At St. Pius X’s Summer Bible Camp, kids play on God’s team

MEMBERS OF GOD’S TEAM  Alexis Brynczka, a counselor at the Summer Bible Camp at St. Pius X Parish in Montville, helps Emily, a camper, make a religiously themed T-shirt, using contact paper and spray paint.

MONTVILLE  Watson Smith, 7, stands in the outfield and raises his baseball mitt, ready for the batter’s swing. On a hot July 22 morning, he and a group of fellow youngsters play America’s Pastime as part of “free time” activities, during the recent Summer Bible Camp at St. Pius X Parish here, where they learned to rely on the all-powerful unseen “coach” in the game and in their lives: God.

That day, Smith and 12 other young boys and girls, ages 6–12, scored a spiritual home run of sorts, while at the camp (July 17–23), which mixed lessons about faith with getting involved in fun activities, such as sports and arts and crafts. All the sports-themed activities highlighted the week’s theme: “We Can All Be Members of God’s Team.” This summer, St. Pius was one of the few parishes in the Diocese to hold an in-person Vacation Bible School camp experience.

Before “free time” July 22, a team of adult teachers and teen counselors helped campers place sticky contact paper in the designs of doves, crosses, or fish on the front of white T-shirts that they brought from home. Working on tables outside in a parking lot, they then spray-painted the shirt several colors, before they removed the contact paper to reveal the religiously themed design in white. On the back of the shirts, they wrote in marker their last names and a number — like on sports jerseys.

“I like the sports and arts and crafts,” said Smith, a first-year camper, who loves the N.Y. Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies baseball teams and playing Little League baseball. He also loved the Scripture stories about St. Paul that he heard that week. “He had a lot of adventures. God blinded him; he changed his mind and came to God. I also learned that God keeps us strong,” he said.

The earthly “coach” of the Bible Camp was Chrissy Deary, a St. Pius choir member and catechist and the married mother of three boys, 12–19. She has coordinated the camp each year for four summers, except last year during the COVID-19 lockdown. Joining Deary were two adult teachers, Mia Kalemba and Deb Cooney, and eight high school-aged counselors. Some participants were returning campers or leaders and/or have siblings in the program, Deary said.

Guided by Son Games, a publishing camp program, Deary started the morning on July 22 by getting campers into a circle in a parking lot at St. Pius for a light aerobic stretch. A teacher by profession, she said to them, “What a beautiful day. Now, we can come outside [after the state lifted social-distancing mandates].”

“God wants us to keep on going and not give up in the middle of the game. He watches over us to help us with tough problems. God wants us to share his love with other people,” Deary told campers and leaders.

Then, Deary invited participants to share a prayer publicly for an intention that day. That morning, campers also listened to the story in Acts 27 of St. Paul weathering the storms while he and a group of disciples were traveling by boat.

“With a storm coming, their lives were in danger,” said Deary, when discussing the Bible story with the campers in one small group. “But St. Paul told the disciples, ‘Be brave. I am with God. No one will die but the ship will be destroyed.’ Remember that God is always with you,” she said.

Driving home the point each day were two signs on display at the camp. One sign had a soccer ball, football, volleyball, basketball, and baseball on it and proclaimed, “Son Games 2021: We can all be members of God’s Team!” The other sign looked like a page from a football playbook with “God’s game plan,” which urged campers to “Believe, pray everyday, hope in him, be joyous, and share God’s love.”

After campers made the spray-painted shirts, Alexa Pires, 10, another first-year camper, told The Beacon that she enjoys the camp — but not because of the sports.

“I love hanging out with the little girls — playing hula hoops or drawing with chalk — when the boys are playing sports,” said Pires, who added that “St. Paul is an interesting guy. He could change so much. That’s impressive. I don’t know if I could do that.”

At the end of the day at camp, everyone climbed a set of stairs outside to the upper field next to St. Pius’ Ministry House. There, most of them had fun dousing each other with water balloons and playing baseball. Some of the girls made chalk drawings on paving bricks that were washed away by the rain. Then, Deary closed the day with a short talk, reminding them that like with St. Paul, who faced the stormy seas, “God is going to help us.”

One counselor, Shea Dougherty, an incoming freshman at Montville High School, had been a camper at St. Pius, since fifth grade.

“Camp taught me so much. I liked all the stuff about the Bible,” said Dougherty, who plays soccer. “I like playing with the kids. They are cute and say funny stuff,” she said.

The Bible Camp ended with an outdoor Mass for campers, their families, and staffers, celebrated by Father Jayke Parinas, St. Pius’ parochial vicar. Among the other arts-and-crafts projects that campers made that week were foam fingers that displayed “God’s Team” on them, a small tabletop soccer game, and religiously themed cards that look like sports trading cards. Campers also played other sports and held relay races and a parachute game, among other athletic activities, Deary said.

In the past, Deary coordinated Bible Camps at St. Pius that had a video game theme and “Hometown Nazareth,” which encouraged campers to get into the Nativity by portraying its characters in a play also with other activities. She credited Msgr. Mark Olenowski, St. Pius’ pastor, for his support of the camp.

“Summer Bible Camp has activities for everybody. Many campers come in groups of friends but some come by themselves. This is a way for the kids to learn about God and his love for us and to form new relationships in the parish, so they can wave to someone new at church,” Deary said. “I also enjoy this experience with the kids,” she told The Beacon.