together, like he was really paying attention. He was very serious—very devoted to the Eucharist,” she said.

One of Sister Guadalupe’s fondest memories was on All Saints Day when Msgr. Morgan asked the children to dress as little saints and “Eric came dressed as Msgr. Morgan and he said, ‘I am Msgr. Morgan and I like to play golf.’ He had fake skin on the top of his head and it was very funny,” she said.

Another memory occurred during the summer of Father Chapa’s first year at St. Edward’s University. He asked how he could help with the construction of the new Pax Christi Liturgical Center. “He was there at 8 a.m. every morning ready to work and he did pretty good,” Mother Maria Elva said. Chapa told them that he would never forget that summer, because he learned how to work.

When Bishop Mulvey sent Chapa to study Italian in Assisi, Sister Guadalupe and a group of Pax Christi Sisters crossed paths with him as he was coming out of the Church of St. Clare and they were going in. They ended up spending the rest of the afternoon together as he gave them a tour of various churches. “I don’t believe it was a coincidence. It was such a blessing,” Sister Guadalupe said.
 

Father Chapa’s family, from left, sister Vanessa Fruchey, mother Priscilla Chapa and Father Gabriel Chapa, present the gifts at his first Mass. Mary Cottingham, South Texas Catholic

She saw him again in Rome when Chapa’s parents came to visit. His mother brought ingredients to make him enchiladas. The sisters received permission to have her cook in the place where they stayed. They surprised him with homemade enchiladas, which they all enjoyed.

At his ordination Father Chapa wrote a Letter of Thanksgiving in the program of worship, which read, “The years have taught me a lot. There have been many hours being taught by those wiser than I...from Tuloso-Midway, to St. Edward’s University, to the North American College in Rome. None of these years, days and hours would I take back for anything! The most important lessons though, have not so much been these places, but the people there. Thank you to those I’ve learned from, whose best message has simply been their life, lived well and holy.”