Thanks to everyone for taking the camp survey! Based on the results, the ExCo team has decided that...
CACCLC 2020 is going virtual! The other Living Camps in Canada are also going virtual, and we decided that this would be the best solution for everyone's health and safety with all the variables that are out of our control.
We'll shorten it to 2.5 days with multiple short sessions (of course, with breaks and fun things to minimize Zoom fatigue). We're working hard to rethink what a virtual camp experience should be like from the ground up. Got suggestions or want to help? Message me or email exco@cacclc.org.
CACCLC 2019 Recap
Thanks for joining us at CACCLC 2019! This year, we had 87 campers and 3 religious (priests and seminarians); 28% of our campers were attending CACCLC for the first time.
For those who missed it or those who want to relive the memories, here are a few highlights in pictures:
Morning stretches!
Mass with Fr. Timothy
This year, we had the first ever CACCLC Networking event, where campers could connect to local young adult groups and bible studies, and connect based on other interests like volunteering and dragon boat. It was a great success, with many campers meeting new friends and group members!
Fr. Timothy gave insightful talks on our 2019 theme “Living Hope”: "Hope Includes Your Past", “Hope Includes Your Present”, and “Hope Includes Your Future”.
Our Large Group Activity this year was a relay race including Steal The Bacon, Rubber Duck Lasso, Know Your ExCo, Bible Trivia Poster, and a Pillow Sack Relay. Winning teams were awarded extra water balloons and water guns for an epic water balloon fight!
During the following free time, campers played basketball and spikeball, took a hike to check out the trail, swam in the pool, and took a nap to recharge.
Campers enjoyed many delicious meals, thanks to the kitchen staff!
For our workshops this year, we had a Social Justice workshop by Lily Sin, and a Mental Health workshop by Jessica Chow. Lily challenged campers to do an “Act of Hope” after camp, and Jessica taught us about the scientific side of anxiety and depression, and how to support our friends struggling with mental health.
Fr. Timothy answered campers’ anonymous questions during “Office Hours with Fr. Tim”.
At night, campers played board games, sang and jammed to music, and wrote affirmation notes to each other.
Fr. Timothy brought water from Lourdes (a pilgrimage site in France known for Marian apparitions and miraculous healings) in spray bottles and said a healing prayer for all the campers. What a blessed way to end camp!
Special thanks to our photographer Genesia for the beautiful photos featured in this post. Check out more photos of CACCLC 2019 here and here.
As the 2019 ExCo team, we want to thank all of YOU campers for coming to camp this year. We hope that you all had a fruitful experience and hope to see you next year — save the date for Labor Day 2020 (Sep 4–7)!
We keep in touch via our Facebook group so be sure to join the group for all the latest announcements! Now let’s be Living Hope in the world!
Share your testimony!
Every year at CACCLC, we end with an opportunity for campers to share their testimonies — how their experience at camp was, something they learned over the weekend, how they saw God moving, etc. It’s always incredibly encouraging and touching to hear from first-timers and old-timers alike. Whether you had a chance to share your testimony at the mic this year or not, we would love to hear about your experience at CACCLC! Your stories help people who are new to CACCLC gain a better sense of what camp is like and what campers are like, and feel more confident about giving it a chance. Thanks for being one of the awesome #HumansofCACCLC!
CACCLC 2019 Music
Excited for camp? By now, you should have received a Welcome Packet and your carpool arrangements (if requested) in your email, and heard from your small group leader. If you haven’t yet, or if you have any questions, email cacclc2019@cacclc.org.
Here’s the music for this weekend — you can familiarize yourself with the songs before camp, or listen to these playlists on the way to camp!
Praise & Worship
As widely attributed to St. Augustine, “he who sings prays twice”! Praise & worship music is often based on Scripture and is meant to be a form of prayer—so pay attention to the lyrics and sing with your heart. Listen to the setlist on Spotify, and check out "The Do's and Don't's of Praise and Worship" for some tips on how to approach P&W (fun gifs included)!
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16)
Taize
We'll also be singing Taizé music on Sunday night...but what is Taizé?
The Taizé (pronounced like tay-zay) community is an ecumenical monastic order in Taizé, France, made up of 100+ brothers from Catholic and Protestant traditions. The songs are short phrases (usually lines from/inspired by Scripture) that we repeat over and over for contemplation/meditation.
Some songs are in Latin, so check out this helpful Latin pronunciation guide. It’s very similar to English, but here are some tips to note:
ae = eh (for example, prae => preh)
ti (when followed by a vowel) = tsee (for example, benedictio => ben-eh-dic-tsee-oh)
ui = ooh-ee
qu = (say it like it's English like "quote", not like Spanish like "quesadilla")
Taizé tends to be a favorite part of CACCLC for many — we hope you enjoy it!
A letter from Fr. Tim to campers
Dear Campers,
I am very excited to be your camp spiritual director and to meet each of you. I am praying for you already and know that you are in for a weekend of life-changing grace. I am certain that God loves your community, and he will reveal his love for you in your being together with others like you. I am an eight-year old priest, and one of my joys has been helping the Chinese Catholic Community at St. Clare’s in Santa Clara. Your community is full of joy and hope, despite many of the struggles you endure every day. You worship from the heart. Priesthood is sharing is Jesus’ mission of teaching, prayer, healing and self-sacrifice. Every year I continue learning, and sharing, and trying my best to show the ones I meet that they are God’s beloved, that they are cherished and that their future is full of hope. I hope and pray that our time together will bring you healing and hope. Please feel free to send me your thoughts on what you are looking forward to most about this camp, and what you hope this camp will do for you.
I am a priest with the Legionaries of Christ in Cupertino, CA. My focus since 2010 has been education of children, teachers and families at Canyon Heights Academy in Campbell. I recently completed a M.A in educational leadership at the University of Notre Dame. People tell me that I am very caring and I think this is probably true. For fun, I like big groups of people having fun. I love the outdoors, following sports, playing baseball, living in California, talking about issues, or silly things. My biggest joys have been hearing confessions, especially at camps like yours.
In Christ, Fr. Tim
Introducing Fr. Timothy Lyons, LC
ExCo 2019 is excited to announce our spiritual director for this year’s camp! Fr. Timothy Lyons, LC is a priest from the Legionaries of Christ community in Cupertino, CA. He occasionally celebrates Mass at the San Jose Chinese Catholic Mission at St. Clare’s in Santa Clara, CA, where many CACCLC campers are parishioners. If you came to CACCLC 2018, you may have heard Kristen mention Fr. Timothy during the spiritual direction panel! Fr. Timothy has a gift for preaching and teaching the Gospel. His preaching is simple, but profound, touching both the intellect and heart. He inspires us to holiness and emanates the beauty of knowing the risen Christ.
Bio: Fr. Timothy entered the seminary in 1997 and first lived in San Jose from 2002-05, serving as a part-time intern at Canyon Heights Academy. In 2005, he resumed his studies, receiving a B.A. in Theology and a Master’s degree in Philosophy from Regina Apostolorum University in Rome, Italy. He returned to the United States and worked for two years in youth ministry in Sacramento and Phoenix. Fr. Timothy was ordained a priest in Rome on Christmas Eve, 2010 by Cardinal Velasio de Paolis. He served as Canyon Heights Academy chaplain from 2011-2015, and as director of Our Lady of Santa Clara Retreat Center in Cupertino from 2015-2018. He is currently the chaplain of Canyon Heights Academy.
Introducing our 2019 theme
We are so excited to announce our 2019 theme is LIVING HOPE — 主賜希望於人間、 讓我們活出望德！
Design by Genesia Ting
We often talk about Faith and Love, but we seldom mention the third theological virtue: Hope. In the midst of each of our individual struggles, we seek out Hope for reassurance through life’s challenges. The phrase “Living Hope” has a 2-part meaning; Christ calls us to nurture our lives with Hope, becoming beacons of light so that Hope can spread and be alive within our communities.
What exactly, then, is this Christian Hope? How do we own it enough to be able to gift it to those around us?
We'll answer these questions together this coming Labor Day Weekend (8/30-9/02). Registration starts on JUNE 16TH, so mark your calendars — we hope to see you at camp!
God bless,
Lucia & Albert
Your CACCLC 2019 Co-Overalls
ExCo Recs: Catholic podcasts
Looking for some cool podcasts to listen to? Check out these podcasts recommended by this year’s ExCo!
Fr. Mike Schmitz podcast - Fr. Mike's popular Ascension Presents video series in audio form
Ascension Presents Podcasts - A collection of podcast series by Ascension Presents
Pints with Aquinas - Matt Fradd hosts this podcast series based on questions that St. Thomas addresses in his most famous work, The Summa Theologica.
The Lila Rose Show - A new podcast by pro-life activist Lila Rose, which explores questions about relationships, work, health, identity, purpose, and faith.
Learn more about Catholicism:
Catholic Stuff You Should Know | Spotify
Catholic Answers Live | Spotify
The Word on Fire | Spotify
For the guys:
The Catholic Man Show | Spotify
Those Catholic Men | Spotify
For the ladies:
The Catholic Feminist
Girlfriends (A Podcast for Catholic Women)
From America Media:
Jesuitical | Spotify
Deliver Us | Spotify
Inside the Vatican | Spotify
Prayer:
Spiritual Batteries | Apple Podcasts
SoCal + NorCal Reunions
SoCal Reunion
Our SoCal campers hosted CACCLC’s first ever Valentine's Day-themed talent show featuring our very own talented CACCLC campers. We sold home-made coffee, tea, and pastries to drink and munch on during the performance. Check out photos and videos here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/3UxvBLCfifRBK5pp8
NorCal Reunion
In NorCal, we had a lunch potluck, games, and praise and worship. We learned about building virtuous friendships through talks by Fr. Mike Schmitz and small group discussions. Check out these resources to learn on your own!
"Who Do You Spend Time With?" by Fr. Mike Schmitz
Stay tuned for more NorCal & SoCal get-togethers before camp!
ExCo Recs: Spiritual Reading
Looking for spiritual reading during Lent? Here’s a list of spiritual reading book recommendations from some of your 2019 ExCo team.
Searching For and Maintaining Peace by Fr. Jacques Philippe
“I read this book last Lent (2018) and it gave me such a great perspective on what it means to gain inner peace in our lives. It also just helped me center my everyday life on God, and it definitely was a good experience reading this to start my day every morning.” - Lucia, Co-overall
Resisting Happiness by Matthew Kelly
“We know what makes us happy, but we don’t always do what makes us happy. Resistance stands between you and happiness, but how do you start choosing happiness again? Through his short, interesting stories, Matthew Kelly helps us recognize resistance and how to conquer resistance to become the-best-version-of-yourself!” - Cecilia, Fundraising
Interior Freedom by Fr. Jacques Philippe
"This is a short book with a lot of deep insights — if you are dealing with difficult circumstances, this book focuses on the virtue of hope and and offers spiritual guidance to finding peace in a chaotic world." - Melissa, Web Designer
YouCat - Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church by Christoph Schönborn
“This is a great book for those who are trying to identify themselves as a youth Catholic in the modern society we are in right now. Question-answer format, and easy to follow. Definitely a book I would recommend if you have a lot of questions about your faith, or in Catholicism in general.” - Osanna, Promotions
Life Lessons - Fifty Things I learned in in My First Fifty Years by Patrick Madrid
“Has short stories that takes 10-15 minutes to read and I find them to help me see the bigger picture in different scenarios. “Life Lessons is a practical invitation to prayerful reflection on God’s active presence in our lives, especially when and where we least expect to find him!” - Jennifer Fulwiler” - Mark, Operations
Availability by Dr. Robert J. Wicks
“In this book, Dr. Wicks (a psychotherapist and Catholic speaker) talks about what it means to make ourselves available to ourselves, other people, and God. I love how applicable this book is to our daily interactions with anyone in our lives, and I especially appreciate the message he conveys about how to truly be present and love others according to the Christian lifestyle.” - Lucia, Co-overall
The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis
“A natural follow up to his more renowned Mere Christianity, here C.S. Lewis tackles moral ethics and the dilemma of evil and suffering - a universal and fundamental concern - with all of his customary eloquence, insight, compassion, and wit. Lewis has a wonderful gift of breaking down the complex into the comprehensible without losing much nuance, which makes this a nice primer to basic philosophy and ‘popular theology.’” - Jonathan, Small Group Leaders Lead
Becoming Human by Jean Vanier
“Jean Vanier founded L’Arche, an organization that is dedicated to the creation of homes where people with and without intellectual disabilities live and work together as peers and friends. His book is a small and powerful read that explores what it means to be human, what it means to belong, and what it means to open ourselves to others. Top off your reading experience by visiting a L’Arche home near you!” - Helen, Fundraising
Apologia Pro Vita Sua by Cardinal John Henry Newman
“God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons.” - Genesia, Designer
New to spiritual reading and don’t know where to start? Get free books from Dynamic Catholic - choose whatever sticks out to you!
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Side note: You can use Amazon Smile (smile.amazon.com) to support your favorite charitable organization every time you shop, at no cost to you. Consider supporting nonprofits by our very own CACCLC campers, like Rosemary’s nonprofit Empathy FX International and Kelly’s nonprofit See The Lord!