After he began serving as the archbishop of Washington in 2025, Cardinal Robert W. McElroy held consultations with parish lay leaders throughout the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. Their insights and input from local priests led to six goals for pastoral action in the archdiocese over the next five years, including the goal to “reverse the avalanche of young people leaving the Church.”
To address that goal, the Cardinal’s Youth and Young Adult Ministry Task Force has issued a report that will be summarized in the Catholic Standard’s newspaper and website in September.
In a section on local youth and young adult programs that work, the report highlighted Catholic summer camps, noting that “the last 10 years have seen a huge increase in Catholic summer camps throughout the archdiocese.” The report said the two most prolific local Catholic summer camps are at two Maryland parishes – St. John’s Summer Program based out of St. John Francis Regis Parish in Hollywood and the Rockville Catholic Summer Program based out of St. Patrick’s in Rockville.
“While ostensibly for young kids, the camps in reality attract and evangelize the high school age workers. A camp worker not only gets a good paying job for the summer and learns to take care of small kids, but also is required to attend daily Mass, daily Holy Hour, and weekly theological talks while at the same time being members of a joyful, authentic community,” the report said.
