| By Margaret Gabriel
ABERDEEN — Parishioners from St. Francis of Assisi continued a 30-year tradition when they served an authentic Southern-fried dinner to the boys, girls, counselors and staff at Camp Glenmary recently.
The tradition started in 1975, according to Kelly Tucker. “That kitchen is so hot, we wanted to give the camp cooks a break, and it kind of snowballed from there.”
Beginning in mid-afternoon, the group from Aberdeen cooked chicken, biscuits, French fries, zucchini and okra. “We do whatever’s come in in the garden,” Tucker said. Everything is battered and fried crispy and piping hot.
Each Sunday in June, the congregation in Aberdeen receives an invitation to come to Wednesday night supper at camp to meet the counselors for the week and to visit with long-time friends Glenmary Father Tim Murphy, Aberdeen’s former pastor; and Heidi Stephens, a third-grade teacher from Daytona Beach, Fla., who just completed her 12th summer as a volunteer at Camp Glenmary.
The Glenmary Home Missioners have sponsored the camp since the mid 1970s, renting Camp Wrenwoode in Amory for the month of June. The first two weeks, known as “Friendship Camp,” are held for low-income children in Monroe, Pontotoc, Union and Clay counties. The second two weeks are set aside for Catholic youngsters from Deanery V.
Giving Catholic kids the experience of not being the minority in rural Mississippi was the original reason for the camp and remains the motivation for “Catholic Camp.”
Chris Collum first came to camp when he lived in Ripley, where his mother, Polly Duncan Collum, served as the pastoral coordinator for Glenmary’s St. Matthew Church. “I liked coming to camp because all the kids are Catholic and I didn’t feel like a weirdo,” said Chris, who served as a counselor-in-training in 2007.
Adam Troutman, a 2007 graduate of Amory High School and a member of St. Helen Parish, first came to Catholic Camp in 1998. After his years as a camper, Adam volunteered at the camp, first as a counselor in training and then as recreation director and cook.
“I came back (as a volunteer) because it seemed like the right thing to do, it was my turn,” Adam said. “And I found that I liked being in a Catholic atmosphere. There aren’t many Catholics around here, but I liked being around the volunteers that came from places like Fordham and other Catholic universities.”
In August, Adam will begin his freshman year at St. Louis University, a Jesuit school. He says that Catholic Camp influenced his decision to attend a Catholic college and it made him realize that he would like to work with kids. He has decided to major in psychology, possibly educational psychology.
Catholic Camp “gives kids the opportunity to experience their faith on a different level,” Father Murphy says. “I call it faith in a different key, the same song with a different beat.”
St. Francis member Archie Baker recalls believing even as a child that Camp Wrenwoode (the camp is called Camp Glenmary only during the month of June) was a “community place, a holy place,” he said. The camp is now part of the Wrenwoode Trust and the environment is protected from logging and extraction by the state of Mississippi. There is work to be done on the nature trails and the board of the trustees, of which Baker is a member, envisions construction of a bathhouse.
A true sense of Southern hospitality was evident as the St. Francis of Assisi parishioners cooked and talked with the volunteers from Fordham. Baker recalls telling a group a few years back, “The last time we had this many Yankees here, they were stealin’ our chickens!” but in the next sentence expressing his appreciation for the hard work put in by the volunteer counselors.
“Father Tim has done a good job getting good kids to come here as volunteers,” Baker said. “The people of St. Francis play a small part and we enjoy showing our appreciation to the people who come. We want to make them feel welcome, because it’s a special place, an inspirational place.”
(Margaret Gabriel is a staff writer for the Glenmary Challenge magazine.) |
