Vacation Bible School Question
  • G
    Posts: 1,400
    I was considering volunteering for VBS in my new parish as a way of getting to know people, helping out, and perhaps most importantly, getting the lay of the land.

    It is called Sonsurf Beach Bash and from what I can read on line seems to be produced by Evangelicals, but with a special Catholic ("with Imprimatur",) edition.

    Does anyone know anything of it?

    My feeling is that if I as a Catholic were to produce such a thing and then create an edition acceptable to evangelical protestants, I could in good conscience omit aspects that were unique to Catholicism, but most decidedly NOT insert other aspects that were inimical to Catholicism.
    So to any zealous Protestant it would be it would not very useful pablum, so unspecific.

    Anyway, any input welcomed.

    (Save the Liturgy, Save the World)
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,477
    I've done a lot of Vacation Bible School in my life.

    They all go almost exactly the same way:
    Five days, each with it's own Bible-hero story (Jonah and the Whale, David and Goliath, etc).
    There's a puppet show about the story.
    There are story-themed snacks (goldfish crackers for Jonah and the Whale) and story themed crafts (make your own slingshot).
    There is really childish music about how big and strong God is, and about how Jesus is our friend, and so forth.

    There will be nothing specifically Catholic. Nothing. Not one thing.
    No mention of sacrament(s), tradition, the Church (As we understand it), the communal nature of our relationship with God (as opposed to the "Personal Lord and Savior" paradigm). No candles, no incense, no Crucifixes, no altars, no Latin, no chant, no traditional prayers, no Saints.

    IS that bad?
    Well... gosh, Bible stories are good, regardless. Dancing and craft-making and play time are all worthwhile activities for kids....

    My experience has been: mostly harmless.


    The problem with the Evangelical origin of the material is that the Fundamentalist/Protestant/Evangelical way of thinking about Jesus, God, and Scripture is so endemic, that it's hard for it not to seep through, even when some particular word, phrase, or lesson has been removed. Jesus as my friend, the strong, white anglo-saxon with soft blue eyes and a distinctly American grooming style... I'm not sure that's an image of Christ that Catholics should be particularly comfortable with (for example).


    Moreover, the people who tend to volunteer to run these things (in my experience) usually border on the Evangelical-leaning side of thinking about things. (And, mind you, most people who hold Evangelical or Fundamentalist Protestant view points have no idea that their theology is but one particular way of looking at things.) So you end up with off-the-page explanations about accepting Jesus Christ as your Personal Lord and Savior, or not-from-the-book arts and crafts projects where dinosaurs cavort with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden.
  • fp
    Posts: 63
    I have the same exprience as Adam. VBS is considered a time for "fun and crafts" under the disguise of some Bible story.....or free child care while schools are out!
    There is a huge potential for evangelization though, because lots of children who attend VBS don't often come to Mass or to Religious Ed classes! Volunteering is a great idea...who knows how one may help change things overtime?
    FP
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,508
    My experience with VBS is similar to the above.

    On the other hand, if it's not really wrong, and if you want to help, why not? When some ecclesial task raises my heebie-jeebies, I ask myself whether it would be better or worse, with my perspective thrown into the work team. Some things are just wrong and I won't do them. But if something isn't wrong, and if I can add a soupcon of doctrinal correctness, maybe I should be involved. Fwiw.
  • Adam Schwend
    Posts: 203
    Adam W. is dead on. There won't be anything Catholic about it. Parents love it because:

    1. It's free (or very, very cheap) daycare.
    2. It seems innocuous.
    3. Kids like it.

    Despite what many folks think, they've subconsciously bought into the Protestant view of Christ as our "friend", our "personal Lord and Savior", etc. Who could really blame them? Catholic catechesis has been dismal over the past few decades, while Protestants offer a few nice-sounding ideas. With that said, it will probably be a week long, at most, and probably only half a day long or so. But, if you volunteer, and can get away with straying from curriculum a bit, you might see if you can get the kids to do 15 minutes of Adoration, or perhaps sing some songs about the Eucharist, or the saints, etc. SOMETHING Catholic. As to "do we know anything about" this specific program...they're all the same...and Adam W. lays it out pretty well.

    For the future, if you can convince the pastor and/or DRE, our parish uses a great VBS program by Catholics for Catholics....called "Cat Chat" (http://www.catchat.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2&Itemid=13). Great program and the only real Catholic VBS program I've seen.
  • MaryAnn Carr WilsonMaryAnn Carr Wilson
    Posts: 1,738
    Idea-
    Go and teach the kids 2 simple chants- one Eucharistic and one Marian. Somethng like 'Ave Maria' and 'Ave verum corpus'. You have some musical expertise to bring to the team, and parents like it when you can help kids learn their prayers.
    My kids have been to VBS. I'd have really appreciated some overtly Catholic elements of tradition, in addition to the Bible stories, etc. And the closing Mass was so 'crafted' that the second year I had a convenient excuse why my boys couldn't attend.
    If you can, I'd go so far as to volunteer for serving as musical director of the Mass... And if there isn't a Mass, volunteering to help with music somehow.
  • Charles in CenCA
    Posts: 2,416
    Concur with most above, including MA's counter intuitive strategy. (Have done that!)
    Adam S., we actually used "Marvelous Mystery (#2)" from CatChat last summer. Having directed the musical component I can't say that it's sacramental catechesis was anything more than minimal and cursory, but after all, it's VBS. One of the inconvenient truths about VBS content is that whomever (lay or clerical) is charged with choosing the "package" or creating a "theme" generally does so during the fall, or early spring when DM's or other parish musical leadership is waist deep in the big muddy of seasonal church/school demands. So, such packages like CatChat are very convenient options.
    For the three summers before last's "CatChat" I literally composed six/seven songs to complement specifically Catholic themes, "Saints" and "Seasons," and that, of course, is labor intensive just when you think you have a breather after Pentecost/end of school year. Those efforts were successful and well received, but I remember telling our vicar, "Hey, next summer, I need you to hand me whatever..."
    But I wouldn't place too much emphasis hoping for deep, orthodox content condensed into 45 minute rehearsal sessions for five days. I've found that the kids get more from "how" the content is delivered by the music leaders and teachers in terms of a firm, friendly and authentic adult witness to Christ, than any checklist of catechetical aspects.
  • ossian1898ossian1898
    Posts: 142
    There are lots of confession books, booklets, and moral theologians that discourage people from going to public beaches. I don't know what they might think of promoting a Catholic "Beach Bash" VBS. It probably wouldn't rank very high on their summer "to do list".
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    I don't think that people who disapprove of going to public beaches would be interested in VBSes anyway, with their hint of Protestant associations.
  • ossian1898ossian1898
    Posts: 142
    Good point chonak!
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,414
    I am no fan of Vacation Bible Schools. I attended two or three in my childhood and found them... patronising. This in spite of having enjoyed studying about the great men and women of the Bible (the only part I liked).

    But, I would wish to take issue with AW's above intimation that there is something exclusively Protestant and particularly un-Catholic about having a personal relationship with Jesus, or with having it as the ultimate reality of one's life. I must say that such a relationship is at the heart of Catholicism, perhaps THE defining, substantive, reality of each and of all of us.

    And, here are the words of our Holy Father Benedict to set our minds at ease (as if we couldn't find ample warrant in Holy Writ and the lives of the saints). The Holy Father is addressing the World Youth Day in Madrid:

    'Christian faith is not only a matter of believing that certain things are true, but above all a personal relationship with Jesus Christ... When we enter into a personal relationship with him, Christ reveals our true identity, and in friendship with him our life grows toward complete fulfillment. If I listen to Christ and walk with him, I become truly myself.'

    Enough said! If the only place one hears this is at a vacation Bible School, one has heard more of the substance of Catholicism than at any other place.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,477
    I agree with MJO (and B16) about the centrality of a personal relationship with Jesus to Catholic faith.
    In fact, I didn't even use that phrase.

    What I was referring to was the particular way that Protestants think about "Jesus as my Personal Lord and Savior."
    On it's face, there is nothing objectionable about those words or that idea.
    The problem (I think) is the theological baggage that a particular brand of American(?) Protestantism has attached to that phrase and that idea.
    The VBS vibe tends to carry with it a lot of that baggage, even when the usual carrier of that baggage has been judiciously excised for the "Catholic Edition."
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    Sometimes when I talk with certain friends about the Mass, I get the impression they'd like every component of it to strive to promote personal conversions on the spot, and I wonder if even that good purpose isn't in some sense an instrumentalizing of the Mass: a shift of the focus away from worshiping God for His goodness, and a shift toward manipulating people's emotions. Maybe I'm thinking of it in terms of certain stereotypes about Protestant evangelism.
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,414
    Sorry, AW, if I misrepresented you. Someone used that phrase above. And, you are right about the 'baggage'.

    Chonak is also right about the emotional element. Large numbers of Protestants/Evangelicals put an unrealistic and heterodox emphasis on an emotional experience. This is especially true of those denominations whose worship services hinge on the effectiveness of the preacher.
  • Jeffrey Quick
    Posts: 2,086
    "worship services hinge on the effectiveness of the preacher."
    Without denying anything you wrote, (esp. about the emotional trip) or that the Mass is the Mass regardless of the priest... could we have a little of that too? Catholic preaching is frequently pretty lame and low-content.
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