Redemptorist Father Patrick O’Brien, a sincere and hard-working leader who was respected and admired for his intelligence, diligence, compassion and honesty, died on October 19, 2017. He was serving as director of Holy Redeemer Center in Oakland when he collapsed in early September. After he was diagnosed with liver cancer, he transferred to St. Clement Health Care Center in Liguori and received hospice care until his death.
Most of Father Pat’s ministry was devoted to education and administration. He led by example and earned the respect and trust of his confreres as he diligently conquered the challenges of every assignment he was given. Twice he was elected Provincial Superior of the former Oakland Province. Notable accomplishments during his tenure: wholeheartedly accepting the mission in Nigeria; and helping to navigate the merger with the former St. Louis Province to establish the Denver Province.
Father Pat was involved with Marriage Encounter for nearly five decades, and often said that it was the most fulfilling ministry of his entire priesthood.
Patrick James O’Brien was born on December 7, 1938, in Great Falls, Mont. He grew up in a tightknit Irish family with an older brother and three sisters. He attended grade school at St. Mary’s and St. Gerard’s, where Father Anthony Slane encouraged him to seriously consider the priesthood. He left his hometown to study at Holy Redeemer College in Oakland, where he was considered exceptional in every way – a mentally superior, well balanced extrovert who was conscientious, charitable and trustworthy – as well as a star athlete excelling in football and hockey.
Father Ricardo Elford remained a good friend since they met at Holy Redeemer in 1952. “We studied together and he was smart as the dickens,” he remembered. “He taught me to play guitar, and we formed a little group that included a bass fiddle and a concertina. We talked about fishing and the Northwest, one of his great loves.”
Attracted by the active work of a missionary and a system that offered a clear guide through life, he entered the Redemptorist Novitiate in 1958 and professed temporary vows on August 2, 1959. He and Father Ricardo took care of the barn, where a neighbor boarded two horses. “We got groans from the rest of the class when they couldn’t round up enough guys for a softball team because Pat and I were out riding the horses,” he said.
The young seminarian continued studies at Immaculate Conception in Oconomowoc, where he was involved in the Western Vocation Club and was pegged for higher education. His father died in 1962, the same year he professed perpetual vows as a Redemptorist. He was ordained to the priesthood on July 2, 1964.
After his Tirocinium at St. Alphonsus “Rock” Parish in St. Louis, he returned to Holy Redeemer in Oakland as a member of the faculty. After a year, he moved to Germany and studied the German language at the Major Seminary at Geistingen. He moved to Rome to study theology at Sant’ Anselmo, and earned an STL in Sacred Theology in 1969. He continued at the Alphonsian Academy and completed the course work for a doctorate in Moral Theology by 1971, but he couldn’t decide on a thesis topic so he returned to the United States and was appointed a professor of Moral Theology at Esopus.
During his time in the East, Father Pat discovered Marriage Encounter. He flourished working with the laity, which brought his natural gifts and talents to the fore. He brought many lapsed Catholics back to the sacraments, and inspired others to join the Church. After a brief Marriage Encounter training period, he returned to Holy Redeemer in Oakland in 1975 as a missionary. He continued Marriage Encounter and Cursillo work for the Oakland Diocese’s Family Life Project. When he was appointed associate pastor of St. Alphonsus Parish in San Leandro, CA, he continued the Marriage Encounter apostolate and assumed responsibility for the parish College Program.
Thanks to Father Pat’s demonstrated financial acumen, he was appointed treasurer of the Oakland Province in 1976. When he moved to San Francisco in January of 1977, he continued working with the Marriage Encounter and Cursillo apostolates.
Having earned the confidence and respect of his confreres, Father Pat was elected Consultor of the Oakland Province in 1978 and served two terms – until 1984. He was elected Provincial Superior in 1986, and re-elected in 1990. “As Provincial Superior, he was a very strong support for John Kane in the building of Desert House of Prayer, and not just officially. I have a photo of Pat up to his knees digging a ditch to bring in a utility line,” Father Ricardo recalled. And when the General Government asked the Oakland Province to establish a mission in Nigeria, he embraced the opportunity.
Father Pat returned to the Treasurer’s post for a year, and then joined the staff at the Picture Rocks Retreat House in Tucson in 1994. The next year he was appointed local superior and director. He built up a fine retreat ministry, hosting retreatants who could share in any of the Redemptorist community’s activities and speak with them whenever they wanted.
He assisted with the Oakland Province merger with the former St. Louis Province, which established the Denver Province in 1996. He served on the Denver Province Finance Secretariat in the 1996-1999 triennium, and was appointed to re-establish an apostolic center at Holy Redeemer in Oakland in 1999.
During the next triennium, Father Pat was appointed director of the Foreign Mission Office and superior of the Redemptorist community at Villa Redeemer in Glenview. He returned to the West Coast as superior and director of Bethany House in Oakland in 2005. The monastery was closed, but the assembly hall remained available for group meetings and retreatants. “He kept Oakland going for years after the intent to sell, sometimes by himself for long periods of time. People signed up a year ahead of time, and Pat kept that facility profitable,” Father Ricardo said. “He almost pulled it off, but the final axe was dropped at the last Chapter.”
Father Pat was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2015 and endured daily radiation treatments for an entire month. Although his health had begun to decline earlier this year, he focused on his work until he collapsed. When he was diagnosed with liver cancer, he willingly moved to St. Clement Health Care Center and was placed in hospice care. After a lifetime devoted to serving the People of God, may he rest in eternal peace.
Confreres gathered at St. Clement’s for a celebration of Father Pat’s life on Saturday evening, October 21. Provincial Superior Stephen Rehrauer presided at his Mass of Christian Burial and burial in the Redemptorist cemetery on Sunday, October 22. A Memorial Service is scheduled at Holy Redeemer Center in Oakland from 1:00 to 4:00 pm on Sunday, November 19. Please contact Br. Dan Hall at 510.635.6341 for more information.
Submitted by Kristine Stremel, with contributions from Father Ricardo Elford and Father Ray Maiser
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