XLT Fall 2024 - Spring 2025 Events

Upon discerning a call to religious life, Gretchen Erlichman began sharing the joy of the pursuit of God’s will through talks, publications and social media outreach. While fundraising for vocations as an aspirant with the Laboure Society, she spoke with many parishes about the contemplative religious vocation and published multiple articles on discernment with sources such as Aleteia and Crisis Magazine. 
 
Gretchen is a native of upstate New York and, prior to discerning a religious vocation, completed degrees in music and is trained as an opera singer. In 2021, she left her studies for a PhD in musicology in order to enter with the Contemplative Dominican Nuns of the Monastery of Our Lady of Grace in Connecticut. After two years of monastic formation, she unfortunately had to leave religious life due to some health concerns. She then moved to be with her family in Tucson, where she is currently the music teacher at Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School. Gretchen is also part of the St. Thomas the Apostle Young Adult Group which meets on Thursday evenings for an hour of Adoration, followed by social time.
 
By the grace of God, Gretchen has recently been accepted to enter as a postulant with the Norbertine Canonesses of the Bethlehem Priory of Saint Joseph in California and plans to re-enter the cloister this summer.