Patrick Joyce

1940 - 2026

A funeral Mass will be celebrated on March 17 at 11 a.m. at St. Mel's Church in Fair Oaks for Patrick Joyce, of Fair Oaks, who died Feb. 20. He was 85.

Patrick was born and raised in Chicago, the second son of Irish immigrants, Catherine and John Joyce. His son John and his brother Johnny preceded him in death. He is survived by his wife Cathy, and his daugher Sara; his sons and their spouses: Matthew and Kay; Thomas and Carolynne; Michael and Crystal. His grandchildren: John, Max, Jen, Jackie, Jasmine, Blue, Sonny, Madeline, Ellie.

He attended Loyola University in Chicago on an academic scholarship, studying literature and writing opinion columns for the campus newspaper. After graduation, he began his professional newspaper career as a police reporter at The Chicago American. In the early 1960s, he also joined the U.S. Air Force Reserve and became a medic. In the mid-1960s, he studied at the McCormick Theological Union in Chicago.

Deciding that he wanted to more fully integrate his religious background into his work life, he decided to pursue work in the Catholic press.

He was first a reporter and then became editor of The Catholic Review, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. It was there that he met his wife, Cathy, who was the secretary to the editor. They started dating and soon were married.

After a few years he decided to return to Chicago to care for his elderly parents. In Chicago he worked as editor of The Catholic Explorer newspaper of the Diocese of Joliet, Illinois. After his mother died, he and his family returned to Baltimore, taking his father with him to live with his family.

At the Baltimore Sun papers in the 1980s, Pat worked as a copy editor and eventually became Assistant City Editor.

He later moved his family to Sacramento in 1988, when he became metropolitan editor and a columnist at The Sacramento Union. After the Union ceased publication, he worked at the state Capitol on the staff of a state legislator.

When there was an opening at The Catholic Herald newspaper in Sacramento, he returned to the Catholic press where he could use his great writing talent along with his deep Catholic faith. He also later served as editor of Catholic San Francisco for the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

He finished his working career in the press office of the Employment Development Department.

Pat was an avid and daily runner for much of his life – he finally stopped running at age 82.

He remained a student of literature throughout his life, reading and re-reading the works of C.S. Lewis, Mark Twain, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Evelyn Waugh, Flannery O'Connor, W.H. Auden, A.E. Housman and William Faulkner. His 1966 copy of The Jerusalem Bible was a steady companion.

When he was not busy attending mass or deep in prayer and connecting with God, he was an enjoyer of IPAs and brewpub culture, cigars, the irreverent humor of the likes of John Belushi, and fried chicken.

Above all else, Patrick lived his Catholic Faith and deeply loved his family.

In lieu of flowers please make a donation to the Sacramento Life Center, 2316 Bell Executive Ln, Sacramento, CA 95825