Camping
- Department of Camping Chairman – Fr. Anthony G. Yazge
- Department Vice-Chairman – Khalil Samara
The following listing is of all the current camping programs in the Antiochian Archdiocese. For more information, please follow the link to the individual camp's web site or contact the individual camp for more specific information.
- Location: near Ligonier, Pennsylvania
- Dates:
- Winter Camp: February 15-18, 2013
- Service Weekend: May 17-19, 2013
- Family Camp: May 24-27, 2013
- Summer Camp Session 1 (2 wks): June 16-28, 2013
- Summer Camp Session 1 (1 wk): June 16-June 23, 2013
- Chanting Camp Session 1: June 16-June 28, 2013
- Chanting Camp Session 2 (2 wks): June 30-July 12, 2013
- Summer Camp Session 2 (2 wks): June 30-July 12, 2013
- Summer Camp Session 3 (2 wks): July 14-26, 2013
- Iconography Camp: July 14-26, 2013
- Summer Camp Session 4 (2 wks): July 28-August 9, 2013
- Special Olympics Camp: August 9-17, 2013
- Family Camp Homeschool Edition: August 23-26, 2013
- Camp Director: Fr. Anthony Yazge
- Assistant Director: Marek Simon
- Program Director: Dn. David Jacobs
- Education Director: Tatiana Jacobs
- E-mail the Camp Office
- Website: http://www.antiochianvillage.org/camp
- Location: Camp Wapsi in Coggon, Iowa (just north of Cedar Rapids, Iowa)
- Dates: August 11-17, 2013
- Camp Director: Fr. Patrick Kinder
- Website: http://www.campstgeorge.org
- Location: Frazier Park, California
- Dates:
- Winter Camp: January 18-21, 2013
- Summer Camp Session 1: July 14-20, 2013
- Summer Camp Session 2 (Teen Week): July 21-27, 2013
- Summer Camp Session 3: July 28-August 3, 2013
- Camp Director: Katrina Bitar
- Assistant Director/Registration Questions: John Mahfouz
- Website: http://www.campstnicholas.com/
- Location: YMCA Camp Takatoka near Tulsa, Oklahoma
- Dates:
- Winter Camp: February 15-18, 2013
- Summer Camp Session One: June 23-June 29, 2013
- Summer Camp Session Two: June 30-July 6, 2013
- Camp Director: Fr. James Shadid
- Executive Director: Gayle Malone
- Website: http://www.campstraphael.org/
- Location: Asbury Hills in Cleveland, SC (near Greenville, SC)
- Dates:
- Summer Camp Session 1: June 23-29, 2013
- Summer Camp Session 2: June 30-July 6, 2013
- Camp Director: Fr. Philip Rogers
- Website: http://www.campstthekla.org
- Location: Camp Kennebec in Arden, Ontario, Canada
- Dates:
- Summer Camp Session 1: TBA
- Summer Camp Session 2: TBA
- Camp Director: Alex Younes
- Website: http://www.camptransfiguration.org
- Location: near Eagle River, Alaska
- Dates: TBA
- Camp Director: Kevin Dougherty
- Website: http://www.stjohnalaska.org/summercamp.html
- Location: Ross Point Camp in Post Falls, Idaho
- Dates: TBA
- Camp Directors: Barbara Schaeffer
- Website: http://www.campstmary.org/
Priests and Parents: Camp Scholarships Are Available!
V. Rev. Anthony G. Yazge, Camp Director at Antiochian Village Camp & Conference Center, writes:
Attention Pastors!
The 2013 Order of St. Ignatius Scholarship letters and forms have been mailed to each parish to the attention of the pastor. These forms must be completed and signed by the pastor and submitted to the office of the Department of Camping by March 1st. We ask that you assign the $700 of scholarship funding on a need basis to the campers of your parish. The scholarship may be used at any of the Antiochian Archdiocesan camps but may not exceed the amount of the camp tuition. Any unused funds as of March 1st will be available for the various camp directors to use for need-base scholarship.
Attention Camper Families!
Each parish of the Antiochian Archdiocese has been granted $700 in camp scholarship funds by the Order of St. Ignatius. These funds are for need-base scholarships. If you are in need of a scholarship, please speak to your parish priest to inquire about the scholarship. In addition to these funds, each camp has a limited amount of additional scholarship funding. You may request an Additional Scholarship Request Form from the appropriate camp director or download one from the camp website. These scholarships are based on need and typically are assigned on a first-come first-serve basis as long as funds remain. For more information, please contact the appropriate camp director through the information available on the Department of Camping website.
DOWAMA Winter Camp + February 15-18, 2013
Winter Camp 2013 for the Diocese of Wichita will be held at Camp St. Raphael in Wagoner, Oklahoma from February 15-18. Registration form and $100 registration (Chaperones/Advisors $80.00) payment are due by Tuesday, February 5th, 2013, and should be sent to:
St. George Cathedral – Attn: Grace Saad
7515 E. 13th St. N.
Wichita, KS 67206
Click here to download a registration form (Word format). Please contact Erin Ghata (405) 410-9456 or Grace Saad (316) 619-8531 if you have any questions.
Orthodox Christian Camp and Youth Worker Conference is January 24-26
Shine Forth
Helping Our Orthodox Youth Follow and Represent Christ
Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church + Austin, TX
Janury 24-26, 2013
Download Flyer (PDF)
The 11 Annual Orthodox Christian Camp & Youth Worker Conference provides an arena for Orthodox youth workers from different jurisdictions to share and provide resources. The conference will include keynote and guest speakers, educational presentations, break out sessions and fellowship. All Orthodox parish and diocese youth workers, camp directors and staff, and OCF chaplains are invited to attend.
Father Apostolos Hill, the keynote speaker, has served in the Orthodox Church for the last twenty years as cantor, youth director, catechist, deacon, and priest. Currently, Fr. Hill serves as Proestamenos of St. George Greek Orthodox Church of Prescott, AZ. He has been actively involved in youth ministry serving the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese, the camping ministry in Denver's Greek Metropolis, Ionian Village, with OCF Real Break Ministry leading trips to Greece and Guatemala, and with youth street ministry.
Works of the Order in Action: Learning Christian Living through the Orthodox Camping Experience
Over the next few months, young people will be registering for one of the eight summer camps in our Archdiocese. If you know any of these young people who have been to camp before, you know that they have started their countdowns to the first day of camp. They spend hours on Skype and Facebook talking to their camp friends throughout the Archdiocese, and they go into a post-camp depression when they return home from camp.
So what is it about the camp experience that makes our young people love it so much? Certainly, there are many things that contribute to it: the friends, the activities, the counselors and staff, and being in the outdoors, to name a few. The thing that makes camp so special, however, is the camp environment, which presents a living experience of the Orthodox faith. In 1978, the Archdiocese purchased the Antiochian Village, and His Eminence Metropolitan Philip appointed the Archmandrite Fr. John Namie (+ 2001) of blessed memory as the first Camp Director. Thanks to the vision and leadership of these two great men, this mission of presenting a living experience of the Orthodox faith in the camp setting has become the standard at all of our camp programs in the Antiochian Archdiocese.
When asked by Constantine Nasr in 1998 why campers come to camp, Fr. John Namie responded,
[Christian living–] that’s why people come here: to learn Christian living by doing it. It’s the best way to learn. The best way to learn is by doing things. When you come to the Village, you get to do everything in a Christian fashion. You get to love each other, and that means that you get to share with each other your life.… We get to pray, both privately and in church. We learn church hymns, we have a good time at our meals, and we play a lot and play hard. It’s great to be at camp. It’s one of the greatest experiences that a young person can have.
