CYO and Fatima to offer two day camps
at retreat center in July

By Mary Ann Wyand

There’s still time to register for two new Catholic Youth Organization day camps scheduled in July at Our Lady of Fatima Retreat House, located at 5353 E. 56th St. in Indianapolis.

Grasshopper Camp—an outdoor recreation experience on July 5-8 for children entering kindergarten through the third-grade in the fall—and Dragonfly Camp—a July 11-15 summer camp for children entering the first- through the fourth-grades this year—will offer a variety of daytime educational and recreational opportunities for young children that are similar to overnight camping experiences at CYO Camp Rancho Framasa in Brown County.

The Grasshopper Camp runs from 8 a.m. until noon on July 5-7 and from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. on July 8. It closes with a cookout. The camp fee is $70 per camper.

The Dragonfly Camp lasts from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. on July 11-14 and from 2 p.m. until 9 p.m. on July 15. It closes with a bus trip to CYO Camp Rancho Framasa for camp activities, dinner and a campfire on the final day. The camp fee is $150 per camper.

The new day camps are a cooperative effort between the archdiocesan Catholic Youth Organization, which has offered summer camps near Nashville since 1946, and the archdiocesan retreat center that are intended to introduce young children to CYO summer camping programs without having to live away from home for a week.

Rick Wagner, director of Our Lady of Fatima Retreat House, said the retreat center grounds cover 13 wooded acres and provide an excellent location for children to experience the fun of learning about nature from CYO-trained camp counselors.

“It’s as good an opportunity [for summer camp] as there would be in the Indianapolis area,” Wagner said. “Even though we are only a couple of miles from the interstate, … there’s a lot of wooded areas with trails, creeks and ravines—all the types of things that kids like to walk through and explore—so there’s a tremendous opportunity here.”

Wagner and Kevin Sullivan, camp director of the archdiocese’s CYO Camp Rancho Framasa near Nashville, worked together to plan the first-time summer camp programs at the retreat center.

“We had spoken about the possibility of joining forces to be able to offer something here in Indianapolis as a spring-board to what they do down at Camp Franco Framasa,” Wagner said. “They have wanted to find some sort of a satellite spot here in Indianapolis, where they might be able to offer a day camp that would prepare young people to possibly come down to CYO Camp on a regular week basis for the overnights in the future—kind of a stepping-stone for what they try to offer down there.”

Wagner, who formerly worked as the athletic director for Bishop Chatard High School in Indianapolis, has had previous experience with summer sports camps.

“Day camp formats give the kids an opportunity to have a positive experience and get a taste of what going away to a full-time camp would be like,” he said. “I think it also helps the parents to get a feel for what their child might be ready for” before registering them for overnight summer camping programs.

Sullivan said the Catholic Youth Organization has wanted to offer a summer day camp in Indianapolis for several years, but didn’t have a suitable location until Wagner called him and suggested that the archdiocesan agencies collaborate on outdoor recreation programs for children.

“Many years ago, we had looked at the possibility of offering a day camp here in Brown County,” Sullivan said. “We did a needs assessment and decided not to go forward with it because there are several day camps down here—the YMCA and Brown County Parks and Recreation—so we started putting our attention toward [beginning a summer day camp in] Indianapolis a number of years ago.

“Our biggest challenge was to try to find a place to host it,” Sullivan said. “It went off the radar for a long time then Rick Wagner called us and said ‘I’ve got this idea.’ He had apparently done something like that at Chatard with some sports camps when he was over there as the athletic director, and he saw a need for this.”

Sullivan said Rick and Carol Wagner’s daughter, Laura, has worked as a junior staffer at CYO Camp Rancho Framasa and often “raves about” her camp experiences.

“He approached us and said he would love to have something for younger kids because he saw a need for that when he was doing high school and junior high sports camps,” Sullivan said. “He noticed that younger children in the families wanted to stay and do something like this. He wants to see a great collaboration with CYO Camp because we have a lot of technical skills and counselor training to offer to this program.

“We’ve got the experts on the camping and counselor parts,” Sullivan said, “and he knows that he’s got the facility and a great location. That’s just a great side of town, I believe, for a day camp for anybody, but then you put the CYO logo on it, include the CYO camp songs, games and crafts, and add the counselors trained through CYO’s philosophies. It’s going to be a great draw, we think, for a lot of people.”

Sullivan said he hopes the day camps in Indianapolis will serve as an invitation for younger children to come to Brown County for the Sassafras Camp next year for three days or for a five-day or six-day camp experience in a year or two.

The CYO Day Camps at Our Lady of Fatima Retreat House will offer inclusive programming like that offered at CYO Camp Rancho Framasa for 10 years, he said, to serve children of all skill levels.

(For more information or to register for the CYO Day Camps, call Camp Rancho Framasa at 888-988-2839, ext. 22.) †