News & Events
Philadelphia celebrates new postulant, Maria Gerlach
January 20, 2010.
Maria Gerlach, 28, was formally welcomed into the Nazareth community during a special ceremony Jan. 17 in Philadelphia. Some 40 sisters, family members and friends witnessed the Rite of Postulancy. The rite included Maria's formal request to become a postulant with the community, a recitation of the charism of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth (CSFN), scripture readings and the praying of psalms, and a blessing from CSFN foundress, Blessed Mary of Jesus the Good Shepherd (Francis Siedliska), from a letter in 1886: I wish to send, in the name of Jesus, a blessing for Maria on the day of her admission to postulancy. The sould which aspires to the life of union with Jesus and accepts its requirement will not be harmed by her weakness, interior opposition, or evil tendencies, as long as she does not yield to them, but focuses her attention upon Jesus, heeds him and remains devoted to him.
The rite concluded with the praying of the 23rd psalm, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want..." and the entire congregation extending its blessing on Maria. The new postulant, a Philadelphia native and a graduate of Nazareth Academy High School (NAHS), works in the schoo0l's Office of Institutional Advancement in the areas of admissions, development and alumnae relations. She spent the past year as a CSFN affiliate, residing with the sisters at Infant Jesus Convent, Philadelphia. As a postulant, Maria will continue to discern her vocation with the CSFNs while continuing to live at the convent and work at NAHS. Sr. David Sibiski, who remains Maria's formation director, notes: "The journey with Maria has been exciting and hopeful. She brings a wealth of talent, an energizing presence and a spirit of joy to the local community. Her desire to serve God is contagious. The next few months ahead will be a preparation for the next step -- Novitiate." A 1999 graduate of NAHS, Maria earned a B.S. in science education, concentrating in chemistry, from Boston University. After graduation, she remained in Boston, working at the university through 2004. From September 2004 through June 2007, she taugh mathematics at Mount St. Joseph Academy in Brighton, MA, a sponsored ministry of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Boston. Unsure of what was to come next, Maria said good-bye to MSJA in order to spend time with family, travel a bit and volunteer. In an interesting turn of events, she spent the fall of 2007 as a substitute geometry teacher at NAAHS. She returned to her childhood home in Philadelphia to spend time with her parients and four siblings. For three months, from March through the end of May 2008, Maria was able to travel to Poland to live and work with the CSFNs in Lukow in the Warsaw province. During that journey, Maria decided to seek admission to the CSFNs. She remembers telling the sisters in Lukow on Easter Sunday 2008 that she did not miss her family and home because the convent felt just like home. One of the things that struck Maria about Nazareth was "wherever I go, whichever house I am in, I know I am coming home." She recalls thinking, "different people, different ways, same Nazareth." Click here to view the photo gallery from the Rite of Acceptance.
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