Bishop Maurice Dingman

Bishop Maurice Dingman of the Des Moines Catholic Diocese became my student in June, 1979. And he was certainly my most unusual referral.

At the time the Bishop was frantically in charge of arrangements for the October, 1979 visit by Pope John Paul II to Iowa. He came to me at the Des Moines Golf and Country Club because he had been ordered by the Pope to find some new diversion to relieve the stress associated with handling the massive job of preparing for a papal visit. Bishop Dingman decided golf was to be his diversion because he had heard of all the great social and health benefits of golf.

When I met Bishop Dingman, he firmly grasped my hand and told me that I was going to be his boss on the golf course and driving range and that he had only one other boss this year, Pope John Paul II.

Starting the game at 65 was not easy for the Bishop with the limited amount of time he had available but he was an eager student who approached the game seriously. At one point I gave the Bishop a report card that I jokingly suggested he could share with the Pope, like a school kid, he smiled and thought this report card had a special drawer to hide away in.

Certainly the Papal visit of 1979 was a huge success due in part to Bishop Dingman’s hard work and perhaps to some small extent because the Bishop made a commitment to taking care of himself so he perform at his best during that strenuous time. In later years the Bishop found little time for golf, but his annual Bishop Dingman Golf Tournament was a great way to socialize and promote his important causes.