Hello again,
So other than the post about the prayer services it has been almost two weeks since I posted last. That was during the week off from scout camp for the Independence Day holiday. I had some people ask why we would be off that week. I don’t know anything official but I would imagine that a lot of troops don’t want to come to camp that week since many scouts would have to choose between family trips and scout camp.
The last weekend of that week off was pretty cool. I went with a couple of friends to the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help in Champion, Wisconsin (just north of Green Bay.) We left early Saturday morning, I was still feeling a bit ill, but good enough to go. The friends that I was with are the parents of one of my ex-girlfriends. Her and her family are still close friends of mine. Some people may wonder about that, but it is easy in our case because after breaking up she went to a convent and I went to seminary… so still very good friends.
We drove to where her Aunt and Uncle live in Green Bay to meet up with them to go out to the shrine which is just about 30 minutes from their house. We got to the shrine in the early afternoon and looked around and prayed for about 3 hours. It is a really cool experience. This shrine is on the site of the only approved apparition of Blessed Virgin Mary in the United States. There are many people who want to get famous by saying that they saw Mary for something or another so the Church investigates the claims and determines if they are credible or not.
In the case of the apparition near Champion a young Belgian woman was walking in the mid-1800s and saw a sight that scared her away the first two times because she didn’t know what or who it was. She asked her priest what to do because she thought it might be an angel. When Mary appeared to her a third time she did as the priest had instructed and said in the name of Jesus Christ identify yourself. The Blessed Mother identified herself and told the young lady to teach the children the tenets of the faith. The young lady started a religious community and school at the site and this is where the shrine is now. One interesting thing about the site is that the great Peshtigo fire came to the edge of the property, stopped and went around without causing any damage on the site.
Marian apparitions are not a huge part of my faith, but it was very cool, and very moving to be in the presence of the site where she had appeared. I’m not sure that I felt anything special spiritually, but the knowledge of it made it very moving to me.
After that we went to Mass and spent the night in Green Bay before racing back on Sunday morning so that I could make it back to camp at a reasonable time. I had permission from the camp director to arrive late, but I wanted to be here at a reasonable time.
Last week at camp went very well. It was probably my slowest week for homesick scouts and I had no behavioral issues to deal with. I really, really, really enjoyed just going around and talking with scouts and leaders in addition to the chapel services. I felt like I was able to minister to all the scouts pretty well, rather than having to focus on the homesick scouts all the time.
This week is off to a pretty good start. The weather is extremely hot, to the point of almost being miserable. The staff is doing a great job of covering up the drag that this puts on to be able to give the scouts a great experience. I have a few more homesick scouts this week because they aren’t doing as much stuff due to the weather.
I will leave camp after Thursday’s chapel service to attend the annual seminarian retreat for the Diocese of La Crosse. One of the other staff members volunteered to run the chapel service on Friday so that is great.
Until I write again,
Peace,
Adam
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