In today’s world, men need community more than ever, said Father Noah C. Morey. “Young men in particular feel that they have to earn their status. They have to earn their place in a community.”
The Diocese of Arlington’s annual vocations camp for high school boys, Quo Vadis, endeavors to provide this community. The camp is organized by the diocesan Office of Vocations and held at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md. This year, more than 100 teen boys attended the camp, which features daily Mass, Eucharistic adoration, group prayer and sports “tournaments.” Daily talks by priests and guest speakers focus not only on vocations to the priesthood, marriage, and religious life, but also on spiritual discernment and growth.
The teens awoke for breakfast and morning prayer on the third day of the camp, July 9. They gathered to listen to a talk on community and renewal by Father Morey, chaplain of Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria.
While many feel like they must earn their place in a community, Father Morey said, “the good news about the community that I’ll be talking about today is that you don’t have to earn your way in, you don’t have to earn a status, you don’t have to prove that you’re good enough.”
Father Morey reminded the campers that through their baptismal identity in the Catholic Church, they already belong to a larger community. But through our community in the church, we must always strive for renewal, he added, particularly through the Eucharist at Mass.
“What are you bringing to the Mass?” he asked the campers. “What are you offering up? As the priest holds up the paten, what are you placing onto that paten?” He encouraged the boys to offer up their struggles, joys, or prayer intentions for family members or friends.
Father Morey’s reflection instilled in many of the teens a sense of gratitude for the fellowship among their peers. “It’s definitely more of a brotherhood, a lot of community,” said Ethan Salayon, a first-time camper and a parishioner of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Lake Ridge.
After the talk, campers spent the morning praying at Eucharistic adoration, meditating on the seminary grounds and worshiping at daily Mass.
At lunchtime, the campers were joined by transitional deacons and seminarians helping to lead the camp. The deacons competed in a “face the cookie” challenge, where they attempted to wiggle a cookie balanced on their foreheads into their mouths without using their hands. The campers cheered as Deacon Michael C. Sampson, who is preparing for the priesthood, took the first winning bite of his dessert.
Campers then raced to the fields to compete in bracket-style tournaments, ranging from touch football to spikeball and chess.
First-time camper Joseph Hambleton, a parishioner of St. John the Evangelist Church in Warrenton, had hoped for a spiritual transformation at the beginning of the camp. “I was looking forward to a nice start-up with my prayer life, just a cleansing, getting rebooted,” he said. Following the camp, he plans “to make more time for God. I think that’s a big thing I’m working on right now.”
Philip Vander Woude, a parishioner of Holy Trinity Church in Gainesville, said that the camp has helped him appreciate “the importance of silence.”
“What I’ve learned is just to ask God questions and just sit in silence and let him do the work.”
