Name: Craig Digmann Hometown: Scotch Grove, Iowa Stage of formation: Brother in Training

After spending a year in the Glenmary mission in Waldron, Ark., newly professed Brother Craig Digmann is spending the summer of 2008 in Chapmanville, W.Va., working with Brother Mike Springer. The two home missioners are working to serve the elderly members of the community by visiting the two local nursing homes and making Communion calls to people who are homebound. His visits to the nursing homes include calling bingo. “It’s surprising how much you can learn about people when they’re playing bingo!” Brother Craig says.

Brother Craig has embraced the life of a home missioner as a second career. At age 50, he has raised two sons (one who is a seminarian for the Diocese of Dubuque, Iowa) and has worked as a farmer and as a stonecutter. In 2000 Brother Craig began a discernment process for religious life and was attracted to Glenmary because of its focus on mission and evangelization.

Service to the elderly has always been a part of Brother Craig’s life and he was able to continue that work after joining Glenmary in 2005. For example, during his first year of novitiate, he worked with the elderly Ursuline sisters who lived on the campus of the sister’s motherhouse, Mount St. Joseph, in Maple Mount, Ky., the location of the Glenmary novitiate house. He continued that ministry in Waldron where he worked with Father Neil Pezzulo and pastoral associate Kathy O’Brien. His talents as a handyman and his love for the elderly resulted in calls for his assistance with small home repair projects.

“And I taught a group of Hispanic boys how to shingle a roof,” Brother Craig says. “They don’t have shingles in Mexico so they didn’t know how to do the work. But now they know and it’s work that they’ll be able to do here in the U.S.”

In addition to teaching simple building skills to Hispanic youth in Waldron, Brother Craig also met them in a classroom during the CCD classes he taught. He discovered that the youth were not well educated in their faith and so their classes involved going over rudimentary information about Catholicism. “When their classmates in the public school learned these kids were Catholic, they would ask questions like ‘why do you worship Mary?’ and the Hispanic youth didn’t know the answers,” Brother Craig says.

During their formation classes, Brother Craig explained to the youth the difference between worshipping Mary and honoring Mary. One evening when a pair of boys were quickly writing, Brother Craig asked them what they were doing. They said, “We’re writing down what you’re saying because we want to remember it!”

Of the many lessons he learned during his year in the missions, Brother Craig cherishes the ecumenical outreach he experienced. “I got to know the sheriff and the mayor and I also volunteered time visiting those at the local jail,” Brother Craig says. “It was great to be able to connect with all those people and to offer myself in service.”

Through his relationship with Rev. Robert Lyons, a Methodist minister, Brother Craig was invited the talk at the middle school in Waldron. His presentation focused on the importance of showing one’s faith through works and he says it was well received by the students.

In the fall of 2008, Brother Craig will move to Reed, Ky., where he will live with Father Fid Levri and attend Brescia University in nearby Owensboro. He plans on working toward an associate’s degree in lay ministry formation. “I’ll be focusing on ecumenism, ecclesiology, missiology—all of the things you need to be a good missioner!” he says.

For more information on Craig Digmann's ministry:

Craig Digmann as a Novice
In Search of the Spirit - Glenmary Connectedness
Three Profess First Oath as Glenmary Missioners
Slide Show - Three Profess First Oath as Glenmary Missioners
Glenmary Brothers - Lives of Service
Second-Year Glenmary Novices Continue Discernment
Slowing Down - Glenmary's Three Novices Finish the First Year of Novitiate
Novitiate Experience 'Enriching' for All
Pre-Novitiate Class Begins Formation

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