OBITUARY: Rev. Anthony Holowaychuk, editor of Catholic magazine Beacon

by Christopher Guly

OTTAWA - The Rev. Anthony Lawrence Holowaychuk, editor of the Toronto-based Basilian Fathers' bimonthly magazine Beacon, died at Toronto's North Western Hospital on December 8, 1992. He was 60.

The Very Rev. Isidore Dziadyk, provincial superior of the Basilians in Canada, said the Rev. Holowaychuk had been quietly suffering from leukemia for the past three years.

Born on June 9, 1932, in Mundare, Alberta, the Rev. Holowaychuk received a bachelor's degree in architecture from the University of Winnipeg before entering religious life. In 1960, he joined the Order of St. Basil the Great in his hometown and pursued studies in philosophy and theology at St. Paul University in Ottawa.

The late Bishop Neil Savaryn of Edmonton ordained him priest in 1969. From then until his death, he worked as a pastor in parishes in Vegreville, Borschie and Chipman, Alberta, as well as in Beamsville, Ontario, Edmonton, Vancouver, St. John the Baptist Church in Ottawa (the future national shrine of Canada) and St. Basil's in Toronto, where he was stationed at the time of his death.

The Rev. Holowaychuk was named editor of Beacon in 1986. In 1990, he authored a book, "Catholic Faith Guide."

Among his surviving family members are his mother, Mary, and a brother, the Rev. Ignatius Holowaychuk, also a Basilian. An uncle, the Rev. Boniface Sloboda, former provincial superior of the Basilians, died in 1985.

Funeral services were held in Toronto and Edmonton, with interment at Ss. Peter and Paul Cemetery in Mundare.

The Rev. Cornelius Pasichny, editor of Beacon from 1972 to 1982, explained that his successor was devoted to the publication. "He would work long into the night editing and typesetting it on his computer."

The Rev. Dziadyk says that a future edition of Beacon will be published in the Rev. Holowaychuk's honor.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, January 24, 1993, No. 4, Vol. LXI

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