Twenty-five years ago, a parish in central Ohio began a small summer camp for middle schoolers. Their mission was to help kids fall in love with their Catholic faith.
Dan DeMatte, co-founder and executive director of that camp, described how it all began:
We were tired of looking at a Catholic Church that was dull and boring, a faith where young people wanted to go to the Protestant church down the street as opposed to being involved in their Catholic youth group. Young people deserve a faith that’s alive and attractive. They deserve to know the truth and have it presented with beauty and enthusiasm.
That early effort is flourishing as Damascus Catholic Youth Summer Camp, a massively popular national missionary movement.
Damascus now serves nearly 7,000 campers each summer at locations in Centerburg, Ohio, and Brighton, Michigan, and is in the process of opening a third campus near Emmitsburg, Maryland.
Their mission has always remained the same. Damascus is there to awaken, empower, and equip a generation to live the adventure of the Catholic faith through world-class programs and an environment of encounter.
You can still sign up your kids this summer, as camp runs from June 8 to August 8. And besides the flagship summer camp program, Damascus also offers a winter camp, confirmation retreats, and parish and school retreats.
Adults can experience Damascus too, thanks to men’s and women’s retreats, a young adult conference, and an annual worship conference.
“The Damascus difference”
The success of what’s internally called “the Damascus difference” has resulted in waitlists for the last nine years. Each year, thousands of campers and counselors leave camp equipped to lead with a missionary spirit in their own parishes and communities.
Damascus brings together all the fun of a typical adventure-filled summer camp with a total focus on Christ. DeMatte said:
We have a lake, high ropes course, zipline, and almost 500 acres of land at our flagship location in Centerburg alone. It is a teenager’s dream playground!
The focus of the camp is to help kids encounter the person of Jesus, but I really believe the environment of fun and adventure allows the Holy Spirit to enter in and leave these kids radically transformed.
We often hear kids say they came for the paintball or climbing wall, but they left with their favorite experience being Adoration.
DeMatte shared some of what makes that “Damascus difference”:
When young people come to Damascus they discover one simple truth: God is Real. The Damascus experience is about taking a faith that is rooted in tradition and intellectual contemplation, and having that faith become alive, conscious, and active through a real encounter with the living God.
At Damascus summer camps, we introduce the young Church to this real encounter through active participation in Eucharistic adoration, proper facilitation of how to hear God while entering into prayer, joyful participation in the Christian community, and witnessing the tangible presence of the Holy Spirit in people's lives.
Parents love Damascus
One Damascus parent, Brigitte Kirchgatter, shared with Aleteia her experience with her kids’ first year attending Damascus:
We parents have a ton of options for summer camps, but sending the kids to Damascus is an especially beautiful experience for the whole family. My kids are getting the best of an adventure camp while getting their Catholic faith reinforced by their peers and really inspiring young adult leaders.
Meeting the leaders is transformative as a parent, because they live the way we want to see our children living when they reach that age. My kids came back more like the leaders of faith that they were with at Damascus, and that's what I want as their mother.
At a time when too many young people leave the Church within 10 years of their Confirmation, Damascus makes a real difference. It feels like an oasis for Catholic families, a place where young Catholics’ faith is set on course for a lifetime of commitment and devotion.
