| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
| Glenmary Home Missioners |
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| Press Release |
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Three Profess First Oath as Glenmary Missioners
Minnesota, Iowa and Kenya Natives to Serve the Home Missions
CINCINNATI (June 11, 2008)-On Saturday, May
24, three men made their First Oath
and became members of Glenmary Home
Missioners. Glenmary's president, Father Dan
Dorsey, presided at the First Oath Mass and
witnessed as Aaron
Wessman of Cokato, Minn., Craig
Digmann of Scotch Grove, Iowa, and
Crispine
Adongo of Ulanda, Kenya, committed
themselves to the practice of poverty,
chastity, obedience and prayer.
As Glenmary Home Missioners, they also
committed themselves to their fellow
missioners and to the proclamation of the
Gospel in rural areas and small towns of the
United States. With the First Oath, these
three men begin a three-year period of
temporary profession which culminates in each
man making a Final Oath. The three men have
completed three years of Glenmary formation
and are now preparing to continue their
studies this fall.
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| Father Vic Subb, left, and Father Dan Dorsey witnessed Dennis Makokha's Oath renewal on May 23 during a Mass at Our Lady of the Fields Chapel in Cincinnati. In addition to renewing his Glenmary Oath, Dennis also received the Ministry of Acolyte. |
Aaron, 26, a former member of St. John Church
in Darwin, Minn., is pursuing missionary
priesthood with Glenmary and will begin
classes at St. Meinrad School of Theology
this fall. He first became aware of
Glenmary's work in the home missions after
meeting Glenmary Father Jerry Dorn, also a
native of Minnesota. "Meeting Father Jerry
was an appointment set up by God," Aaron
says. Aaron is currently working with Father
Dorn at Glenmary's mission in West
Liberty, Ky.
Craig, 50, refers to himself as the "old man"
of his class. The father of two sons (one of
whom will enter the Archdiocese of Dubuque's
seminary program this fall) and former member
of Sacred Heart Church in Monticello, Iowa,
Craig will attend Brescia University in
Owensboro, Ky., in the fall and continue his
formation as a Glenmary brother. Glenmary's
outreach to the poor first attracted Craig to
Glenmary. He says he feels honored to be part
of a religious society that ministers in
areas where there are so few Catholics and
looks forward to working with the elderly and
with young people in the missions he will
serve. Craig is working with Brother Mike
Springer at Glenmary's mission in Chapmanville,
W.Va., this summer.
Crispine, 28, discovered Glenmary after meeting Dennis
Makokha, also from Kenya, who had joined the home mission society.
(Dennis renewed his Oath on May 23. Preparing
for missionary priesthood, Dennis will begin
a pastoral year this fall and will serve in
Glenmary's mission in Windsor, N.C.) Crispine
is a native of the Diocese of Homabay and
says he became interested in missionary
priesthood with Glenmary because of the
influence the Comboni priest who served in
his parish in Ulanda, Kenya, had on him. That
missionary priest "planted something in my
head," he says. "I became attracted to
mission work in a different culture." He will
leave Glenmary's mission in Idabel,
Okla.,
next month and spend time in Kenya before
joining Aaron at St. Meinrad in the fall.
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View
slide show of First Oath ceremony.
View
slide show of Dennis Makokha's Oath Renewal.
For photos, please contact communications@glenmary.org.
About Glenmary Home Missioners
Glenmary is a society of Catholic priests and
brothers who, along with coworkers, establish the
Catholic Church in rural regions of the United
States. Currently, Glenmary staffs over 50
missions and ministries.
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