Background
He was born in Samasodou, in Isabel Province.
He was born in Samasodou, in Isabel Province.
He studied at KGVI Secondary School, from 1968 to 1973.
He was the Archbishop of Melanesia and Bishop of the Diocese of Central Melanesia, from 2009 to 2015. Before serving as a priest, he was a teacher at the government school at KGVI and at the Selwyn College of the Church of Melanesia. He was a teacher at the Bishop Patteson Theological College Kohimarama, in Solomon Islands, in 1992.
He moved to Canada, where he was assistant priest at Saint Anselm"s Parish in the Diocese of New Westminster, British Columbia, from 1996 to 1998.
He returned afterwards to the Solomon Islands, where he was a priest in the Diocese of Ysabel. In 1999, he went back to teaching at the Selwyn College, where he was principal.
He became Mission Secretary at the Provincial Headquarters of the Church of Melanesia, in 2000. Vunagi was elected the same year Bishop of the Diocese of Temotu, which he was until 2009.
He was elected the 5th Archbishop and Primate of the Church of the Province of Melanesia on 4 March 2009, in a Provincial electoral board, held in Honiara, being enthroned on 31 May 2009.
He attended the Global South Fourth Encounter, in Singapore, from 19–23 April 2010, and was also represented at the Global South Conference that took place in Bangkok, from 18–20 July 2012. He was succeeded as acting Primate by Nathan Tome, bishop of Guadalcanal, the senior bishop of the province, until the election of the new Primate on 12 February 2016.
He achieved a Diploma of Education in Science at the University of the South Pacific, in Fiji, in 1976, and a Bachelor of Medicine of Education in Biology at the University of Papua New Guinea, in 1982. Vunagi achieved a Bachelor of Theology at Saint John"s College, in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1990. He achieved a Master of Theology at the Vancouver School of Theology, in 1998.
