Vacation Bible Schools help teach faith

By JULIE KEANE, Globe staff reporter
July 22, 2004

Kids in the Sioux City Diocese are having fun while learning about their faith this summer through their parish Vacation Bible Schools.

Many parishes are hosting Vacation Bible Schools for the youth this summer including Sacred Heart in Manilla, St. Mary in Rock Valley, Holy Spirit in Carroll, St. Joseph in Jefferson and St. Columbkille in Churdan, St. Joseph in Sioux Rapids, St. John in Ogden, St. Rose of Lima in Denison, St. Louis in Royal, St. Mary in Danbury, St. Joseph in Anthon, St. Malachy's in Madrid and many others.

"The kids love it," said Marie Washburn, DRE at St. Michael's in Kingsley. "They are so excited to come experience Jesus in such a fun and cool way. They love the crafts, games, music and decorated rooms. We really go out of our way to decorate our rooms and hallway to the max. The kids get in the spirit of things when we go way out."

During the St. Michael's Vacation Bible School, all the older teenagers and teachers dressed in Bible time costumes. Washburn said it takes many hours to prepare for Vacation Bible School, but it well worth the time and preparation.

"This is the first taste of Jesus for some youth," Washburn said. "They are excited to come to classes in the fall."

The children traveled through different sites, which represented spots where St. Paul had been to learn about Jesus. Those five sites were Damascus, Island of Malta, Lystra, Athens and Philipi.

At each site the children played games outdoors. During the week, the children also made crafts and sang at a local nursing home and during Sunday morning Mass.

"The coolest craft was the flag T-shirt that each student, aide and teacher made," said Washburn. "The T-shirts had flags and 'One Nation Under God' stamped on it. On Saturday we went to the nursing home to sing our Vacation Bible School songs to the residents. On Sunday we had a children's Mass where the students lectored and sang. This is the most compliments I have received after a youth Mass for young kids. I think the adults loved the T-shirts and the message in their music, especially the last song."

Students who attended the Sts. Peter and Paul, West Bend and St. Mary's, Mallard Vacation Bible School also participated in crafts and games to learn about Jesus. The Vacation Bible School was hosted for the second summer during the week of July 12. Jan Crowe, DRE, said the week went well and the children had a good time working together learning about Jesus.

"They do crafts and games, they learn Bible stories and verses based on the readings for the day," Crowe said. "All of our Bible stories this year are from St. Paul and the Acts of the Apostles."

The Bible school went from 6 to 9 p.m. each night for pre-school students through fifth graders. Each night one group would skip game time to help prepare the snack for all of the kids.

"I think that it is great in this community because it is one of the times that the religious education kids and the kids from the Catholic school get together," Crowe said. "In the small groups they travel through the stations with, each group had a member of a different age level. Each little group has a member of different age levels. It is an opportunity for the older kids to be helpful and for the younger kids to gain some friendships with kids older than them."

Lava Lava Island - Where God's Love Flows was the theme for the Storm Lake St. Mary's Vacation Bible School this year. There were two sections offered, one for preschoolers ages 3 through 5 and a section for kindergartners through fourth graders.

The students were put into crews with a fourth grader (or older) in charge and then a kindergartner, first grader, second grader and third grader in the crew. The crews rotated through games, music bay, tropical treats, crafts, Chadder's Bible adventures and Bible exploration in which the leaders act out and then lead a discussion on the Bible story for the day.

All of the activities were based on the Bible point of the day. The kids participated in games, songs, treats and crafts to learn the Bible point of the day.

"I think it's really an important church experience for the kids," Brown said. "With everything that the kids do - from games to treats to songs to crafts to the bible discussions - being related to a key concept like God loves you, God is our strength, God gives us courage, hopefully the kids are getting the idea that God is not just in church but in everything we do and everything we do can lead us to God and his awesome love for us."

Lava Lava Island was also the theme for the Vacation Bible School hosted for children at St. Andrew's in Sibley. The school was decorated in the island theme with one site, Chadder's Island Adventure, decorated as a cave entrance. Children went from site to site learning about the Bible point of the day through crafts, games, ceramics, food and song.

"Vacation Bible School is the most exciting part of our religious education for kids pre-school through sixth grade," said Corinne Kruse, DRE. "We have our older students be group leaders. The program is so wonderful that every year I have a waiting list for people who want to volunteer to help. The kids are asking what next year's theme is before the week is over."

The kids got a Lava Lava Island T-shirt, lei and a bendable character each day to take home to help them remember the Bible point of the day. The kids all wore their T-shirts to the closing program and recited all the Bible points and sang the songs they learned.

"Organizing the week of activities is a tremendous amount of work but is so worth it when you see how excited the children are to learn about God," Kruse said. "We leave our decorations up for the religion school year to help remind the children all that they learned during the Vacation Bible School week. During the school year it's so cool when our children come from school to religion class on Wednesdays wearing their Vacation Bible School shirts."