During the Easter Vigil at All Saints Church in Millville, Erin Peterzak officially joined the ranks of the Catholic Church, receiving the Sacraments of Holy Eucharist and Confirmation.
Nerves? Yes.
Fear and doubt?
“Not at all,” she recalled recently. “This was where God had brought me to. There was a sense of peace.”
For the 36-year-old Franklinville resident, this confidence in God’s call came from an extended period of study, prayer and immersion in a tradition that she has found to be “greater than myself,” she said.
“It was never a question of whether I believed in God, but what was the right path to Him.”
‘The only place I could go’
Baptized in the Episcopal tradition as an infant, she was a part of that community until later finding a home with a Mennonite congregation.
In 2020, she stopped going to church services altogether. Unsure of the road to God, “I started praying,” she said.
A year later, on her birthday June 11, a card from her great-aunt Edna LoMonico included something unexpected: a year of Mass remembrances for her at a Catholic church.
“I was very moved by this,” Peterzak said. “At the time, I hadn’t even considered that the Catholic faith would be anywhere that I wanted to go.”
A seed was planted, though, and an intrigued Peterzak began doing her own research on just what the Catholic faith was all about.
She began researching websites such as Catholic Answers, books by Scott Hahn and a YouTube video – “The Hour That Will Change Your Life” with Father Mike Schmitz – that detailed the true intimacy with Jesus found in the Eucharist.
Learning about Jesus’ Real Presence in the Eucharist was groundbreaking, she said. “I had learned before that [the Eucharist] was just a symbol, but now, I believed. And in this truth, I knew the Catholic Church was the only place I could go.”
In September 2023, Peterzak attended the 10:30 a.m. Mass at All Saints. “I sat in the back to see what the people were doing, and I followed their actions and the laminated prayer card in the pew,” she said.
The new experience was “not as scary as I thought it would be. It felt good. There wasn’t anything there that made me think I shouldn’t be there.”
Attending Mass, and appreciating what it had to offer, was one thing. But making the choice to become Catholic was something much bigger. “I realized that I actually had to go through the [OCIA] process, make that commitment and step out in faith.”
Catholic commitment
Starting the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults in the fall of 2023 at the Parish of All Saints, more fruits appeared. “I came to appreciate the saints in learning that there are people who’ve gotten to heaven, who’ve maybe experienced the same doubts I have, and have been able to stand up for their faith.”
“Prayer has played a huge part of this,” Peterzak continued. “Every day now, I pray, whether it’s personal prayer or the rosary. I don’t compromise on this.”
“This focus on prayer, at the time [of my discernment] made such a huge impact,” she said. “I opened myself up to what God wanted to do in my life.”
Around the same time that her formation started, she began her job as a teacher’s aide at Saint Mary School in Vineland. Having been homeschooled up to college, Peterzak later received an associate’s degree in English from Rowan University in Glassboro.
“The school has opened me up to meeting other people who are Catholic,” she said. “Having that focus on the faith every day, with prayers in the morning, before lunch and school Masses, I love that we can talk about God.”
Earlier this year, as the Easter Vigil approached, she knew just the right person to be her sponsor: the one who started her on this path – her great-aunt.
“My whole life, she’s been very encouraging, a good example of how loving, giving and kind we should all be,” Peterzak said. “She has been a good example of keeping the faith.”
LoMonico, noting pride in her great-niece, is excited for what’s to come – and the gifts Peterzak will bring to her community.
“I look forward to what she will do with her Catholic commitment,” LoMonico said.
For her confirmation saint, Peterzak took Saint Katharine Drexel, finding inspiration in the 19th century Philadelphia-born educator to Native Americans and African Americans. “I liked how she gave of herself; that’s something I want to emulate.”
While Peterzak ponders becoming involved in parish ministry, she plans to continue learning and growing. “There’s such a wealth and depth to the faith.”
Appreciative of those who’ve walked this journey with her – her aunt; Father Peter Idler, parish pastor; and MaryAnn Serra, parish coordinator of Faith Formation and Family Life – Peterzak also called herself “humbled that God opened this door for me. I would have never picked it myself.”
Looking back, Peterzak compares her former life to sitting in a boat, bobbing on the water’s surface.
Now, she’s diving into vast, refreshing waters. “The ocean is huge. There’s so much more underneath than I could have ever imagined.”
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