Fr. Charles Irvin, Diocese of Lansing at 402-A E. Madison Street, DeWitt, MI 48820 US - Patrick O'Brien & FAITH

Faith in publishing

Barbara Wieland

Lansing State Journal           

Looking at the track his life has taken, it’d be easy for Patrick O’Brien to say divine intervention led him.           

O’Brien, who grew up in Swartz Creek, turned away from a budding career in advertising and graphic design to join the seminary and prepare for the priesthood. But he gave that up and eight years ago helped start a Lansing-based magazine that is growing at a phenomenal pace.           

The name of that publication?           

Faith.           

“God works through all of us,” O’Brien said. “I believe that God respects our free will and gives us opportunities to do his will on any path we choose.”           

Started in January 2000, Bishop Carl Mengeling created Faith as a gift from the Lansing diocese to its parishioners. The diocese, with some 80,000 households, had been looking for a way to reach members and give those who had stopped coming to church a reason to return.           

Originally, Mengeling thought of producing a newspaper.           

“I came back and said, ‘If you do a newspaper, you’d reach 80,000 households, need a staff of eight to 10 people and it’ll cost $1.2 million a year,’ “ said Father Charles Irvin, who was tasked with starting up what became Faith.           

A bit daunted by the price tag, the bishop asked for other options. One of them was a 24-page color magazine that would cost half as much to produce.           

Not only that, but a magazine might reach readers in a way a newspaper couldn’t. By using imagery, color and more durable paper, a magazine can have a greater impact, Irvin said.           

Right person for job           

With the decision made to go with the magazine format, the next task was to find someone who could help make the vision a reality.         

Irvin knew who to go to. And it was as if O’Brien had prepared for this job all his life.
O’Brien grew up in Catholic family and took his faith seriously from an early age.

“I was actually critical of the church,” he said. “I remember being critical on how the church was reaching out to people and thinking of ways it could reach more.”           

But his mother, Teresa, remembers him more for his art than his piety.           

“He was always drawing. He drew on everything,” she said. “And he didn’t go through the scribble stage as a toddler. Right away he was drawing stick figures.”           

O’Brien’s mother was encouraging, even talking with her son’s teachers to get permission for him to draw in the margins of his paper once his assignments were done.           

Always the artist           

In high school, Patrick played the tuba in the school band and painted dragons on the instruments. His mother always thought he’d be successful in art. His current job, she said, is the ideal blend of his talents and passion.           

“He always had this God-given talent,” Teresa said.           

After high school, O’Brien attended Mott Community College in Flint, then transferred to the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, a private art school.           

“I really wanted to be an art director or graphic designer,” O’Brien said.           

He was on his way to building a career in design. After graduation, O’Brien took a job at an advertising agency in Chicago, where his work included designing product literature for Case Corp., now part of Dutch agricultural and construction equipment maker CNH Global NV.           

But O’Brien said there was a nagging feeling he should be doing something more. “I had wanted to be a priest,” O’Brien said. “I wanted to do something to help people.”           

He enrolled in the Mundelein Seminary near Chicago in a program that would give him a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and a master’s in theology.           

While a student, O’Brien got involved with the seminary’s magazine and designed recruiting ads for priests. On one of his summers, he returned to his home diocese and put together a business case for a magazine.           

That magazine, the seed from which Faith grew, was thought to be too expensive to produce at the time.           

Part way into his seminary program, O’Brien realized he wasn’t destined to be a priest.           

“It’s a very tough life they lead. I realized I’d rather work behind the scenes,” he said.           

“He may not have been called to be a priest, but I think he was called to get educated at a higher level in the Catholic faith,” his mother said.           

But leaving the seminary wasn’t an easy decision to make. O’Brien returned to the advertising world, but struggled with doubts about whether he’d made a foolish decision to interrupt his career to go to the seminary. “I was still a big believer in the work of the Catholic church,” he said.           

So, when Irvin called O’Brien in 1999 and talked to him about starting the magazine, everything seemed to fall into place.           

“Our aim is to help people see the presence of Christ alive and active today,” said Faith’s editor in chief, Father Dwight Ezop, who also is pastor at St. Jude’s in DeWitt.           

O’Brien was the perfect person to make that vision a reality, he said. His own life story is woven with the same threads of other stories told in the magazine’s pages.           

“We wanted to present personal faith stories and the works of the church and remind people how relevant their faith is,” O’Brien said.           

Everday people, stories           

To do that, the magazine relies heavily on everyday people - including Lansing State Journal columnist John Schneider - who share how their faith has inspired or helped them through hard times.           

Those stories often affect O’Brien, too.           

“If these people who have nothing, who have struggled and hurt are happy, then who am I to hold a grudge? The stories help me to see things in a new light,” he said.           

The approach worked better than planned.  

Though it started as a gift to local parishioners, the magazine soon grew outside the 10-county boundary of the diocese. Other dioceses across the country, from Raleigh, N.C., to Laredo, Texas, signed on to Faith Publishing Service, adding local articles to a format the Lansing office provides.           

Faith Publishing Service now produces 15 different publications for 737,000 readers.           

In December, Faith merged with Liturgical Commission Publishings, a Lansing-based publisher of prayer and promotional materials, and now both facets of the business have plans to improve their online presence.           

How much larger can O’Brien’s Faith grow?           

“I’d like to see it go national. There are 95 dioceses in the country we can reach,” he said.
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Contact Barbara Wieland at 267-1348 or bwieland@lsj.com.