About You:
Living Faith: Describe your vocation in life.
Pat Gohn: I’ve been married to my college sweetheart, Bob, for 41 years. We have three grown children who are also married and have blessed us with six grandchildren.
LF: Offer a new general bio here, if you wish something other than what is listed here.
PG: For decades, I’ve been a seasoned writer and speaker offering Catholic content on topics related to the faith and growth within the spiritual life. Besides my day job as the editorial director for the Living Faith brand periodicals and website, I’m also the Catholic content editor for Creative Communications’ catalog of devotionals and various resources that serve the needs of churches.
LF: Do you reach out to readers online via a website or social media?
PG: Yes, of course, here at Living Faith we have a contact page where people can reach out and send an email. I also have a personal website at PatGohn.net with more.
LF: Share a little about your ministry or daily work. (A day in the life looks like…?)
PG: After morning prayers and breakfast, the first things I read are usually the comments of Living Faith readers on the daily devotion. The first emails of the day are about catching up on all things Living Faith. By mid-morning I’m either in a meeting or reading through writer’s manuscripts or organizing content areas that I’m responsible for. I tend to actually do my own writing later in the day when things are quieter and I have longer stretches of time that are mine and not in service to others.
LF: How long have you been writing, or when did you start?
PG: I have loved writing since my teen years. I wrote songs and poetry and articles for the high school newspaper. In college at St. John’s University in New York, I majored in communications and minored in theology.
I began working in radio after college as a disc jockey and voice-over artist and a copywriter for commercials. When I stepped into the world of motherhood, I stopped working six days a week and took some years off to focus on raising our children. I did not think I’d return to radio, given the hours it demanded away from the family, so kept journaling, and I was active in my parish church.
As the new millennium dawned and the internet exploded with online blogging and the growth of Catholic websites, my freelance writing grew both online and in print. After earning a master’s in theology in 2008, I began speaking and teaching on Catholic subject matter more frequently. I was writing for Bayard’s magazine’s such as Catholic Digest and Catechist long before I was invited to apply for an editor’s position in 2016.
LF: What is the most difficult part of your writing process?
PG: All of writing is rewriting. So shaping and getting down that first draft down is the hardest part. Often, that’s the outcome of personal prayer and thought, research and note taking. Sometimes I’ve spent hours of prep before the first draft is ever typed!
LF: How many books have you written, and which is your favorite? If you haven’t written a book, name a favorite that you’ve enjoyed.
PG: Thanks for asking. Over the past 12 years, I’m author of two books, and a contributor to many book collaborations, including, most recently, Living the Word Catholic Women’s Bible and 365 Hopeful Devotions for Catholics from Living Faith.
My favorite would be my first full-length book, released in 2013, that also won a Catholic Press Association Award (now the Catholic Media Association): Blessed, Beautiful, and Bodacious: Celebrating the Gift of Catholic Womanhood. The book unpacks what St. John Paul II coined as the “feminine genius” and the Church’s beautiful teachings on dignity, gifts and mission of women in the world. The book also became a retreat that I’ve been pleased to present to more than 3,000 women in the U.S. and Canada.
LF: Where do you live today, and is that different from where you grew up?
PG: My husband and I have recently downsized to a home closer to family in the MetroWest area of Boston, having lived in northeastern Massachusetts since 1994. I grew up in New York City and Long Island, so I will perpetually be on a quest for good bagels and cheesecake, no matter where I live.
LF: Three words your best friend would use to describe you.
PG: Faithful, smart, driven.
LF: One additional thing you would want a Living Faith reader to know about you that we haven’t covered above. (A hobby, something silly or fun, an accomplishment, or an interesting fact?)
PG: My husband and I love visiting National Parks and have been blessed by many great road trips and long-distance travel. I’ve visited most of the United States, except four: North Dakota, Arkansas, Alaska and Hawaii. We hope to plan trips to these destinations in the years ahead.
About Faith:
LF: When did you first know that God loved you?
PG: I was about 14, standing on a mountain outcrop when I was overwhelmed by the beauty of it all, and I knew God was there with me. Later in my teen years, I made a retreat that really solidified my sense of being loved by God personally as my Lord and Savior. I will always be grateful to those adults and volunteers who organized it. Choosing a life in Christ altered the trajectory of my life, and I’ve never looked back.
LF: Describe a prayer practice that is meaningful to you.
PG: Other than quiet time in adoration, the Rosary has been my go-to prayer for intercessory needs since I was a young mom. It still is and brings consolation amid life’s challenges. To this day, I continue to learn so much from meditation on the lives of Jesus and Mary.
LF: What’s something you’ve learned from the Bible or from the Mass or the Sacraments that has always stayed with you?
PG: That Jesus really meant it when he said he would be with us “always” (Matthew 28:20), and he found a way to do that for us every day through the Eucharist and the Church.
LF: What excites you about being a Catholic?
PG: As someone who loves to read (and write!) and learn, I find the intellectual tradition of the Church truly rich. You can never fully plumb the depths of the goodness of God and the power of his Holy Spirit. For example, I never come up empty when I explore the Catechism of the Catholic Church, for it distills down the Church’s 2,000 years of reflection and meditation on Scripture.
I also love to read the writings of the saints. They inspire me to begin again when I fail and encourage me to reach for greater heights in loving and serving others.
About the Bible:
LF: Do you have a favorite bible verse?
PG: Psalm 23 was a favorite because I memorized it as a fifth grader in my Catholic grade school. Psalm 63 is another favorite because I frequently pray it as part of the morning prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours. I feel as if I’ve lived and relived those prayers as they describe God’s love and care for me.
LF: Do you have a favorite Gospel? If so, which one? Elaborate if you wish.
PG: John; especially Jesus’ final discourse in chapters 14-17.
LF: If you could spend a day with a person (besides Jesus) mentioned in the Bible, whom would you choose?
PG: Probably Mary (and Joseph) of Nazareth.
About Living Faith:
LF: How long have you been writing for Living Faith?
PG: It’s about four years now. My reflections first appeared in January 2021 after becoming the periodical’s editor in the summer of 2020.
LF: Do you ever get to meet your Living Faith readers? What do you talk about?
PG: Yes! When I first took this role, the first people to recognize my writing were the parishioners in my local church. But I’m also fortunate to give retreats and presentations on occasion. In those settings people often comment on how Living Faith is a daily encouragement for them and their loved ones.
LF: What is one thing you love about Living Faith?
PG:That it’s hard to pick one. But my dear departed mother loved it; and I’m happy to help it continue to reach readers with the Word of God. It’s a moment of prayer and reflection in a person’s day. And the world needs more of that.
*The interview was edited for clarity and conformity to style. No meaning was altered in the process.
