Grateful to Laura Strietmann

With a mix of sadness, gratitude, & the expectation of more holy spirit-inspired greatness on her horizon, the staff at Ruah Woods will miss working with our earnest colleague & good friend, Laura Strietmann. Laura is returning to her passion of working directly in pro-life ministry with an amazing opportunity in a leadership role. It is indeed evident God has additional big plans in store for his faithful servant.

What Laura has accomplished in her 5 years at Ruah Woods is nothing short of miraculous. She has single-handedly traveled the country as the sole curriculum consultant planting the beautiful seeds of Theology of the Body by cultivating genuine personal relationships, sharing her heart & listening intently to the needs of Catholic educators, administrators & diocesan staff. She intuitively discovers their pain points & provides creative solutions to integrate the foundational salve that the Theology of the Body teachings offer.

Laura truly has a gift of authentic caring & compassion for each person she meets, thus establishing a relationship just moments after first contact. Truly, every single sale of our ROOTED/REVEALED K-12 TOB Curriculum can be traced back to an encounter with Laura Strietmann, whether at an expo, the March for Life, a presentation, visit, chance meeting or phone call. And the most amazing part is Laura recalls every single person & can trace their correspondence from memory. Of course, Laura will credit her formula for success in each city she visits to a devotional prayer practice: she stops at the local Cathedral to pray the rosary to ask for hearts & minds be opened wide to Christ’s beautiful teachings re-articulated by Pope St. John Paul II, & then she prays a rosary in front of the closest abortion facility asking for Our Lady’s intercession to save at least one unborn baby’s life that day.

In fact, Laura has such a devotion to our Blessed Mother, she started her own side business selling exclusive, custom-made scarves, knitted Holy Family dolls, rattles & baby blankets — all honoring our Holy Mother, who of course points us to her Son. Laura found a way to combine her creativity, retail experience, fashion & Catholic faith into these beautiful gifts via her unique webstore. Laura is always looking for clever ways to evangelize the profound gift of her deep Catholic faith, because she rightly prioritizes her discipleship, but always with grace, humility, and a wicked sense of humor. Most people who meet Laura, are rather awe-struck & say they have never met anyone like her: the energy, honesty, open heartedness, intuition, sharp wit, penetrating insight, & her profound depth of knowledge & faith can be disarming.

We would like to dedicate our next on-campus mass to Laura Strietmann. Not only in gratitude for the time Ruah Woods was blessed with her incredible work ethic, gifts & talents, but also for sufficient grace into her future endeavor, as she embarks upon yet another Godly-adventure. The staff of Ruah Woods, plus all of the lives you have touched on your earthly journey thus far, are immensely indebted to you for your inspiring & inviting feminine genius. Keep up the God work!