Our Bishop

Bishop Steve J. Maekawa, O.P.
- Bishop Steve J. Maekawa, O.P., was born in Seattle on November 22, 1967, to Don and Kiyo Maekawa. Having met at a Veterans Hall dance, Don and Kiyo married and made their home in the Seattle suburbs. This November, they will celebrate their 61st wedding anniversary. Influenced by the Jesuits and a Billy Graham crusade, Kiyo had converted to Catholicism while a student at the University of Hawaii. She raised Bishop Maekawa, his older sisters, Karen and Suzy, and his younger brother, Robert, in the Faith.
  
  Bishop Maekawa met the Dominican Friars, Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus (western United States) while studying architecture at the University of Washington. Upon graduation, he joined the Order, receiving the habit on September 8, 1990. Having completed the novitiate, he professed his first vows on September 14, 1991.
  
  Bishop Maekawa was ordained a priest in 1998 in Oakland, California and was assigned to St. Dominic’s Parish in San Francisco. Later assignments included Director of the University of Washington’s Prince of Peace Newman Center and Director of Vocations for the Western Dominican Province. Other internal ministry roles included serving twelve years on the Provincial Council. In addition to assignments in the Province, he also served as a reserve Navy chaplain, assigned to Marine and Navy reserve units, and deployed to Afghanistan with the Army’s 25th Infantry Division. Most recently, he served for seven years as Pastor of Holy Family Old Cathedral in Anchorage, where the Dominicans have been ministering since 1974.
- Coat of Arms
  
  In the right side of the shield (to the observer’s left), we find represented the coat of arms of the Diocese of Fairbanks. At the base, the North Star is suspended on a blue field over the mountains of Alaska, which appear in white. In the upper section, between two red roses on a field of gold, is the Sacred Heart of Jesus, titular symbol of the Cathedral of the diocese. This commemorates the consecration of Alaska to the Sacred Heart on Easter Sunday 1874 by the late Archbishop Seghers of Victoria, which then included the territory of Alaska. The roses, representing St. Therese of Lisieux, patroness of the Alaska Missions, recall her promise, “After my death I will let fall a shower of roses.”
  
  In the left side of the shield (to the observer’s right) is the personal coat of arms of Bishop Maekawa. The black and white cross is the crest of the Order of Preachers founded by St. Dominic in 1216. The waves represent the waters of baptism and the family name Maekawa which means “before the river.” The episcopal motto “Duc in Altum” is Jesus’ command to the Apostle Peter, “Put out into the Deep” which reminds us to trust in the Lord Jesus believing that all creation belongs to God: “The earth is the Lord’s and all it holds, the world and those who dwell in it.” (Ps 24:1)