Luanne C. Firestone
Associate Campus Minister, Campus Ministry
Lu Firestone tries to get people to fall in love. She thinks Jesuit education is transformational – probably because she has been transformed by her own Jesuit education. She has come to believe in the power of intentional and prayerful encounters, especially with different people and those on the margins: encounters with ideas that do not fit into black and white categories, encounters outside our comfort zones, encounters with a God who delights in us despite ourselves. These encounters, which happen all the time at Canisius if we are paying attention, are flames which help to ignite our hearts to recognize and fall in love with the world for what it is – God’s kingdom. This, ultimately, is what Lu encourages participants to do in taking leaps to participate in the Campus Ministry service-immersion program or in a year of post-graduate volunteer work – risk a little and fall in love. That is transformational.
When Lu gets home from work, she gets to delight in being Peter’s wife, in raising Isaiah (7) and Madelynn (1), in tending after four cats and in her garden. Lu and her family love walking/biking around the neighborhood searching for ice cream stores/ice cream trucks, visiting playgrounds, hanging out at Delaware Park picking up their CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share, etc.
Did you know…Lu and her husband put on musical performances for their daughter’s daycare. Their performances cover all the classics – “This Little Light of Mine,” “Mr. Sun,” “ABCD” and lots of stuff in between. They are known to bring guitars, banjos, ukuleles, drums, harmonicas and kazoos.
Submitted by: College Communications