Biographical Sketch
A convert to the Roman Catholic faith, Sue received her bachelor's degree with a double major in English and History at the University of Pittsburgh, her master's degree in Pastoral Ministry from St. Thomas University, Miami, and her doctorate in Adult Education/ Leadership Development at Florida Atlantic University. She was the founding editor of The Catholic Evangelist magazine and has written a total of eleven books and evangelization training manuals, including the 1993 Text, Study, Guide, and Implementation Process for Go and Make Disciples developed in consultation with the NCCB Committee on Evangelization.
Her very first book, The Ministry of Evangelization was published by Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN. Recently, Lay Ministers, Lay Disciples: Evangelizing Power in the Parish, co-authored with Rev. Frank DeSiano, CSP, was published by Paulist Press (1999). Christ the Cornerstone: Christians Coping in a World of Chaos and Confusion (2002) and Called and Sent: Living the Eucharist (2002) are her two most recent books preceding Harvesting Our Tears.
Sue is the founding president of Isaiah Ministries, Inc., (IsaiahMissions.org) which has offered a model of clergy/lay preaching teams and local parish involvement in Isaiah Parish Missions throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe since 1984. A popular speaker at national, diocesan, and parish conferences throughout the U.S., she is also the president of Jeremiah Press, which specializes in publishing books on Catholic spirituality.
In 1984, she was awarded the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Medal conferred by Pope John Paul II and the National Lay Evangelizer of the Year award, conferred by the Paulist National Catholic Evangelization Association. In 1996, she received the Pope Paul VI Award for Leadership in Catholic Evangelization, given by the National Council for Catholic Evangelization.
A veteran Catholic lay evangelizer, Dr. Susan Blum Gerding has been actively proclaiming the Good News since 1979, but Harvesting Our Tears is her first foray into the field of bereavement ministry. Sue experienced the sudden death of her youngest of four children, Danny, 25, when a drunk driver plowed through a red light at 80 mph on Christmas Day, 1994, killing Danny instantly.
Tragedy struck again when her oldest child Debbie, 39, married less than two years and with a five month old daughter, was diagnosed with Stage IV Lung Cancer which had spread to her lymph glands, bones, and brain. A lifelong nonsmoker, Debbie fought a courageous battle until her death exactly eight weeks later on January 5, 2004. Failing to find a Catholic faith-based, structured support group to attend, Sue embarked on the challenge of designing Harvesting Our Tears which could be used by individuals or in groups in the 19,000 Catholic parishes in the United States.
“Harvesting Our Tears” is a contribution to the field of bereavement ministry in the Catholic faith tradition with the two-fold purpose of 1) assuring those who mourn the presence and comfort of a living, energetic, viable “God among us” and 2) as a memorial to her two beloved children, Danny and Debbie, and all children who have died before their time.
Sue lives with her husband Ed in Boca Raton, Florida, where they are active members of St. Jude Church. Together, they are the parents of ten children and sixteen grandchildren. Since the death of two of her four children, Sue has studied extensively in the field of bereavement ministry and grief management and is a Certified Minister of Consolation (National Catholic Bereavement Ministry.)
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