ARTICLES

Hampton Roads parishes host VBS

By Sandy Grecco
Special to The Catholic Virginian

Vacation Bible School season is in full swing.

Children are flocking to church to sing, to dance, and make new friends as they learn more about God, His Word and their life in Christ.

In Hampton Roads well over 1,000 local children are expected to attend VBS programs throughout the region.

Though program themes and activities vary from parish to parish, the mission of Vacation Bible School programs around the world has been the same for close to a century.

Many people trace its origin to a park in Hopedale, Illinois where Mrs. D.T. Miles, a Sunday school leader and former teacher, organized a daily school for teaching the Bible during the summer months.

A few years later in New York City, Eliza Hawes began incorporating the use of Bible stories, music, and crafts in what she called “Everyday Bible School.”

Today’s VBS programs take full advantage of today’s teaching techniques and technology, making it much easier to produce exciting, colorful, and effective programs that keep kids and volunteers interested and engaged in learning more about their faith.

A quick search of the internet turns up a number of cost-effective programs offering organizers everything they need to make the program a great learning experience and strong ministry.

Holy Trinity in Norfolk and Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament in West Point are offering Group’s “Power Lab: Discovering Jesus’ Miraculous Power.”

This mixed-age group program engages children with fun, science-themed surprises, memorable Bible points and projects for building strong relationships.

In June Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Newport News thrilled as many as 85 children with Liguori Publication’s “SonWorld,” an exciting theme park adventure based on Joshua 24:15, “Choose for your selves this day whom you will serve.”

The Cluster Parishes of Portsmouth/Chesapeake (Holy Angels, Resurrection, St. Mary’s, St. Paul’s) will offer this program to their parishes in July.

With this curriculum children play games, make cool crafts, and enjoy “park snacks” as they learn from various people in the Bible what it means to choose Jesus as their Savior.

St. Bede’s in Williamsburg took 220 children Pre-K3 through 6th grade on a Rain Forest Adventure last month that focused on the importance of caring for God’s creation.

Science, arts & crafts, drama, and music stations featured the concept of “reduce, re-use, and recycle” as a means to be good stewards to the environment. Immaculate Conception Church in Hampton, together with St. Vincent de Paul in Newport News, St. Paul Lutheran and St. Mark Episcopal Churches are offering this same curriculum as an evening format later this month.

Most parishes make it a point to include a mission project or ministry for older students, calling upon them to assist younger children and to serve in their local communities.

Rising 6th graders at St. Bede’s created flyers, collected donations, managed inventories, and delivered food baskets in support of the parish food pantry and to Fish, a local organization that provides food, clothing and transportation to the emergency needs of thousands of persons a year.

Rising 5th graders at Our Lady of Mount Carmel helped serve lunch and make bag lunches for the people who come to St. Vincent’s Back Door Ministry in inner city Newport News.

Cass Hooker, former Director of Religious Education for OLMC parish, noted that this kind of service “offers the opportunity to discuss what ministry is, why we do it and answer the children’s questions about service to the poor.”

One of the biggest challenges faced by parishes when it comes to Vacation Bible School is enlisting the help of enough volunteers. Many parishes have tackled this hurdle by partnering with other Catholic parishes or nearby churches of different denominations.

Francis de Sales in Mathews offers its VBS program in collaboration with Kingston Parish Episcopal Church, also in Mathews. St. Bede’s has joined forces with Williamsburg Presbyterian, and though most of the volunteers are from St. Bede’s, the other facility is larger and more conducive to the size of the program.

The Cluster Parishes of Portsmouth/Chesapeake offer a centralized program at Portsmouth Catholic Elementary School. Last year this group discovered that by moving their program to the evening and offering babysitting and an adult track, it was more attractive to working families.

“Before last year we had to cancel VBS three different times because of low enrollment and lack of volunteers,” said Marisa Beebe, the cluster’s Coordinator of Christian Formation.

“Since the switch we’ve had a wonderful response, and will be doing it the same way this year.”

Though the task may appear daunting, getting children involved in church and making the Bible fun and exciting can only be a good thing.

“There is honestly nothing more frightening for a parish priest than to speak in front of groups of little kids,” said Father John D. Boddie, pastor of Francis de Sales which has offered VBS programs to upwards of 75 children for more than 15 years.

“Even so our VBS program has become a part of what we do, and we truly are blessed to have the audience we have,” he added.

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