ARTICLES

Camp Eucharist

San Carlos Parish Hosts a Distinctly Catholic Bible Camp

BY MARY SHORT

Two hundred Catholic children along with 80 volunteers gathered in St. Therese social  center on June 27 and opened their bible vacation school with a prayer led by pastor Monsignor Fredrick Florek. The children, aged four through 12 came from parishes around the diocese to attend the camp titled, "The Mass Comes Alive Through the Eucharist."

Parishioners Ann Redlinger and Cathy Williams founded the bible school, and Lisa Zickert helped head the camp this year, the camp's fourth. "We were tired of watered-down versions of Catholic Bible Schools," explained Redlinger. "They were very Protestant. One program we received, based on the Our Father, translated the prayer wrongly. So we decided to create our own programs. The first two bible schools we held were military themes: "Saints in Training" and "Saints Around the World." Last year we worked on one called Son Games, which was on the teachings of St Paul. This year, my husband reminded me of John Paul II and the year of the Eucharist, so we decided on a Eucharistic theme. Lisa Zickert came up with the idea of using the new Cat. Chat CD which is called The Mass Comes Alive. We wrote up a program to use along with the CD, and named it The Mass Comes Alive Through the Eucharist."

Cat. Chat, a Catholic Audio Show, teaches young children their faith through songs, prayer and stories. "Every Cat.Chat CD," offered Lisa Zickert, "has a theme and it is a story which weaves our Catholic faith around that theme with songs. The kids learned some of the songs, and we gave a CD to each of the children.

"Our goal for the week this year," continued Zickert, "was to help children understand the Mass and the Eucharist and to develop a love for the Eucharist and the Mass that will keep them in their Catholic Faith for a lifetime. Each day we gathered at 9:00 for an opening prayer, song, and a skit. At 9:30, the children divided up into 16 groups of 10 to 12 children, rotating through different learning stations, for songs, skits, crafts, and an outdoor activity. Around 11:45, everybody returned to the social center for closing prayer and closing song."

"Each day we had a focus," explained Zickert. "Day one was the 'Mass is a gift.' The skit for that day centered around showing the kids what is appropriate dress for mass. The craft idea that day was little banners called Preparing for Mass. Pre-printed on the banner were messages such as 'Get to mass early,' and 'Say the Rosary,' and the kids decorated them. The children also participated in a dress up relay where they had to actually get dressed for church."

"Day two's theme was the Mass is a Mystery, it had a detective theme. Everybody had magnifying glasses and went into the church and discovered things about the church such as, What is that red candle? What is that gold box up on the altar? Why are those people dipping their fingers in the water? A treasure chest filled with little items of our faith was the craft for the day. The outdoor activity for the day was having the kids group together different parts of the church. When you walk into the church, the main part of the church is called the nave, and so they had to match all the items that go in the nave, such as the pews, the Stations of the Cross."

On the third day of camp, children learned the parts of the mass and crafted personal mass books for themselves. "Day four," Zickert says, "was; 'The Mass is a meal that we share with other Catholics' just like Jesus shared the last supper with the apostles.' The children learned that the apostles had Jesus' true presence in his earthly body and we have Jesus' true presence in the Eucharist. We were trying to get across to the kids that nowhere else in the world can you have Jesus truly present but in the Eucharist. We told them a story called a carrot story: 'Are carrots good for you?' 'Yes.' 'If you go to sleep with them on your eyes, will you get the nutritional value?' 'No, you got to eat them.' 'Well it is the same thing with the Eucharist. You have to eat the Eucharist to get the blessings of Jesus inside of you. Do you see the vitamins in the carrot?' 'No.' 'Do you see Jesus' body and blood in that Eucharist? No, but it is still there.'"

Zickert continued, "The last day, the theme was 'The Mass is a call to each one of us to say yes to the Eucharist.' When we say amen at church, we have to go out, and love and serve others, we are called to go out and share what you have learned at the mass. We took each part of the mass and broke it down and made it really personal how they could use that in their life after they go to mass on Sunday. We closed the bible camp with a Mass said by Father Stephanos [Pedrano, a Benedictine from Prince of Peace Abbey in Oceanside]."

Zickert says the goal of the camp was "to make the week touch the hearts of not just the child that attended but the whole family unit." Accordingly, organizers sent home "parent handouts" to explain the theme of the day to the participants parents. Each family was given Jimmy Akin's Mass Appeal, and Pillar of Fire, and Father Lovasik's Receiving Holy Communion. "We were evangelizing to the parents as well as the children," Zickert said.

As for response, Zickert said, "I heard nothing but positive feedback. The kids love the songs, they love the music, they are learning a lot.'" The camp was very inexpensive, $25 per child for the week, which included a t-shirt, snacks and crafts."

"We'd like these programs to go out to other parishes," added Redlinger. "We know there is a need for Catholic bible schools and we are here to help. We are happy to share the program with other parishes."

The organizers are thinking about a Marian theme for next year's bible camp.

TOP