JOSE Joe Luna Castro, the late newspaper editor who led the rise of The Manila Times to the pinnacle of print journalism and is considered by many as the father of modern Philippines journalism, originally set out to be a Methodist pastor. As someone raised in Sta. Teresita Dos, one of the poorest barrios in then-feudal Lubao, Pampanga, even that modest ambition seemed out of reach for him. But Castro had a rare gift, and I will use his own words to describe it: one who can use words like a sledgehammer. He was trained at a theology school in preparation for pastorship, but soon enough, he was in front of a typewriter instead of a pulpit. He then got his master s degree at Syracuse University in New York, where another Joe United States President Joe Biden was trained in law. Syracuse had Methodist roots.