September 26, 2026 - Br. Gerlac Leaves Us For the Lord

Our beloved Br. Gerlac O’Loughlin died peacefully around 8 in the morning on the 26th of September. He was 90 years old and had been a monk at Gethsemani for 71 years.

Br. Gerlac was born James Thomas on the 2nd of November 1935 in New Castle, PA. He entered Gethsemani as a lay-brother at 19 years old on the 8 January, 1955. He took his temporary vows on the 28 July, 1957 and made his solemn profession on the 15 August, 1960. He died, as we’ve said, on Saturday the 26th of September. We received his body on Monday the 28th and the funeral service and burial took place at 4:00 PM on Tuesday the 29th.

In his time at Gethsemani, he held every major position, as prior, as cellarer, as novice director. He was vocation director for many years, worked in the accounting office, took care of the phone system among many other duties. The various abbots under whom he served could and did count on him as someone they could always rely on.

As a monk, he was almost always cheerful. He had a wicked sense of humour and was never known to beat around the bush. He said once that it seemed to take forever to make a decision here at the monastery. Which was a good thing, since we almost always made the wrong one. The abbot told this story in his homily at the funeral mass:

“During his last years, Br. Gerlac had a pretty severe case of scoliosis. If I walked behind him, I was never sure what part of him was going in which direction. Sometimes, if I tried to get around him to the right, he drifted to the right; and if I tried the left, he drifted to the left. I once asked him if he was doing that on purpose, to which he replied, ‘Maybe you were going the wrong way,.'”

Most of us have similar memories of his sharp and quick wit.

On a personal note, Br. Gerlac was very kind to me when I entered and was a confidante and guide during a difficult period.

Toward the end, when he knew that his time was close, he confided that he hoped that he would not linger and that he would die in his sleep. Both of these wishes came true. The day of his funeral was about as perfect as the weather could make it, bright, clear, not too hot, not too cold. As the novices were filling in the grave after everyone had left, Br. Joseph pointed to the truck where the dirt from the grave was waiting. A dove was sitting quietly on top of the mound of dirt there.

We will certainly miss his company and his calm presence. We are, on the surface, poorer for his loss, but heaven is richer, and perhaps, behind the scenes, in his quiet and diligent way, he is doing a bit of interceding for us.