Martha Gerling Schroeder St. Austin's 2021 Lumen Gentium Award Recipient

Martha Gerling Schroeder's commitment to serving her parish community springs from deep within - in fact, it goes back generations! Her paternal great grand-parents, the Blakeslees, were among the Austin Catholics who petitioned the Bishop of Galveston to establish a ministry to support the spiritual formation of students at the University of Texas. Bishop Gallagher's response was an appeal to the Paulist Fathers to establish a foundation here - and that's how the whole thing started!

Her paternal great uncle, Fr. William Francis Blakeslee was the first Paulist to be ordained at St. Austin's in 1925.  Martha's Blakeslee great aunts were early and active members in the parish Altar Society. Her Gerling grandparents, Francis Peter and Regina Blakeslee Gerling were very active in the parish, as was her maternal grandmother, Martha Askew, contributing, among many things, to our Peace Quilt. 

The next generation of Gerlings, Martha's parents, met playing bridge in the Newman Club in 1947 while studying at the University of Texas. They married on June 10, 1950 and enriched the family legacy with four children, Deborah, Martha, David, and Patricia (Trisha). You've heard of "Cradle Catholics," Martha and her siblings were brought from their cradles to our Church where all were baptized and formed in their faith at St. Austin. Frank and Pat raised their children to be leaders engaged in service to their communities. Pat observed that she and her husband, Frank, were and continue to be proud of their girls. As they were both taught to be grateful and give back, so too, did they pass those  values on to their daughters. Martha's sister, Trisha Andrews, observes that Martha got a double-dose  of that Blakeslee/Ortolani/Gerling service gene.

Martha at the center of three generations celebrating
Pat Ortolani Gerling's 90th birthday in the St. Austin courtyard

Pictured from the lower left are Pat Gerling with Ava.
At the upper left is daughter, Kendra holding Anya with her husband Jason, Martha with her husband Larry Schroeder,
and their son, Eric. 

You may have seen the list in the Catholic Spirit.
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2021 Lumen Gentium Award Honorees.