‘Open mind, open ear’: Meet the archdiocese’s newest priest

The Archdiocese of Seattle welcomed a new priest June 7 when Archbishop Paul D. Etienne ordained Father Joseph Tapia-Beeman at St. James Cathedral.

Father Tapia-Beeman grew up in Kent and attended Kennedy Catholic High School in Burien, applying to the seminary right after graduation. He attended Gonzaga University while in the seminary. He loves music and plays both the piano and organ.

When Father Tapia-Beeman joined the seminary, Father Justin Ryan, the archdiocese’s director of vocations, was preparing to leave, on his way to his own ordination.

“Here he is, 18, coming into the seminary, and I think he was used to a leadership role on campus. He had just graduated and was very accomplished at Kennedy in multiple facets,” Father Ryan said. “So he’s walking in from that a month later, he’s the youngest guy by at least two or three years and trying to kind of find his way.”

Father Ryan said Father Tapia-Beeman brings an “ability for building community,” comparing him to a shepherd who leads his sheep by walking along with them rather than in front or behind. He also pointed out Father Tapia-Beeman’s way of not overcomplicating things — meeting people where they’re at “with this listening heart and this quality where folks will be willing to talk with him.”

“It’s just been kind of incredible to see him — and it’ll continue to happen after ordination — to see him really blossom over the course of formation from someone who I think would readily admit would have been more on the shy side into the priest that God’s calling him to be — right there in the community, bringing people the sacraments, just helping them see God’s presence in their daily lives,” Father Ryan said.

He made sure to point out Father Tapia-Beeman’s great sense of humor and mentioned that, through internships and a pastoral year, the ordinand has more pastoral experience than a typical seminarian would have before ordination.

For his first assignment, Father Tapia-Beeman will serve as parochial vicar at St. Anthony and St. Stephen the Martyr parishes in Renton.

Read on to learn more about Father Tapia-Beeman.

What was your life like before you joined the seminary?

I went to Catholic school all my life. I became an altar server when I was 9 or 10 years old — loved serving at the altar. I grew up an only child, [took] a liking to music, played junior high basketball through CYO. I was part of the Kennedy band, went to [Kennedy Catholic High School] — loved that experience.

My pastor, Father Ed White, was a great example to me — really inspiring. I kind of credit him with being the initial priestly influence for my vocation. The thought about being a priest was pretty persistent in my mind since grade school. It just kept popping up on its own; I wasn’t thinking about it. It just came to me over and over, over several years.

Basically, the more I kept serving, the more I was exposed to the example of good priests, the more I learned, the more questions I asked, the more interested I became, and eventually that led me to apply to the seminary right after high school as an 18-year-old.

What person or experience most influenced your call to the priesthood?

Definitely Father Ed White. I wouldn’t have been able to zero in on it at the time, but it’s just his consistency, his presence, showing up, being available, that really encouraged me like, “Oh, being a priest is kind of cool.”

The desire and the willingness to be a priest was inflamed a little bit more at my confirmation. I remember at the confirmation Mass, Bishop Eusebio [Elizondo] came down to me and asked me directly to my face, “Do you want to be a priest?” I was like, “Yes,” but got super emotional, too, kind of out of excitement but also honest desire.

What do you most look forward to about being a priest?

Saying Mass because that’s one of the primary duties of a priest, but in it, I detect this very real element of “This is how I provide for people as a spiritual father,” so there’s kind of the element of providing there.

Secondly, it’s that, as a priest, I’ll get to enter into all these privileged moments of a person’s life — from birth to marriage, baptism, even in their difficulties. All those significant moments in between, both the struggles and the joys, that’s something I’m really looking forward to — accompanying people in those moments.

What gives you hope about the future of the church?

Ultimately, that the Lord is in control — not all the onus is on me. [It’s] that quiet, constant hope that the Lord will take care of things. I’ll try and do my best; I won’t sit passively by because there’s work that I have to do that the Lord wants me to do, but everything doesn’t depend on me. It might seem odd, but because things don’t always depend on me, that’s a sign of hope for me.

Who or what inspires you?

I’ll give a shout out to Father Brad Hagelin; he was my internship pastor. [There were] three semesters of internship that I took, and I was with him the entire time. He was a really good influence on not just my growth as a person, but in understanding, like, “This is how the parish works,” ministries, getting my feet wet, etc.

[Venerable] Fulton Sheen as well — kind of just with his evangelical zeal, how he wasn’t afraid to point out the issues of the time and give practical, realistic solutions.

And my parents, obviously. That’s a given. Dad is an example of patience. Mom, an example of perseverance.

What charism(s) do you think you bring to the priesthood?

I am a musician; I love music. I’m also not afraid to dialogue with people — going back to Fulton Sheen and evangelizing, interacting with the world. I’m not afraid of being challenged. [People can bring me a] situation that [I] probably haven’t thought of before. I’d be like, “Please tell me about it. I want to learn.” So kind of an open mind, open ear, so to speak.

What would you like parishioners to know about you?

Should I be selfish and tell them that I like lumpia?

I just connect it back to the open mind, open ear. I really want to learn because I know seminary prepares a guy really well, but it doesn’t cover 100% of things. There are some situations, scenarios, complexities of life that people have experienced that have probably just gone over my head so far, and that I haven’t been exposed to. Because of that, that means there’s more things I can learn. I want parishioners to know that I’m interested in learning about their experience, their outlook on life, what informs their perceptions — stuff like that.

This article appeared in the June/July 2025 issue of Northwest Catholic magazine. Read the rest of the issue here.