Faith and nature have intersected at Camp Ondessonk for more than 60 years
At the end of a trail along sandstone formations and through the woods, more than two dozen boys cooled off in the July heat in a pool of water at the base of Cedar Falls.
Making a stop at Illinois’ tallest free-flowing waterfall was quite possibly the highlight of their nearly 6-mile morning hike in the Pakentuck area of Camp Ondessonk in far southern Illinois, adjacent to Shawnee National Forest land.
“I have found my faith to be strongest through outdoor connections,” said Isaac, a recent graduate of St. Louis University High School who attends Little Flower and St. Francis Xavier (College) churches with his family. “Getting to do things like having outdoor Mass in the grotto is such a cool experience, because I feel like I’m really part of God’s creation. There’s a lot of different aspects where faith is seen throughout camp.”
The view never gets old for Isaac Basi, who has attended the Catholic camp since he was 9 years old. Now 18, he’s a camp counselor who helps with the nature crew, leading hikes and helping build large campfires for some of the bigger activities.
Connecting with God’s creation in the outdoors is what draws Isaac and his younger siblings, Elise and Miles, back to Camp Ondessonk each year.
For more than 60 years, Camp Ondessonk has offered outdoor adventures and spiritual growth opportunities for youths at the campground operated by the Diocese of Belleville. Activities including horseback riding, archery, riflery, swimming, nature exploration, handicrafts, woodcrafts and canoeing and kayaking are meant to broaden campers’ knowledge and skills, while also helping them to nurture their spiritual life, make friends and come away with an admiration for God’s creation.
“I hope that children grow in their faith when they come here,” executive director Dan King said. “I hope that they learn about those around them, they gain a greater appreciation for other kids, other humans and a greater appreciation for God’s creation. It’s really quite simple.”
Camp Ondessonk hosted more than 3,200 campers over nine weeks this summer, with the final week of summer camp concluding on Aug. 2. More than 30 percent of campers come from the St. Louis area, with the majority of others coming from Illinois and Indiana.
In addition to traditional weeklong camps for boys and girls ages 10-15, other programs include a mini camp for youths ages 8-10, leadership and counselor-in-training programs and adventure camps. The campground is host to other activities outside of summer, including retreats and after-school programs.
The fun that campers have is a byproduct of what King described as a new sense of self-awareness that comes from unplugging and getting out of their comfort zone to try something new, such as horseback riding, shooting a bow and arrow in archery or going on a long-distance hike.
“There are parents that understand that’s a fundamental part of their child’s growth, and they’re sending their kids to camp,” King said. “They are looking for experiences that will get their kid unplugged, and maybe having something that more resembles what it was like when they were children.”
From prayer …
On a Sunday evening in late July, more than 350 campers were checked into camp and gathered in an outdoor grotto for the opening Mass. In his homily, Father Brian Barker connected the Sunday readings to a message of being persistent in prayer and trusting in God’s love. Both are elements that campers should take with them as they explore the activities at camp, he told them.
Father Barker has been coming to Camp Ondessonk since 1983, starting as a counselor. For the past six years, he has served as camp chaplain, but recently was appointed to a new parish assignment in Columbia, Illinois. He said he hopes he’s been able to plant some seeds of faith among campers over the years.
“Kids can see the wonder and beauty of God’s creation here, and we connect it with the divine, the sacred,” he said. “We pray before every meal. We pray at the end of every meal. We pray on our overnights. We pray on our hikes. There are different times that we try to bring that whole spiritual element in.”
Camp Ondessonk also had an influential role in Father Barker’s vocation to the priesthood. Before his ordination, he taught music and performed as a professional musician. During the summers, he’d help out at camp as a counselor.
“I remember one day just saying, there’s gotta be more to life than this,” he said. “I think I’m called to do something else, and I think just being here and being in this Catholic camp that tries to espouse Catholic values helped me in a lot of ways.”
Camp Ondessonk’s name (meaning “bird of prey”) comes from a name that the Huron people gave to St. Isaac Jogues, a 17th century Jesuit priest who came to North America from his native France to bring the Gospel to Indigenous tribes. He was among eight French Jesuit missionaries who were martyred while evangelizing in the New World. Throughout the week, campers learn about their virtues and sacrifices during activities, and camper units, lakes and land forms are named after the martyrs.
… To nature
At the edge of the lake, Elise Basi guided a group of girls as they dismounted their kayaks after a morning of paddling and fishing. During the week, the 16-year-old counselor-in-training was tasked with helping out with aquatic activities while also assigned to one of the camper units.
Like her siblings, Elise has been coming to camp since she was about 9 years old. Now, as a busy rising junior at Nerinx Hall, she said Camp Ondessonk helps her to slow down and appreciate life and the people she’s spending time with at camp.
“After camp, I’ll go back home and I’ll find myself stopping and appreciating stuff more and try to actually live in the moment, which I can do a lot here,” Elise said.
She shared a recent encounter with a camper who wasn’t Catholic and didn’t have much of a connection with God. While on a walk, the two stopped to listen to the sounds of the birds and the cicadas against the landscape of the lake and the woods that surrounded them.
“She was talking about how it’s really cool, and she feels like she doesn’t stop that much and just listen to life around her,” she said. “And then she starts talking about God a little bit. You see Him through the people that you’re interacting with, the places that you’re working. There’s a lot of moments in the day where you can take a minute and just listen.”
… To success in the eyes of God
Lucia Hodges has been a regular at Camp Ondessonk, having attended the camp since it was first opened to girls in 1960. The Belleville native now lives in an A-frame cabin eight-tenths of a mile from camp and has served on staff since 1993, including as volunteer coordinator for the past 15 years.
Her memories of hiking to Pakentuck, riding horses, swimming in the lake and wading in creeks give way to the successes she found in learning new skills and a sense of accomplishment as a young girl. It boosted her self-confidence, having been raised in a home where she didn’t always feel that way.
“When I started coming to Ondessonk, I was met with success after success after success,” she said. “And I think that’s our aim, for everybody who comes to us. Now I believe that God cares about me, that I am important to Him, and Camp Ondessonk did that. And that’s why I’m still here.”
For Hodges, it’s a “heepwah” moment, a term frequently shared among campers to express something is “all good.”
“I have seen many people who join our staff … and then become amazing assets to camp,” she said. The last week of camp “is always very difficult for me because all these terrific people are leaving us and I have to wait a whole year, minus 10 weeks, for them to come back.”
Mark and Michelle Basi wanted their kids to have a summer camp experience, so they signed up Isaac for a week, adding Elise and Miles to the camper roster once they were old enough to come.
Mark, who grew up in Murphysboro, Illinois, attended Camp Ondessonk one summer when he was about 12 years old and was also involved in scouting. Mark said they’ve enjoyed watching their children grow as they return year after year. Now as teens, they said it’s been fun watching Isaac and Elise leading younger campers as counselors.
“You get to a certain point and okay, now it’s your turn to give back to the younger campers who are coming in, and working with them in that aspect, I think (they) can see faith from that perspective, too, and that also strengthens them,” Mark said.
Camp has been a way of broadening their faith experiences outside of their normal routine, such as going to Mass on Sundays, Michelle said. “I don’t think they necessarily think of this as, like, ‘Oh, I’m going to Catholic camp, like I go to Catholic school,’ but they see the faith incorporated into what they consider their daily life,” she said. “This is what they love doing, and I think it’s a way of ingraining (the faith) even more.”
