Craig Hauser - Celebrating Recovery

Craig Hauser, a female, and yes, she’s heard all the jokes about her name, is one of those people who smiles a lot and always seems to be happy. You would never know that a dozen years ago, she nearly destroyed her life with excessive drinking.

At Holy Cross, she is known as the face and coordinator for a local group of Celebrate Recovery. CR is a 12-step, Christ-centered ministry that launched 20 years ago at Saddleback Church in California. It uses eight principles based on the Beatitudes, and is designed to help people with a wide range of hurts, habits and hang-ups.

Hauser said the CR group at Holy Cross will begin its sixth year in September. While everything discussed and shared among the participants is strictly confidential, Hauser said that some of the issues that people need help with include alcoholism, drug abuse, co-dependency, pornography, eating disorders, grief, financial matters and gambling.


Craig Hauser



“We had no idea what to expect for the first meeting,” Hauser said. “Two people came. And I realized it’s not the number who come but if you can help someone that matters.” Now, about 15-18 people meet on a weekly basis.

Hauser’s personal struggles began when she was 50. “I was a late bloomer,” she said. “I had problems I couldn’t talk about, and alcohol gave me a nice, numbing effect.”

But soon, a couple of dinner drinks became four, and then came drinks during the day, until finally Hauser found herself reaching for alcohol as early as 9 a.m. She drank steadily for a couple of years, assuming she didn’t have a problem because, as she explained, “What is that limit, the one drink that takes you over the edge?”

So she continued drinking, and over the next two years, her dependency on alcohol became all too obvious. Her hands were shaking, she was filled with self-loathing for what she had become, her health was in decline. “I knew I’d crossed the line,” she said. “But all I could say was, I give up. I can’t do it. I don’t care.” Her husband encouraged her to go to Alcoholics Anonymous, which she did. But the AA meetings didn’t fill the hunger that had begun to consume her. Still, she managed to reach a point where she quit drinking for 30 days. But that turned out to be the calm before the storm.

Whatever demons she was fighting compelled her to walk into a liquor store one fateful day to buy wine. Interestingly, the clerk said, “Craig, are you sure you want to do this?” Hauser’s first thought was to wonder how he knew her name. Then she realized he was in her AA group. But she chose to ignore the meaning behind his question, and left the liquor store, wine in hand.

She describes the next six days as a living hell. “It was just a blur,” she said. “I stayed on the couch. I missed my son’s 16^th birthday. I had no desire, no nothing.”

Then came the seventh day, when she suddenly and inexplicably asked her husband to take her to rehab. She spent the next 30 days there, talking, healing, and eventually walking out the door as a newly sober person.

If you see divine intervention in her story, you’re not alone. “I had nothing to do with saving myself,” Hauser said. “That was God. God picked me up. He saved me. And he didn’t save me just to say, ‘You’re okay, go do your own thing.’ He wanted me to do something for other people.”

That something turned out to be helping others through Celebrate Recovery. Hauser said she has respect for the AA program, but for her, it wasn’t enough. “I knew something was missing,” she said. “And that something was Christ.”

Hauser, the woman who would never talk about her problems before, is more than willing to share her story now. And here’s what she wants others to know: “There are miracles in life, in healing, in situations,” she said. “Problems can be addressed. It’s not hopeless.”

For Hauser, that sign of hope was delivered in a beautiful, personal way. She was in a car with her son, who was then 19, when out of the blue he reached over and patted her hand. “I forgive you,” he said.

If you’re reading this story and you are struggling, or at a point where you feel lost, don’t hesitate to seek help. If you’d like more information about Celebrate Recovery, visit the website at www.celebraterecovery.com. Or drop in at 7 p.m. any Tuesday evening at Holy Cross to see what the group is all about.