Working at a Non-Catholic Summer Camp?

[HopefulShepherd]

My sister was offered the opportunity to work at a local summer camp to earn some extra money. They only potential problem is that it is sponsored by the First Church of Christ, which is affiliated with the United Church of Christ (UCC). I did a lot of research, and can’t figure out what the actual religion is, but it is Christian, and not Catholic.

The camp seems like a regular camp, but it has something called Vespers:

Each day at camp ends with Vespers. This is a time to reflect on topics such as respect or trying one’s best. In addition to cooperative living skills, there are countless opportunities for deepening the awareness of God.

It bills itself as a “a non-sectarian camp open to all boys and girls of good character from 8 through 14 years of age.” Being a Catholic, my sister is concerned about whether or not she should work at a camp like this. Does anyone have any advice? Thank you so much.

 

[Ad_Orientem]

If it’s just a camp where you do fun things, I suppose it’s relatively harmless, but I suspect they will be doing some teaching, giving advice, etc., from a Protestant perspective. How can a Catholic cooperate with this, either in principle or on a practical level?

FYI, the term “Christian” belongs in the first place to Catholics. Whom you call merely “Christians” are Protestants. “Vespers” is the traditional Catholic term for Evening Prayer, part of the Liturgy of the Hours. Protestant services called by this name range widely from closely resembling Vespers to not resembling it at all.

 

[wmw]

First of all Vespers in this context just mean a prayer meeting in the Evening. For this liberal a group prayer can be just telling what a fun day they had.

Catholic Vespers are Evening prayers published by the Church for all to pray the same prayers throughout the world much like the readings of Mass are all the same for the whole world and largely practiced by the clergy, people of dedicated orders, but encouraged for all as they can.

The First Church of Christ is a more traditional mainline Protestant group within the UCC. All of these are very liberal and “pluralistic”. The traditional part is that they have a traditional sermon that a Pastor gives. They have open communion for instance and are liberal on abortion, gay-marriage, etc. Different ecclesiastic congregations (its not really proper to call a protestant group a church) within the UCC umbrella can do their own doctrine as they please.

Trying to hide her faith is a sin. Being an open Catholic telling them from the start her Catholic faith, not participating in communion and being very polite in letting them know that you are not in agreement with many of their doctrines would be in order too.

This is extremely difficult to do. Mostly they would figure she is converting to their congregation. When she disagrees she’ll be questioned, hounded to convert, and/or shunned. Very few people are going to have a good time working in these conditions.

The few people that do this usually try to fly under the radar and are seriously hurting themselves by being very devious, thinking they can be a sheep hiding among wolves or playing covert spy. This is not what one should do and is really one of the worst kind of lies that suppresses the Holy Spirit from work in you for even a long time after the camp is over.

 

[Beryllos]

Being a Catholic, my sister is concerned about whether or not she should work at a camp like this. Does anyone have any advice? Thank you so much.

I don’t see a problem. They are not anti-Catholic, are they? There is some common ground where you can meet them and work together with them to bring up the children well.

I do not agree with everything wmw wrote. Sure, tell them that you are Catholic. They can take it or leave it. At the interview, assuming they interview for this position, they are free to ask questions about your faith, and of course you should answer truthfully.

I do not see a need to recite every area of disagreement. Do so if you like, but consider this: Does the summer camp indoctrinate the children in matters like abortion and gay marriage? I think not. Do you imagine that a Catholic will be morally prohibited from performing any job-related tasks at the summer camp? Probably not. If there is some specific job responsibility that you do not feel right about, tell them so. They will probably be happy to work around it, for example, by finding someone else to perform that task.

Finally, do not attempt to convert them, but do look on this as an opportunity to break down their prejudices and stereotypes by showing them your Catholic faith in action. They may be pleasantly surprised. You may be pleasantly surprised as well.

 

[TheRealJuliane]

My sister was offered the opportunity to work at a local summer camp to earn some extra money. They only potential problem is that it is sponsored by the First Church of Christ, which is affiliated with the United Church of Christ (UCC). I did a lot of research, and can’t figure out what the actual religion is, but it is Christian, and not Catholic.

The camp seems like a regular camp, but it has something called Vespers:

Each day at camp ends with Vespers. This is a time to reflect on topics such as respect or trying one’s best. In addition to cooperative living skills, there are countless opportunities for deepening the awareness of God.

It bills itself as a “a non-sectarian camp open to all boys and girls of good character from 8 through 14 years of age.” Being a Catholic, my sister is concerned about whether or not she should work at a camp like this. Does anyone have any advice? Thank you so much.

Will she have any way to get to Mass on Sundays? I’d be very cautious about putting a young teen into that sort of surroundings. Very cautious.

 

[Beryllos]

I’d be very cautious about putting a young teen into that sort of surroundings.

So would I. In my earlier post, I had assumed the OP’s sister is an adult applying for a position as a camp counselor or other staff member (nurse, lifeguard, whatever). If she is a teenager, I would want to find out more about the camp programs and culture.

 

[TheRealJuliane]

So would I. In my earlier post, I had assumed the OP’s sister is an adult applying for a position as a camp counselor or other staff member (nurse, lifeguard, whatever). If she is a teenager, I would want to find out more about the camp programs and culture.

Oh, I see, I don’t know why I assumed that his sister was just a teenager, he actually didn’t give her age. Well, if she’s old enough to drive to Mass every Sunday, I’d probably be OK with it if she knows the basics of the faith and isn’t easily swayed.

 

[HolyRosaryChild]

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++

God’s Spirit is in my heart,
He has called me and set me apart.
This is what I have to do,
what I have to do.

He sent me to give the Good News to the poor,
Tell prisoners that they are prisoners no more,
Tell blind people that they can see,
And set the downtrodden free
And go tell everyone the news that the Kingdom of God has come,
And go tell everyone the news that the Kingdom of God has come.

Just as the Father sent me,
So I’m sending you out to be
My witnesses throughout the world,
The whole of the world.

Don’t worry what you have to say,
Don’t worry because on that day
God’s Spirit will speak in your heart,
Will speak in your heart.

Why not Sing Jesus’ Scriptures asking Him to provide