By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
There are many to thank.
As I prepare to hand over my job to a new editor March 1, the emotions running through me are many and mixed, but foremost is gratitude.
I am truly grateful for the years of unconditional support of my late wife Cathryn, my loving critic and sounding board.
I thank Bishop Joseph A. Ferrario who 40 years ago took a chance and hired me for a job I didn’t deserve and wasn’t qualified for, my only two credentials being that I was in the right place at the right time. I thank his administrative assistant Pat Tossey for her sway.
I want to thank my two subsequent bishop-publishers, Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo and Bishop Larry Silva, who put their full confidence in me even when at times that confidence was tested. No one could ask for better, more supportive bosses.
And I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my two clerical staff, Shaina Caporoz who makes sure the bills get paid and takes care of our advertisers, and Donna Aquino who is responsible for getting the paper into 14,000 mailboxes every two weeks (no small task). Both have been at the Herald longer than I, having been hired right out of high school to type subscription records on 3-by-5 cards.
I thank my editorial staff over the years who have contributed their considerable talent: Jennifer Rector, Anna Weaver, Darlene Dela Cruz, Lisa Benoit Dahm, Laura Marrack, Bob Hutchinson, Nathan Hokama, Mark Nakagawa, Tarre Beach, and Lehia Apana. I hope I haven’t missed anyone.
And of course, I must thank our readers, the people for whom we work and whose support is essential. I thank those who call to tell me they liked this or that story, those who write little notes of appreciation on their donation forms, those who give $100 or more for a $28 subscription. Thank you all for inviting us into your homes every two weeks.
And I thank the Hawaii Catholic Herald itself, to which I literally owe my existence. It was in the offices of this diocesan newspaper some 75 years ago that a 20-something editor with a high school diploma and a creative streak met the paper’s secretary, the attractive daughter of immigrant sugar cane plantation workers. They married and had me, thus imprinting Catholic ink and newsprint in my DNA. They had seven other children, but we cannot all be diocesan editors.
I am very grateful for a job that has enriched my faith and tested and stretched my abilities, that put me in the company of everyday living saints, and also some universal ones. I will always treasure the trips to Rome to cover the canonizations of two remarkable Hawaii heroes, Damien and Marianne. How lucky can a diocesan journalist get?
It has been a privilege to be a messenger of good news, a bearer of light and truth, in an era of great popes.
It is humbling to have been trusted with this job for 42 years. It is gratifying to leave behind decades of deadlines met, countless words written, and thousands of stories edited, photos taken and pages designed, all, I sincerely hope, for the greater glory of God.
PS: I am happy to leave the paper in capable hands. Celia Downes is a talented writer and editor in her own right and earned the position on her own. I was not part of the hiring process.
