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ENDOW co-founder gets Catholic Leadership Award
By Nissa LaPoint
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Photo provided courtesy Catholic Leadership Institute |
Those who work with Endow co-founder and executive director Terry Polakovic believe her to be an influential leader behind the ministry that helps women to discover their God-given dignity.
Along with friends and co-workers, the Catholic Leadership Institute recognized Polakovic’s instrumental work for Endow, an acronym for Educating on the Nature and Dignity of Women, at an award ceremony Nov. 11.
“For me to get this award is humbling because Endow is the work of so many people,” Polakovic said. “I think it’s an award that belongs to this whole organization.”
The institute gave the award for Outstanding Catholic Leadership to Polakovic and three others during a ceremony in Drexel Hill, Pa. The other 2011 award recipients are Sister Pauline McShain, educator and member of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus; Thomas Monaghan, founder of the Catholic business leadership organization Legatus and Ave Maria University; and Archbishop Sean O’Malley, O.F.M. Cap., of Boston.
It is Polakovic’s faith and entrepreneurial zeal that inspired Tom Heule, a board of director member for the Catholic Leadership Institute, along with former Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., now archbishop of Philadelphia, and James Davis of the institute’s National Advisory Board, to nominate her for the award.
“She had a vision for what we could do to promulgate the Holy Father’s teachings, and she saw an opportunity to create something that would provide that benefit and formation to these women,” Heule said. “She is exactly what we want to hold up as an example of an outstanding Catholic leader.”
Polakovic started Endow from scratch in the Denver Archdiocese in 2003 with co-founder Marilyn Coors. They developed it into an international educational program. In the past seven years, nearly 9,000 women and girls in 99 dioceses across four countries participated in the program that includes small study groups, conferences and retreats. Trained facilitators lead the study groups that explore topics of Catholic Church teaching, specifically women’s role in humanizing and transforming society.
“I’ve always been inspired by her charisma and her love of the teachings of (Blessed) John Paul II, and her absolute desire to get it in as many women’s lives as possible,” said Janet Teran, vice chair of the Endow board of directors. “She has a burning desire to give it to others.”
The number of lives Polakovic has touched through Endow has grown rapidly. Among those is Wendy Dominguez, now the chair of the Endow board of directors, who said she didn’t understand the importance of her role in the family and society until she joined the program.
“My faith was fully awakened through my interaction and through my exposure with Endow,” Dominguez said. “Endow has changed my life and Terry has been a huge part of that.”
Before founding Endow, Polakovic served as director of volunteers for Exempla St. Joseph Hospital and chief executive officer for Seeds of Hope Charitable Trust. She is a wife and mother of two children.
Heule said her leadership in Endow is an example that should be held up for others.
“I believe and the (institute) believes that a big part of successful leadership is identifying and clarifying a vision others can share and work for ... and I think she’s done that,” he said.
Polakovic said she was surprised to receive the award for the organization she never “would have dreamed in my wildest imagination would become this.”
“It is just recognition of the work of Endow and all who are involved,” she said.
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