Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati - Colleen Gerke to Head Family Life Office

M. Colleen Gerke, faith formation director at St. Maximilian Kolbe Church in Liberty Township and a veteran religious educator, has been appointed director of the Family Life Office for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, effective July 19.

The Family Life Office coordinates the Archdiocese’s pro-life and pro-family ministries, including marriage preparation, marriage enrichment, outreach to divorced and separated, pregnancy help centers, post-abortion ministries and advocacy for special needs.

“I’m looking forward to the opportunity to work with all the archdiocesan offices to build up the domestic church and families,” said Ms. Gerke, the mother of five grown children. “I think we’re at a very unique time in church history where there’s a lot of potential for good. I’m really hoping to be able to embrace these opportunities and am looking forward to moving us along on our journey to do all that we can for God’s people.”

A graduate of the College of Mount St. Joseph with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Elementary Education and Special Education, Ms. Gerke was a substitute teacher and art teacher at St. Clement School in Cincinnati in the early 1990s.

After earning a Master of Arts in Religious Studies with certification in Lay Pastoral Ministry from the Athenaeum of Ohio in 1995, she became director of religious formation at St. Clement Parish. Ms. Gerke left that position in 1999 to become assistant director of the Office of Religious Education (now the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis) for the Archdiocese. She returned to her previous post at St. Clement in 2000, remaining there until she joined the St. Maximilian Kolbe staff in 2005.

Ms. Gerke was recently co-chair of the Cincinnati Religious Education Association and a board member of the National Association of Parish Catechetical Leaders. She and her husband, Deacon John Gerke, have been involved in marriage preparation since 1982. Her previous volunteer activities include Catholic Engaged Encounter, Birthright (housing unwed mothers) and baptism preparation. In 2001 she received the Pentecost Award from the Archdiocese for her work in developing sacramental preparation programs that involve the whole family.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati is the 38th largest Catholic diocese in the country, with almost 500,000 Catholics, and has the eighth largest network of Catholic schools in terms of enrollment. The 19-county territory includes 217 parishes and 112 Catholic primary and secondary schools.