On Jan. 31, John O’Brien will be honored by the Diocese of Sacramento as the 2008 Distinguished Catholic School Graduate at a breakfast in celebration of Catholic Schools Week.

Each year, the diocese selects an honoree based on the impact the individual has made in the Catholic community. O’Brien, this year’s honoree and president of the Diocesan School Board, is no exception.

“John is a man of complete faith and has been a tremendous asset to Sacramento Catholic schools,” said Dom Puglisi, superintendent of Catholic schools. “He is always willing to take the first step toward meeting the challenges faced by our schools.”

O’Brien’s involvement with the diocese can be traced back more than 20 years, but his passion for Catholic education spans a lifetime. One of five children born to Irish immigrants to America, O’Brien was given the gift of a Catholic education at a very young age.

Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, he attended a number of Catholic schools, including Our Lady of Angels School in Burlingame, St. Joseph’s Military Academy in Belmont, St. Joseph’s Seminary in Mountain View and the University of San Francisco.

After getting married and starting his own family, O’Brien and his wife, Marianne, continued the tradition started by his parents by ensuring that all of their children had a Catholic education, whether it was through parochial schooling or through religious education taught in their home.

When the family relocated to the Sacramento area in 1986 they joined St. John the Baptist Parish in Folsom and quickly became involved in parish life — over the years serving as eucharistic ministers, lectors, working in pastoral care and bringing comfort to the dying.

O’Brien’s work with Catholic schools took root in 1988 when he followed his wife’s lead and joined the school board at St. John Notre Dame School.

O’Brien went on to serve several terms on the school board and later served on the advisory commission as president. Several years later he joined the pastoral council, where he served several terms and was co-chair of the parish’s 150th anniversary.

Four years ago, O’Brien was nominated to serve on the Diocesan School Board and was elected president a short time later. He is currently serving his third term and is working to address the challenges faced by Catholic schools today.

According to O’Brien, those challenges are tremendous when it comes to finding ways to underwrite the cost of Catholic education for families who cannot afford it.

“We have a growing population of young people, but a declining number of children attending Catholic primary schools,” he said.

To combat this trend, he said the diocese must seek out and encourage parents to get their children into Catholic schools and find ways to help them pay for the cost of their children’s education.

“I’m passionate about Catholic education because I’ve seen what it did for me in preparing for life as an adult,” O’Brien said. “It’s much more than a simple learning process. It’s about learning how to be people for others.”

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