The Front Porch
Evening of Enchantment 2011 (Highlights)
The 2011 Evening of Enchantment was a great success!
Endow’s 6h Annual Fundraising Gala was more than just an “Evening of Enchantment” it was an evening of elegance, generosity, fellowship and faith. The event “drew a record crowd of 430 people to the Grand Hyatt Hotel in downtown Denver the evening of May 7″ as is stated in this weeks Denver Catholic Register. Archbishop Gomez from Los Angeles was on hand to celebrate Mass and the evening included our honoring of facilitator Jennifer Ricard, and a keynote address from renowned author and humanitarian, Gerda Klein. We are so grateful to our staff and supporters who made this event such a success.
The Denver Catholic Register
- Endow gala draws record crowd
- Click here to read the article
- Click here to see the photos of the event.
Keep up with Endow on Facebook!
With Endow’s busy schedule sometimes the easiest way to keep up with us is on facebook. Your invited to find us, friend us, and share your comments and stories about Endow!
To find us on Facebook, click here.
This Mother’s Day Give the Gift of Endow
Searching for the perfect gift to give your dynamic wife and mother? This mother’s day, give her a gift to enrich her faith and renew her soul!
For the month of May, Endow is offering a special for Mother’s and their teen daughters to attend the 2011 “Courage to Love” Catholic Women’s Conference.
To print a coupon for this Mother/Daughter Promotion, click here.
To read more about the Catholic Women’s Conference, click here.
“Endow program for women making positive waves”
“Catholic women seeking to better understand their role in the life of the Church need look no further than the Endow program” raves Jennifer Brinker in her recent article for the St. Louis Review. ” The program’s success is evident in the archdiocese through a growing interest…Founded in the Archdiocese of Denver in 2003, the program was introduced in the Archdiocese of St. Louis last year. There are nearly 20 groups that meet here.”
To read the full article, including an interview with Endow facilitator Lynne Lang, click here.
May 2011 Book Review
Motherless by Brian J. Gail
Book Review by Eileen Love
Motherless is the eagerly awaited second book in the trilogy by Catholic business executive turned fiction author, Brian J. Gail. Fatherless, the first in the trilogy, (next one is Childless, due out in fall of 2011) introduced us to parishioners, so vividly drawn and so like your neighbors in the cul-de-sac that you forget they’re fictional. They occupy the parish of St. Martha’s pastored by Father John Sweeney. In the last book, we saw Father Sweeney coming to grips with his own weaknesses in the area of Church doctrine. In this book, happily, he is stronger and a more reliable moral resource to the people in his flock.
Fatherless dealt with the issues of woefully under-informed Catholics trying to live happy lives and wondering why things didn’t seem to fit. Motherless takes place a generation later and visits the sticky moral issues that are a natural outgrowth of an insidious contraceptive mentality and a culture that is marked by moral confusion. Motherless takes on the themes of reproductive technology, frozen embryos, stem cell research, international trafficking in human parts, end-of-life issues, and the tragedy of how individuals in big business can be complicit in evil, often without realizing it. Mainly, Motherless makes us ponder the jaw dropping consequences of technology operating apart from any moral reference point.
The main characters are all back, alive as ever and twenty years older: Maggie Kealey, divorced mother and nurse now CEO of a large Catholic hospital; Michael Burns, the colossally rich New York advertising exec, and Joe Delgado, CFO of a biotech company. All have families and desire to live truly faith-filled lives but things get interesting when it becomes apparent that there are high costs associated with challenging the culture of death.
Something remarkable about Motherless is how eerily familiar it all is. You know these people, these are issues you live with every day. But Motherless invites readers to revisit these familiar scenes from the perspective of a well-informed Catholic. The author gets to the heart of our morally ailing culture with the literary precision of a scalpel slicing directly into the infected area. It makes for a compelling read. If it seems a little preachy, it is, but Brian J. Gail is trying to do in 500 pages what catechetics has done poorly for two generations.
While the message of Fatherless resonated so well with the older generation, as it condemned the devastating fallout in the aftermath of Vatican II, younger readers will really “get” Motherless. The issues are up-to-the minute and the scenarios reflect the predominance of fuzzy moral thinking that infests the culture and with which young people are all too familiar. It is part of his success that Gail demonstrates empathy for the dilemmas of modern man: the pressing need to generate income, the pain of infertility, the difficulties in relationships. Still, he reminds us that in all these cases, there are real choices to be made, the consequences of which are eternal.
Overall, the book’s message is uplifting. Whatever the trials of the characters in Motherless, we are left with the truth that this life passes away. To have lived our days on earth in love, marked by integrity and self-gift, all with an eye toward our eternal destination of union with God, is to have seized the message to finding lasting happiness. It is a message that Brian J. Gail’s Motherless teaches well.
May 2011: Facilitator of the Month
Margaret Merrill
There are many benefits to being raised in a good Catholic family and Margaret Merrill knows them all. In her family, kids were taught the truths of the faith from babyhood and family worship was a given. One of twelve children, Margaret was used to seeing her mother scrub the pews and beautify their hometown church and learned early on that there is always something useful to do and one shouldn’t wait to be asked. “See what needs doing and do it” was advice that was bred into her from the cradle.
When ENDOW came calling in the Knoxville diocese, Margaret met Executive Director Terry Polakovic and Youth Coordinator Brigid Sweeney and things clicked. While Margaret had been a stay-at-home mother raising daughters Tara, 26, Kelly, 24, Casey, 21, Deirdre, 19 and Mary,12, she has also been called into a youth ministry position at her parish, St. Mary’s in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Every year Margaret puts on the high school retreat – one weekend for girls, one for boys – and the idea to invite Brigid to speak at this year’s retreat hit her like a thunderbolt. “I don’t know what possessed me but I jumped right in,” said Margaret, “My heart was so on fire!”
Margaret laughs as she recalls that plans were well underway when it dawned on her that there was no funding for expenses that the weekend would incur. “Fortunately,” says Margaret, “the CCW, [the local Council of Catholic Women], loved ENDOW and gave us a check to cover the costs.”
“I take the first step and then let things happen,” trusting in the Holy Spirit. Margaret says she knows where her gifts are and adds, “I think mine is to make connections. Maybe I am not the person to teach specifically, but I can invite people who do that and I can set up a beautiful room for them.” And she did. Over the weekend, in many ways and through many lessons, Brigid taught the girls that their dignity is given to them and they don’t have to work for it, just live in a way that honors God. One woman even set up a traditional high tea and the girls reveled in the new experience.
Margaret tells of one girl who was reluctant to come and was sullen and withdrawn. By Sunday, her face was filled with peace. “That’s the best measure of success”, says Margaret, who adds that a special part of the weekend was when the girls prayed with the Dominican Sisters in their chapel. Many girls had never experienced the quiet beauty of holy hour, vespers, and the sung prayer that filled the space with heavenly sounds. Said one girl, her voice tinged with awe, “I didn’t know you could make your voice do that!”
Margaret Merrill sees opportunities for ENDOW study abounding in the future and anticipates many good things for women and girls in the Knoxville area. Thank you, Margaret, for sharing your feminine genius with the world.
Don’t Miss an Evening of Enchantment
Register today, click here.
Dear friends of Endow,
Things are humming along as our Gala Committee puts the finishing touches on plans for Endow’s 2011 Evening of Enchantment. We hope you will join us!
We are honored to serve beautiful women of God at Endow. One such woman lives in Ohio and I recently had occasion to visit with her over the phone. She said a few things that struck my heart because her words so perfectly encapsulate what we hope will be the fruit of Endow study:
…I have never gotten the Catholic teaching before like I am getting it from Endow! To say I am thirsty is an understatement…I have made so many mistakes in my life and I feel like now I am on the right track…I have been brought into the light of Truth.
It is our fondest hope that through Endow, Catholic women will step into the light of truth and grow ever more fervent in their love for Christ and His Church. Please accept my heartfelt thanks for joining us in this mission and may your own faith be strengthened in the process. My prayer is that just as Veronica’s veil bore the imprint of the One she so loved, Our Lord may imprint himself on your heart and remain with you always.
Gratefully in Christ,
Therese A. Polakovic
Executive Director
How to become an Endow Facilitator
1. Facilitator Training:
The Facilitator Training is offered in two formats: in-person or audio CDs. The training includes over three hours of Endow-specific training, the Endow Letter to Women Study Guide, the Letter to Women source document, the application, and sample marketing materials.
1. Live training (group classroom setting): Eileen Love, Endow’s Facilitator Trainer, travels to various areas throughout the year. Please check listings on our online calendar and register with the click of a button! Or if there are 20 or more women in your area interested in becoming a facilitator, we will gladly bring a training to you!
2. Audio CD training (individual setting): We have recorded Eileen Love leading an audio training on a four-CD set available for purchase. You can simply order the Facilitator Applicationonline and learn everything you need to know in the comfort of your own home. The training CDs explain the Endow mission, message and methodology and teaches the basics of our fundamental study, John Paul II’s Letter to Women.
2. Facilitator Application:
The Facilitator Application must be completed following Facilitator Training. You will need to download, complete, and submit the Facilitator Application. The application consists of personal profile information, a profession of faith, adherence to Endow policies, and reference letters.
3. Launch Your Endow Group:
After completing these two easy steps – you are ready to begin! You can visit our Facilitators Resource page for helpful promotional resources (invitations for informational sessions, bulletin announcements, flyers, etc.). And we always recommend personal invitations – as they are the BEST way to invite women to join your group! For more personalized support, please call Kate Sweeney directly in the Endow office at (303) 715-3289 with any of your needs.
Girl Genius and what it teaches
Testimonies about Girl Genius
Brigid DeMoor, Endow’s Youth Coordinator, has been bringing the Endow message to young girls around the country. In addistion to being a part of an Endow study group, Brigid has given girls the opportunity to hold day retreats with their middle school. These retreats have been wildly successful and the responses to the experience have expressed just how important the Endow message is.
“I learned that your dignity doesn’t come from material goods, what others think or what you see in the media. It comes from God, from being created in God’s image and his love.”
- Diana Durmford
“I learned that the “lie” of life, what the media and the world tells you, is that you have to have the new designer cloths, and make up, perfect teeth, money etc. But that’s just what the world says. The”truth” of life, what we talked about in the retreat, is that what really matters is dignity, what really matters is love.”
- Maggie Thapp
“I learned that dignity is a gift from God. That love is not physical and that to find happiness in a relationship you have to be selfless and sacrifice.”
- Sophia Kenny
“I learned that beauty comes from the inside and that to love yourself is to love how God made you.”
– Kate Weir
Annual International Summer Course on Women’s Studies
Women as the key to humanity
Karen Stein, long-time Endow promoter, is excited to host the Annual International Summer Course on Women’s Studies. The course explores “Women as the key to humanity”. It is offered in Cazenovia, New York this summer (June 14-23, 2011).
For more information, click here.
To view the promotional poster, click here.
To register, click here.