News
From The West
By Mr. Adam
Fetsch Junior
The fireball from
the flare gun streaked through the night sky missing its intended mark.
But then without warning a huge column of fire explodes, shooting up
through the trees, lighting up the darkness. Had the flare accidentally
started a huge forest fire, threatening to destroy everything in its
path? … Not to worry. It was just one more trick up the sleeve
of Father Joe Clown (alias Joseph Green) who was in league with the
infamous Bobay Boys to entertain the young campers of the Altar Scout
Camp in Dryden, Ontario during the summer of 2004.
Boys from the
traditional Catholic parishes of Dryden, Winnipeg, Welwyn and Prince
Albert gathered for the third annual camp. There were 14 boys attending,
with ages ranging from 7 to 14 years. Many thanks to Father Gerard Rusak,
the ‘heart and brains’ of the camp, for all his work and
vision in making the camp the huge successes it was. The theme of this
year’s camp was ‘Our Lord and His Apostles’.
Between
sky and earth
The boys were divided into the teams of St. Paul and St. John. Each
team had to choose a slogan or ‘team cry’ taken from the
writings of their respective saint. ‘Gaudete in Domino
Semper’ – ‘Rejoice in the Lord always’
was the cry of Team Saint Paul, while Saint John chose ‘Deus
Caritas est’ – ‘God is Love’.
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How
many push-ups?
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Reveille bells
were rung each morning at 6:30 am to begin a day filled with activities
for both body and soul. Uniforms complete with neckerchiefs, woggles,
hats and badges were worn for the more formal events and then replaced
with play clothes for the many games and activities. Schedules were
closely followed ensuring the time was used well and filled with quality
learning. Time was set aside for each altar boy, for Father and second
year seminarian Mr. Matthew Barr, to help them with their Latin responses
at the Mass, and to better learn the rubrics of the Holy Sacrifice.
In the spirit of a retreat, silence was kept during meals while lessons
from the life and death of Our Lord were read. It was important to put
what was learned into practice right from the start so all the boys
as-sisted in the clean up of camp, from doing the dishes to sweeping
tents, to washing the latrine.
Many hours of
enjoyable games were played including a wonderful new game invented
by some of the boys called roccerball, which incorporates aspects of
a few other games into one. And of course what would camp be without
capture the flag in the for-ests of Southern Ontario? Global Positioning
technology helped the orienteering challenge. Beautiful water falls
were the target at the end of the compass while on the way a nice bonus….a
huge bull moose rack was discovered as well and now adorns the teepee
at headquarters. Hunting for minerals at the end of the canoe trek for
the cubs turned out to be a real Bonanza for many as the immediate area
is home to nearly 20 abandoned gold mines!
The camp would
not have gone well without the help of many people. Special thanks to
the cooks, Mrs. Rita Bobay and Mrs. Christine Bobay, and to our ‘Guardian
Angels’: Joseph Green, Lucas Bobay, Mr. Adam Fetsch
and Mr. James Paraschuk, and the men who helped at the camp, Mr. Mike,
Andy, and Steve Bobay, and Mr. Tom Ryan. Let us not forget Mr. Matthew
Barr and Father Rusak and all others who helped out in any direct or
indirect way.
Though the gold
is great, the real treasure of the camp is the Catholic faith, which
is always foremost as the goal which is sought. It is truly a priceless
gift; a grace that we must never take for granted.
Everybody survived and smiles
