January 2012: Donor of the Month
Irene Landrau
“It feels so wonderful when I walk in!” Irene Landrau is talking about her Endow group and she will tell you she landed in a great one. At 26, this Catholic nursing student was open to finding a study group with other young adult women. She found one with Endow associate director and facilitator, Kate Sweeney. “Everyone is so fun and engaging,” she says, “it is where I get my spiritual nutrition.”
Their evening meetings are held biweekly and currently they are in the middle of Pope Benedict XVI’s God Is Love. “We take our time…we hope to finish by Lent.”
Like many young people in the Denver area, Irene was influenced by Archbishop Charles Chaput, now archbishop of Philadelphia. Denverites affectionately remember his Sunday evening masses which were attended by throngs of worshippers, many of them young people. They were riveted by the homilies, each a mini-course in theology. Irene and her fiancé, Ryan, always tried to make the 6:30; it was a perfect start to a new week.
Following up worship with her Endow group, Irene is consciously attending to her on-going religious formation. “It’s so nice to have other people to talk to who value the Catholic faith as I do.” Irene says that her Endow lessons have helped to shed light on her professional obligations. She explains that in the medical field there are occasional treatments that are inappropriate for a woman of faith to assist with. In speaking with other Catholic medical professionals and studying the Church teachings in her group, she is learning her faith more deeply.
It is the faith she was raised in and Irene remembers that it was always important to her. She and her family were members at St. Mark’s in Westminster where Irene sang in the choir. Though she strayed and questioned for a few years in college, she returned more convinced than ever that the doctrine of the Church surely contains God’s self-revelation to man. “Without God, there is no meaning.” In 2003 she was part of a contingent that traveled to World Youth Day in Germany. She did not come back unchanged.
She echoes the sentiments of other Endow women who muse about how life might have been different if they had “done Endow” earlier. “I would have loved to have True Beauty Revealed [Endow’s high school program] when I was a teenager. It would have helped me choose those good friends you value in life.”
Irene is eager to make Endow possible for others and so she was happy to respond to the recent appeal when it showed up in her mailbox. She promptly made a donation and hopes that in the future she can become a regular monthly giver. She is right when she notes that every little bit helps. When something has enriched your life, you want to share that with others. Irene sums it up, “Endow is a beautiful message.”