In God’s Camp : Abbey Mixes Prayer and Play for Boys’ Stay

Most of the year, St. Michael’s Abbey is a serene place, where priests and seminarians spend much of their day in prayer and contemplation, the tranquillity interrupted only by the occasional thunder of El Toro jets overhead.

But come summer, the hills surrounding the Catholic abbey echo with a different thunder.

Beginning the third week in July, dozens of boys descend upon the hillside monastery, toting loaded duffel bags and suitcases for a weeklong stay at the abbey.

For six weeks, St. Michael’s runs a revolving summer camp for boys 6 to 13 years old. From Sunday to Saturday, the sneaker- and jeans-clad boys will sleep, eat, pray and play among the white-robed clerics, with each group adapting their normal routines and behavior to accommodate the other.

“The priests are pretty cool,” said Chris Cauas, an 11-year-old from Norwalk who attended the camp last week. “But you have to watch your language and try hard not to fool around during Mass.”

Brion Baer, 8, of Tustin, has heard his friends talk about playing practical jokes on counselors at other summer camps, but he had no plans to slip a rubber snake in his counselor’s bunk.

“Do that to a priest?” Baer asked in horror. “I don’t think so. I’d probably have to go to confession or something if I did.”

The priests and seminarians also have made some concessions to the presence of 75 to 100 boys in their midst. Instead of rising at 6 a.m. to attend Mass each day, the boys are allowed to sleep in--until 6:30 a.m.

Vespers, an hourlong Latin prayer service held each afternoon at the abbey, is replaced with the simpler and shorter rosary.

Father Peter Muller, who has spent several summers as a counselor at the camp, said he misses the quiet life the abbey offers the rest of the year. But, he said, “we are called to both the contemplative and the active life. During the summer the active part definitely kicks in.”

Despite the adjustments the clerics must make, Father Anthony Kopp said summer is his favorite time of year.

“These kids are good kids; they appreciate what we do for them,” said Kopp, assistant camp director. “It gives us a chance to be more active than we are during the rest of the year.”

The abbey, run by priests from the Norbertine Order, is home to about 20 priests and 30 seminarians studying to be priests. The summer camp gives seminarians an opportunity to work with youths, and the youths a glimpse of the lives of priests.

Though most of the campers are Catholic, some are unsure exactly what it is priests do when they aren’t at Mass.

“I think they take vacations when we aren’t here,” said 7-year-old Benjamin McCabe of Anaheim. “It looks like an easy job.”

But Joey Muckenthaler, 7, of Placentia, said the priests have to be “holy all the time.”

“I guess they have to pray a lot,” Muckenthaler said. “They are always praying all day long.”

Many of the activities at St. Michael’s are similar to other summer camps. The boys play sports, take hikes, swim and hear stories around the campfire.

But one significant difference between St. Michael’s and other camps occurs at meals.

At all three meals, the boys are expected to eat in silence. Using hand motions to communicate, campers listen to 20 minutes of classical music while eating. Offenders are given one warning, then asked to leave the table if they talk again.

The clerics at the abbey eat their midday meal in silence for religious reasons, but Kopp has a more pragmatic purpose for requiring the boys to keep the peace.

“It’s for our own psychological well-being,” Kopp said. “It helps keep us sane. It also has a calming effect on the boys.”

Camper Brian Frees, 9, of Newport Beach, said having priests and seminarians as counselors was a little hard to get used to the first time he attended the camp two years ago.

“Then you see they are just regular, real people,” Frees said. “They are stricter about, you know, holy things like praying and Mass, but they’re regular people.”

The best part about camp, Frees said, is the combination of priests and nature.

“The priests talk about praying to God a lot while we are here,” Frees said. “And at night, before you go to bed, you can see the stars. It makes you feel like God’s really listening.”