February, 2012
February 2012: Book Review
Left to Tell: Discovering God amidst the Rwandan Holocaust
By Immaculee Ilibagiza
Book Review by Eileen Love
Imagine standing in a 3×4 bathroom for 90 days. Now imagine that in this tiny cramped space, there are five other women with you. The space, concealed behind a wardrobe, is the only sanctuary from the violence that threatens on the other side of the wall. Imagine holding your breath, nearly passing out from terror as only a few feet away, you hear the shouting of blood thirsty criminals wielding machetes, taunting that your parents have been slain and now it is your turn.
Welcome to Rwanda, 1994.
Left to Tell is the autobiographical account of a young Catholic woman, a 22 year old college student, who miraculously lived through the genocide that gripped Rwanda for four horrible months. Following the plane crash death in April of the country’s president, old tribal rivalries between the dominant Hutus and the minority Tutsis re-emerged. Hatreds burned hotter than the African sun and in the mind of the Hutus old scores begged to be settled. Where previously the tribal heritage of the townspeople seemed incidental, it now became the defining measure of who would live and who would die.
With the Hutu regime in power, Tutsi men, women, and children were slaughtered in the most brutal fashion imaginable. A kindly pastor from the Hutu side risked his life to offer Immaculee and five others a safe haven.
In desperate times, the faithful drop to their knees and that is what Immaculee did. The rosary was her saving grace: over and over during the tortuous months in hiding, Immaculee withdrew to a place in her heart and prayed the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary. Exhausted, famished, and ridden with lice, the women endured daily horror. She speaks of holding the bible to her mouth as if she desired to literally consume the words.
She emerged from the ordeal with only the clothes on her back and her dead father’s rosary in her pocket. Her heart cried to God as she surveyed the carnage and with God’s help she found the strength to lay the dead to rest and move on to another life. Immaculee concluded that God spared her for a reason. Her job was to discover that and preach the gospel of love, peace, and forgiveness.
Eventually she took up residence in New York where she found a job at the United Nations. She fell in love with a man she calls her soul mate and they now have two children. Another prayer answered.
Her message today is one of forgiveness. For her, it did not come immediately and initially she prayed for God to do the forgiving that she felt incapable of. At one point after the genocide, Immaculee was given a chance to identify men she knew to be murderers, but she refused. She says in her book, “If Jesus was dying for everybody, he was dying even for the killers.” She held fast to the words of Christ on the Cross, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34). For any reader who struggles with forgiving a painful injustice, her words will hit the spot.
Because of the content, this is not the easiest read. But precisely because of the content, it is one you shouldn’t miss.
February 2012: Donor of the Month
Donor of the Month – Karen Gargan
“I was kind of a ‘roamin’ Catholic’”, says Karen Gargan in describing her young adult life when she was trying to find a church that was the right fit. Karen and her husband Kevin live in the suburbs southwest of Denver and eventually settled in at St. Mary’s in Littleton. There is a healthy Endow presence in that parish and the solid catechetical instruction is something Karen appreciates.
She has been facilitating an Endow group for a couple of years now. “I enjoy Endow,” says Karen. “It’s like you build your own little community of believers. You know who they are and where they stand.” She says she gains strength and encouragement from her group. “I’ve always been one to search for more information. I like to think about what we Catholics believe and why.”
Her group met on a recent night and happily, someone who had been away was able to come back for one night. They were all so glad to see each other. “We had hors d’oeurves and a potluck dinner,” said Karen, and they were reminded of why they got together in the first place.
To some extent, the women in Karen’s group carry on a tradition that was part of her experience growing up. “My mother instilled in me the basics: praying in the car on the way to school, saying the Angelus. They are little things that plant the seeds of faith.” With her Endow friends, that praying together and sharing faith is more important than ever.
Karen says that for her and husband Kevin, a strong faith life is a big part of their marriage. As committed Catholics, they are happy to support the Church. She understands it as a mandate that all Catholics help in all ways – including financial – to advance the work of the new evangelization. Karen shares that she is impressed by the work Endow’s Executive Director Terry Polakovic is doing. “Endow has made so much possible; it touched my heart and changed my life. I love the friendship, the fellowship.”
More than once, Karen mentioned that giving is “part of who I am.” Like most Endow donors, she shies from receiving kudos and frames her giving as simply a natural response to a stated need. “It’s important to support these efforts.”
February 2012: Facilitator of the Month
Gretchen Ridgely
Endow’s “home office” is in Denver, but we are fortunate to have “outposts” all over the country where some wonderful things are happening. One of these locations is in the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia where Gretchen Ridgely has taken the mandate to evangelize very seriously. When Endow called for a phone interview, Gretchen was in the middle of watching EWTN’s coverage of the Respect Life March in Washington. She came to the phone breathless with excitement over the concluding speeches.
Gretchen’s story of growing up Catholic but poorly catechized is a familiar one. She recalls that her religious education in the 1970’s left many things unexplained and so she reached adulthood clinging to her Catholic faith but unsure of exactly what that meant.
Marriage to husband, Chuck, and later giving birth to Vivien and Thomas, now ages 6 and 3, gave new purpose and direction to their family life. It became important to know the faith into which their children were baptized and to really learn to live it fully. This quest brought Gretchen to a series of talks in Catholic churches here and there, but she often left disillusioned, suspecting that the teachings were somehow distorted. Was she learning the truth? How could she know? Then, a gentleman at her parish threw her a lifeline. His name was Deacon Keith Fournier.
Today she recalls that deacon at her parish of St. Benedict in Richmond with affection even as she wonders a little at the workings of Divine Providence. Deacon Fournier, a constitutional lawyer with numerous theological degrees to his name, is an author of many Catholic books and articles and was serving at St. Benedict’s at the time Gretchen was searching. He told her about Endow and that sent her scrambling to her computer to investigate the site.
“It was so refreshing! In time, we were able to receive [limited] approval from our bishop’s office.” Gretchen received training and was off and running. “The women in our parish love it! Most of us are young moms; seems someone is always pregnant or nursing but we all love our group and make it a priority.”
Gretchen shares that great things go on at her parish under the leadership of Fr. Kauffmann. “Ours is a destination parish. Chances are, when you land here, you’ve been looking for a St. Benedict’s: truly Catholic, beautiful, with really excellent formation.”
Her group has a consistent core of close friends, though some members have come and gone. During their recent exploration of Edith Stein, Gretchen observed that it is a perfect study for our time, so relevant to today. “Religious liberty today is being slammed at by the chisel blows [of a dominant culture] that is forcing us to act against our religious principles.”
Gretchen credits Endow with equipping modern women with the tools to defend the faith and the inspiration to live it with joy.