“Does God love you?” Father Will Nyce asked a room of 50 elementary-aged VBS campers. “Yes!” replied the kids. “And does he want you to follow him?” Father Nyce prompted. “Yes!” resounded the campers, still louder.
St. Rita Church in Alexandria hosted its summer Vacation Bible School Aug. 3-7. Themed “Into the Deep,” the VBS transformed the parish into a tropical, underwater world, with jellyfish dangling from the ceiling, silvery blue streamers framing doorways, and fishing nets hanging overhead.
Each day’s activities were themed after a nautical Bible story, including Noah’s ark, Jonah and the whale, and Jesus walking on the Sea of Galilee. On Aug. 3, Father Nyce read campers the Bible story of the miraculous catch (Lk 5:1-11), where Jesus provided the disciples with an abundance of fish after they had fished all night without a single catch.
“So, like Peter — when Jesus told him to go out into the deep — if God tells you to go somewhere that doesn’t make a lot of sense, you can do it. You trust him, and know that he’s leading,” Father Nyce said.
Campers then broke out into their groups, cycling through various craft, games, music and faith stations, where the campers and counselors discussed the day’s Bible passage.
Campers at St. Rita’s VBS illustrated the importance of faith-filled, summer fun. The craft station was a particular favorite of Rebekah Phillips, 9. “On Monday, the first day, we got to paint some really pretty doves,” she said. But she said she also appreciated the daily saint stories. “I didn’t even know St. Anthony of Padua preached to fish,” she exclaimed, referring to a popular legend about the Italian saint.
Beckett Dunham, 8, said he would recommend the camp to others. “I think more kids should come to VBS because it’s very Catholic and holy, and it’s very, very fun.”
Several other parishes across the diocese hosted VBS camps this summer, including Sacred Heart Church in Manassas, St. Timothy Church in Chantilly, St. Theresa Church in Ashburn and St. Andrew the Apostle Church in Clifton.
St. Andrew’s VBS, July 20-24, gathered nearly 60 campers and featured a rainforest atmosphere. The Catholic Herald even played an unofficial role in the decorations. “All the rocks going up to our monkey’s tiki hut and around our waterfalls were (made from) old Catholic Heralds that I started collecting in February and March through the summer,” said Jenny Lehner, parish secretary. “We used the old Catholic Heralds to paper mache tons of rocks and boulders.”
