So with help from three dedicated women– secretary Leona Jones, communications director Cathy Haven and Sister Nancy Ayotte, IHM– the late bishop wrote and compiled the book. Excerpts from his homilies and writings appeared on the right-hand side, while entries about Catholic customs and traditions, saints of the day and other interesting facts appeared on the left.

The idea was to publish the Little Black Book for people in the Saginaw Diocese for one season only. But the Holy Spirit had other ideas.

This Lenten season, Little Books celebrates its 25th anniversary, and millions of people all over the world read each edition.

People often are surprised to find out that only five full-time employees and one part-time employee are responsible for such a large operation, said Stacey Trapani, executive director of Little Books. At last count, the meditation books had a 2.2 million annual circulation with readers as far away as Australia.

Little Books has continued to publish the meditation book for Lent (Little Black Book), as well as meditation books for the Advent/Christmas (Little Blue Book) and Easter (Little White Book) seasons in English and Spanish. The format of the print books has remained the same since Bishop Ken’s death in March 2004.

But to keep up with the times, Little Books now has an updated app, allowing people to read each edition on their phones. As of last year, readers can now listen to the books on Audible. Each edition also is available for download onto Kindle and Nook devices and the meditation books for Lent and Advent/Christmas were bestsellers on Kindle last year. From the Little Books website, readers also can purchase merchandise and other books, including the Little Book on the Eucharist that debuted earlier this year (see the previous issue of Great Lakes Bay Catholic).

“It’s been a great gift to the Saginaw Diocese for the past 25 years. I thank [Bishop Ken] for the vision that he had to create Little Books,” Bishop Robert Gruss said.

Bishop Ken was a gifted teacher and his easy-to-understand, conversational writing style continues to draw readers and “hits at the heart of their relationship with God,” Stacey said.

Bishop Ken’s mission was to help people pause and spend some quiet time with the Lord, and “in that pause is where growth happens,” she said. “Our goal is to help people pray. We want them to develop a close relationship with God, and if the books can help with that, we’re thrilled.”

That certainly is the case for Erin Looby Carlson, writer and editor for Little Books.

“The Holy Spirit is central to this ministry,” she said.

Working with Bishop Ken’s writings has made Scripture “come alive in a new way,” she said. With help from a small editorial team, Erin decides on a theme for each edition, selects Bishop Ken’s writings to go in each, writes left-hand side entries, oversees the artwork and edits each edition before it is published and shipped to readers all over the world.

For the past couple of years, Erin, Stacey and others on staff also travel to national events and conventions to set up booths that promote Little Books. At the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis in 2023, they set up a Little Books booth and invited youth to participate in a one-minute challenge: sit down in a beanbag chair with headphones, listen to a meditation, prompt, and Scripture. An estimated 1,200 teens participated. And almost all of them said they wanted and needed more of that quiet time.

Since the first Little Book was published 25 years ago, the world has become an even busier, noisier place with cell phones, social media and other distractions, Erin said. Bishop Ken wanted people to slow down for at least six minutes a day.

“There’s always a need to spend quiet time with the Lord, and with the noise of today, we need to be reminded,” Erin said. Teens’ experience at the 2023 youth convention “was just one very real-world example.”

Darlene Merselis still takes time to read each Little Book edition, which she keeps on her nightstand. Darlene and her husband Steve divide their time between Chatham, Massachusetts, and Vero Beach, Florida. But she first met Bishop Ken during his time as a seminarian in Detroit when he came to teach a class at her parish. Bishop Ken presided over Darlene and Steve’s wedding ceremony 56 years ago.

Bishop Ken—who Darlene still calls Father Ken—had a gift for making the Gospels relevant to everyday life.

“He brings it down to our level,” she said.

Over the years, Little Books have deepened Darlene’s prayer life and her relationship with God. With each edition, she continues to learn more about the Faith. “I have them going back quite a few years, too.”

“They help me slow down and pray,” Darlene said, adding she continues to think about the entries throughout the day. She also finds it helpful that they are brief.

“I like the fact that they refer to a Bible reading, and they relate it to today’s life,” she said.

It’s because of Leona Jones that all the late bishop’s writings and homilies survive today and appear in each Little Book edition. As Bishop Ken’s secretary, Leona meticulously transcribed everything he wrote for 24 and a half years, from the time he began working for the diocese in 1980 until the time of his death in 2004.

After a Detroit Free Press religion writer and a friend of Bishop Ken’s wrote an article about the first Little Book edition, phone calls started flooding the diocese, Leona said. People wanted to know how they could order a copy.

To streamline the process, Leona suggested they invite priests throughout Michigan to purchase Little Books in bulk for their parishioners. Bishop Ken liked the idea and wrote the letters, which Leona typed and mailed. Little Books’ first customer, St. Mark Parish in Niles (Diocese of Kalamazoo) is still a customer today.

Within three years, Leona said, Catholic parishes throughout the United States received the letters. And the rest, as they say, is history.

“It mushroomed very quickly,” Leona said.

It is no surprise to Leona that the Little Books continue to be so popular. And it isn’t a surprise to Cathy or Sister Nancy, who now lives in Monroe at the motherhouse for the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM).

While Bishop Ken was still alive, Cathy and Sister Nancy would suggest and research ideas for the left-hand pages and reviewed each edition before it was published. Sister Nancy illustrated the editions and also wrote seven Little Purple Books for children that are still sold on the website.

After Bishop Ken died, the three women wanted to make sure Little Books lived on. Leona stepped in as operations manager, Cathy became the Little Books editor, and Sister Nancy continued to illustrate each edition even after moving down to Monroe in June 2007. While all three are now retired from the Diocese, they aim to get together every year.

And all three agree that working for Bishop Ken and on Little Books was a life-changing experience. Bishop Ken was “a remarkable person,” Cathy said.

“He was a wonderful man,” Leona said. “He was a great homilist and had a good sense of humor. Everybody just loved him. I just learned so much working for Bishop Ken … He was a great teacher.”

For their part, Stacey and Erin are grateful for all the work Leona, Cathy and Sister Nancy did to keep Little Books alive after Bishop Ken’s death.

“Twenty-five years doesn’t happen without assistance from a lot of people,” Bishop Gruss said. “I am deeply grateful for their dedication and their work.”

And what Stacey has done in the past two and a half years to place Little Books on new platforms “has been miraculous … marvelous,” Bishop Gruss said. “I look forward to seeing what the next 25 years of Little Books holds.”