St. Carlo Acutis Camping Retreat builds faith in the great outdoors 

Gabriel Kubik, 10, is looking forward to all the activities at this year’s St. Carlo Acutis Camping Retreat in April. He admits, however, that it is going to be hard to top a moment with then-Auxiliary Bishop Bruce Lewandowski, C.Ss.R., now Bishop of Providence, R.I., at last year’s camp. 

“He let me wear his miter. It was amazing,” Gabriel said. “It was light. It was big. I loved it.” 

Youths ages 5 to 17 who are involved with outdoor troops such as Scouting America, Trail Life, American Heritage Girls, Camp Fire, Troops of St. George and the Federation of North American Explorers are invited, along with their families, to the retreat April 17-19, which will be held for the first time at the O’Dwyer Retreat Center in Sparks. 

“O’Dwyer Retreat house is a good option because it’s our Catholic diocese,” said Father James Bors, chaplain of the Catholic Committee of Scouting and Archbishop William E. Lori’s priest-secretary. “The food is provided, so they’re not cooking over the fire, but pretty much all the time is spent outdoors.” 

Participants can either camp in tents for two nights or join for just the day. The jam-packed schedule includes all-night adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, a eucharistic procession, times for confession and Mass, as well as activities and crafts designed to grow the participants’ Catholic faith, according to Father Bors. 

“A critique last year was there was too much activity. The younger ones headed to camp and rested,” said Mark Gallagher, a retreat leader. “There is free time.” 

Religious leaders, including religious sisters and seminarians, many of whom are Eagle Scouts, will lead many of the events. 

“We want to see good, healthy Catholic activities where the kids come back and they say, ‘I want to know Jesus more,’ ” Father Bors said. “That’s what’s really exciting about this.” 

After a hiatus of 10 years, the youth retreat was brought back in 2024 under the guidance of Father Bors and the encouragement of the Scouting committee. 

“The first year, we kind of put it together quickly. My approach was let’s just get something. Let’s just get it started to get our feet back on the ground,” Father Bors said of the first retreat held in Walkersville. “Last year, it was an incredible experience.” 

More than 200 participants – triple the first year – attended the second retreat held at a Boy Scout camp in Harford County in 2025. Both Father Bors and Gallagher are expecting even more participants this year. 

“We’re hoping for 400,” Gallagher said. “We are open to the surrounding area. The vast majority are from the Archdiocese of Baltimore, but we have Washington D.C., Northern Virginia. We have a Trail Life Troop from Ohio.” 

The camp was named for Blessed Carlo Acutis the first year it returned. Now a saint, he is “a great model of a young man,” Father Bors said. A traveling exhibit from Pennsylvania about the young saint’s life will be set up in the O’Dwyer Retreat Center. 

“Our kids need to be presented with true life and real happiness, which is found only, and most fully, in Jesus and his church,” Father Bors said. “One of things I want to say, very clearly, is Scouting is a youth ministry.” 

When pastors and parish staff recognize that, Father Bors said, new opportunities emerge to engage Scouting organizations more fully, integrate them into parish life and promote Catholic emblems – badges Scouts earn by learning about their faith and the saints.  

“They learn what it means to serve and what the Mass is all about,” Father Bors said. “It takes effort to earn these and so we promote that as well.” 

The retreat, Gallagher said, unites youths from all over, showing they are not alone. 

“Youths today are really hurting. Suicide is up, depression,” Gallagher said. “The solution is Jesus Christ through the Catholic Church. They can experience God.”  

 
Visit tinyurl.com/acutis-camp to register for the St. Carlo Acutis Camping Retreat in April.  

Email Katie V. Jones at kjones@CatholicReview.org

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