Msgr. Mattimore in Massachusetts waiting out health situation

By Patrick Downes | Hawaii Catholic Herald

Msgr. William Mattimore, the administrator of St. George Parish in Waimanalo whose health problems have kept him in Massachusetts for the past several months, hopes to be back in Hawaii by the fall of this year.

The monsignor, a priest of the Diocese of Worcester, has been living in the Mattimore family home in Shrewsbury, Mass., with his brother and sister since heart trouble sent him back to the mainland for medical care.

Other “medical problems” will probably keep him there for most of this year, he said in an upbeat telephone conversation with the Hawaii Catholic Herald on Jan. 16. He wants to be back in the islands by the fall, he said, so that he won’t have to spend a second consecutive winter in New England.

As he talked, he remarked that the season’s first snow was falling outside his window.

Msgr. Mattimore, who recently celebrated his 80th birthday, advised his interviewer not to turn 80. “It’s more darn trouble,” he said in reference to his health situation. “Just skip to 82.”

The priest was a lifetime friend of the late Hawaii Bishop Joseph A. Ferrario who invited him to work in the islands after he retired as a military chaplain more than a decade ago. Though not a priest of the Honolulu diocese, Msgr. Mattimore has served as administrator of several Oahu parishes.

He described himself as being in “good spirits” and having every intention to come back to Hawaii to serve.