Camp experience steeped in Catholic view of reality

by Deacon Dana Nearmyer

A key goal of Catholic education and Camp Tekakwitha is to pass on a Catholic understanding of reality. 

According to the rite of baptism, parents are to be the first and best teachers of their children. Catechism classes, camp and Catholic schools can be powerful allies in passing on a Catholic understanding of reality. Ultimately, the formation that parents consciously and unconsciously immerse their children in is extremely powerful and will likely provide a North Star or at least a reaction point for the rest of their lives.

A Catholic vision of reality is expansive and bold. Professor Michael Hanby says: “And necessarily, this vision extends to absolutely everything. For there is no aspect of reality — not nature, not history, not science, not politics, not thinking itself — that falls outside of creation, and that is unaffected in the depths of its being by its relation to God.”  “God is not simply the God of Sunday, but the God of the whole week; not simply the God of religion class, but the God of all classes.  Not just the God of the liturgy, although that is a privileged place, but the God of all the aspects of the cosmos,” as articulated by theologian Sebastian D’Amico. Are these truths in the forefront of our minds? Do we show our children that God is near and powerful?

The opening to the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: “God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness, freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength. He calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the church. To accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son as redeemer and savior. In his Son and through him, he invites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and thus heirs of his blessed life.”

 Is this the  reality that we pass on? How does this impact the bedtime prayers that we teach our children?  Do we model praying to an approachable, personal Father who knows the number of hairs on each of our heads or a distant, passive, anonymous God?

Camp Tekakwitha is based on these understandings. Camp is a quest for God, inviting questions and divine wisdom. Camp Tekakwitha registration is open. May our hearts, homes, camp, schools and parishes pass on a Catholic understanding of reality.

For a deeper dive, check out Hanby’s  “Quaerere Deum: What Is Education and Why Is It Catholic?”