Question about Vacation Bible School programs for kids

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Tis_Bearself

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In the past it seemed like Vacation Bible School was a Protestant church activity for kids. Now in recent years, some of the Catholic parishes are doing it too. I think that’s fine, I’m all for kids learning about the Bible. I was the sort of curious kid who read a lot on my own and eventually when a teen just read the Bible on my own, but a lot of Catholic kids won’t do that without motivation, or they don’t have a parent buying them the kids’ Bible books or telling them Bible hero stories.

However, it seems like nowadays most of the Bible schools are all buying a canned program from some group that develops them. This year it’s ROAR, which has a theme of jungle animals. Every church around here, Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist etc is advertising this ROAR program with similar graphics, etc and there is an outlet on the web selling the course materials. It looks like a really cute program (I wished there’d been something similar when I was a child) and the Catholic parish has a sister running it whom I greatly respect. I seem to recall that a year or two ago there was a Vacation Bible School program with a different theme - I think it was shipwrecked on an island - that all the different local churches including Catholic were advertising.

I am not worried that the Catholic kids will somehow learn incorrect info about the Bible from this program; like I said, the sister running it is very responsible and the pastor is very involved with the children’s religious education. But I am wondering if these types of canned Vacation Bible School programs are somehow adapted for Catholic use or for a particular sect’s use? I was thinking that a lot of Bible study at the child level is very generic and doesn’t get too far into the doctrinal weeds, so a Catholic kid could watch a program like “The Flying House” and not learn things contrary to his faith. Or is there actually some adaptation that has to be done for Vacation Bible School?

Whoever is developing these canned programs must be cleaning up at the bank given the huge, wide ranging appeal of them to all the different branches of Christianity.
 
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I like your post. I have thought the same thing, but you put it down in words better than I could have.

On the one hand, I understand the desire to make learning about the Bible fun and interesting for young kids. On the other, you’re right - in a way it’s all a bit cutesy and commercialized.

I would agree that Protestant churches have been much more aggressive (is that the word?) when it comes to developing these types of programs. Then it seems that Catholics react and want to adopt the same thing, but kind of just copy what already exists. So there exists some potential of non-Catholic beliefs and interpretations mixing with what the Church teaches.

However, I would consider sending my kids to a Protestant Bible study as long as nothing anti-Catholic or completely confusing to them was taught. If the essentials of the Bible are taught (the bigger OT stories and Gospels, for instance), I don’t think there’s a big risk. To be quite honest, I’d rather send my kids to a conservative Protestant Bible school than a liberal Catholic one which parrots the worst of NABRE footnote material.
 
I’m a group leader for VBS at my parish and yes, we adapt it so that it is Catholic. We use that same program. The program itself is always very universal, with a phrase to shout out such as “Jesus saves!”, that would apply to all Christians. But the Bible stories and activities are planned out by us with just a general guide from the program and so they would reflect Catholic beliefs. We also do the sign of the cross before and after all prayers, etc. We definitely make sure the program reflects our Catholic beliefs 🙂
 
That’s good to know. I suspected each church was putting their specific adaptations on the generic program. The company putting it out is “interdenominational” to the point where their statement of faith is so basic, it would cover just about any Trinitarian church and they don’t list any religious affiliation whatsoever anywhere in the staff bios or what not.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
But I am wondering if these types of canned Vacation Bible School programs are somehow adapted for Catholic use or for a particular sect’s use?
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Yes.

Our Sunday Visitor and Liguori Press sell the Catholic versions of VBS products put out by large publishers. For example, the Catholic version of Roar:

http://vbs.osv.com/totally-catholic-roar

Other vendors create and sell Catholic-specific vacation bible school kits, for example Cat Chat, which is my diocesan vendor of choice:


Other Catholic VBS vendors:

https://growingupcatholicvbs.com/

https://www.growingwiththesaints.com/index.cfm
 
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It is adapted for Catholic learning. My kids bring home saint cards and the things they learn are definitely in line with Catholic teaching. It’s also put on by our faith formation team so the same people they normally get sacramental prep from. So I trust them.
 
So how did they do vacation Bible school back before the canned programs were available? Somebody would have to put some thought into what stories from the Bible to tell, and how to present them, putting forth the lessons they teach. Maybe that would be a more personal touch.
 
Catholics didn’t have VBS for many, many years. It’s a relatively recent thing. VBS used to be considered something for Protestants.

I know some of the Protestant churches did (and still do) develop their own programs.

I can understand using a canned program. It comes with things like songs and videos that aren’t easy for overworked parish staff and a few volunteers to just make up. And the kids nowadays expect some professional-looking media to keep their attention.
 
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Standard Publishing traces their company roots to the Civil War era… they’ve been a staple of Sunday School and VBS materials for decades in the Baptist and other Evangelical denominations. Their website shows VBS programming going back to the 1920s.
 
Ok, I just received my VBS leader guide and it’s called “Roar, Totally Catholic VBS”, and there is a nihil obstat (by a monsignor) and Imprimitur (by a Bishop)…those are official declarations that the materials in the guide are free from doctrinal error. I didn’t remember it being that specifically Catholic last year but I’m sure it was and I just didn’t remember. Perhaps every Protestant denom’s version of of this program is tailored specifically for them, as well.
 
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