From left, Trevor Pullinger, Zac Robinson and Bishop Dennis Walsh prepare to leave for a Life Teen Summer Camp in Georgia earlier this summer.
By Barb Arland-Fye
The Catholic Messenger
Bishop Dennis Walsh took two faith formation leaders to a faith-based camp this summer where they whitewater rafted, played volleyball, celebrated Mass, engaged in prayer and soaked up ideas for effective youth ministry. They returned home energized and with a fresh vision for engaging teens in their Catholic faith.
Life Teen Summer Camp, in the north Georgia mountains, made the impact Bishop Walsh hoped for when he invited Trevor Pullinger, the diocese’s director of Faith Formation and Catechesis coordinator, and Zac Robinson, a theology teacher at Assumption High School in Davenport to camp.
Life Teen is a Catholic lay apostolate that supports parishes in their efforts to nurture teens as disciples of Christ who share their love for the Catholic faith with others. Its summer camps in north Georgia (and one opening near St. Louis, Missouri) provide a springboard to year-round youth ministry aimed at sustaining and building on the mountaintop experiences of the camp’s participants.
Bishop Walsh, Pullinger and Robinson attended camp during the first week of August as observers at Life Teen’s Camp Covecrest, where they observed some 400 teen campers interacting with their parish youth ministers, camp missionaries and seven or eight priests.
“I used to take kids to Covecrest quite regularly (around 2010-2015),” the bishop said. “I think we started my first year with maybe seven kids going to youth camp. After that, it just expanded; the next year, we had 15 and then 20 and by the time I left that parish, we had a youth group of 50 high school kids and 70 junior high kids in the youth group. I really attribute that to the youth camp experience.”
“Usually, the day starts with morning prayer, breakfast and team-building activities throughout the day,” the bishop said. Zip lining, obstacle courses, whitewater rafting, volleyball and paintball were among the activities. One of the obstacle courses took the youths “through a lot of mud and they came out pretty filthy at the end, but they really loved it,” Bishop Walsh said. Afterwards, “they had what they call a car wash with sprinklers, and they cleaned the kids off and then they all gathered around a huge bonfire to sing praise and worship songs.”
Teens participated in Mass, followed by supper and an evening session with speakers. Life Teen’s theme this year is “Radiant Hope,” a response to the Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year of Hope, Bishop Walsh said. The intention is to help youths define hope in their life of discipleship.
Coincidentally, the music worship leader the week prior to the Davenport group’s visit was Liam Brown, whom Bishop Walsh has known since Brown was in middle school. “Just to see how he had developed in terms of his Catholic life” is so uplifting, the bishop said. “He’s gotten his degree in theology. He’s a fabulous musician and a remarkable young man. Just a wonderful witness.”
Brown left a message for the bishop to receive when he arrived at Covecrest Camp. “As a priest, you don’t really always get to see the fruits of your work. It’s just great to be able to look back and see where all these kids are now. I’m looking forward to young people in our diocese having opportunities to deepen their life of discipleship in the Church, and I think of Life Teen as a great tool, really, an opportunity,” Bishop Walsh said.
From left, Trevor Pullinger, Zac Robinson and Bishop Dennis Walsh smile aboard an airplane on the way to Georgia for a Life Teen Summer Camp earlier this summer.
Bishop Walsh wanted Pullinger and Robinson “to see maybe a different vision of what youth ministry could be in the Diocese of Davenport. I want to make (our) youth ministry about discipleship, and making disciples. Oftentimes, youth ministry kind of becomes just games and activities and social events, but I think what Life Teen does differently is it really encourages young teenagers in the Church to have a love for the Church, to go to Mass, and to live a life of discipleship.”
Pullinger and Robinson both desire to encourage robust youth ministry in the Davenport Diocese. They said their experience at Life Teen Summer Camp provided an opportunity to learn about the ministry, which builds on and continues the enthusiasm that teens experience at camp.
Life Teen Camp “mirrors and supports what happens on the parish level,” Pullinger said. The teens attend with their parish community, not alone. They return to their parishes with a shared experience, which sustains and builds on their faith, said Robinson, who serves on the diocesan Faith Formation Advisory Committee.
“It’s about making sure that the adults who come from the parish are able to establish and maintain relationships (with the youth) when they come home,” Pullinger added. “Bishop Walsh is focused on both an encounter with Christ and connecting that with authentic relationships with adults who care about them in their parish community.”
In the latest Catholic Messenger Conversations podcast, Bishop Dennis Walsh focuses on Life Teen Summer Camp, Theology on Tap and the Catechetical Leader Summit. Listen at
www.catholicmessenger.net/podcasting or on your favorite podcasting app!
