More than 300 girls swim, pray, dance at this summer’s Camp Fun & Faith

Faith is not separate from any part of life, including the fun of summer camp.

 

That’s one message girls receive as they attend week-long Camp Fun & Faith sessions offered the last 27 years at Pro Sanctity’s Retreat Center near Elkhorn.

 

It’s a message well-received by many, including fourth-grader Elise Bauer of St. Robert Bellarmine Parish and School in Omaha.

 

“It was really fun. I liked everything about it,” Elise said July 24, several days after her week ended. “Every day we went to church. I learned more and more each day.”

 

Monica Hejkal, an apostolic oblate with the Pro Sanctity Movement and a camp director, said this year’s theme, “Singing in the Rain,” served as a gentle reminder through age-appropriate lessons that not everything works out, there is suffering in the world, and God is present in those situations as well.

 

“We don’t often talk about that, but the cross is part of life,” she said. “The cross is fruitful, even though it’s hard.”

 

The apostolic oblates offer the camps as part of their mission to help people live out Christ’s universal call to holiness. They and the people who assist them offer faith-building activities such as adoration of the Eucharist and daily Mass, as well as arts and crafts, swimming and skits, and a living Stations of the Cross one evening out of the week. This year, each group visited a nearby nursing home and danced with the residents.  

 

More than 300 girls participated in this year’s camps, from June 11 through July 26. There were day camps for girls ages 3½ to 10 years old, and day and overnight camps for elementary school, junior high and high school students.

 

Elise’s mother, Ann Bauer, said her three daughters all have experienced the day camp. After about four years of day camp, Elise this year went on her first week of overnights, her mother said.

 

“I love it because it incorporates faith in everything they do,” Ann Bauer said. “The ladies are so wonderful, and they have a wonderful community” that imparts Catholic values and good morals. 

 

“You can send your children with confidence that they are being taken care of.”

 

Find a photo gallery from the camp at the bottom of this website's home page.