Summer means vacation Bible school (VBS) across the Archdiocese of New York, where grade-school children are trading screen time for songs, crafts, and Scripture at parish gatherings built to make faith feel fun. 

This year, St. Clare Church on Staten Island is sending campers into the jungle. Its VBS program, “Rainforest Falls: Exploring five foundational truths about the nature of God,” promises kids “a wild, creature-filled adventure” where they discover that God is Creator, all-knowing, our refuge, love, and forever.” 

The program runs Monday, Aug. 3, through Friday, Aug. 7, each morning from 9 a.m. to noon, and welcomes children from four-year-old preschool through fifth grade in September. St. Clare is located at 110 Nelson Ave. in the Great Kills area of Staten Island. 

For Catherine Adinolfi, coordinator of the parish’s Family Life Ministry, the week’s impact stretches well beyond the campers themselves. “Not only does VBS touch the hearts and minds of the campers, but it also deeply affects all the volunteers, young and old. They are reminded of and moved by the message that God is with us and loves us always,” she told The Good Newsroom. 

The volunteers, she said, get just as much out of it as the kids do. “For the student volunteers, it helps develop leadership skills and a feeling of belonging. For adult volunteers, I believe it gives them a chance to give back, share their gifts, and feel (that they’re) a part of something positive,” said Adinolfi, who also heads the parish VBS. 

Fr. Arthur Mastrolia, St. Clare’s pastor, sees the week as one of the highlights of the parish year. “Our annual Vacation Bible School is a joyful and spiritually enriching time for our parish each summer. It gives our children a chance to encounter the Gospel in a way that is alive, creative, and deeply personal. During these summer days, faith becomes something they can see, touch, and experience, not only something they hear about in a classroom.” 

St. Clare isn’t alone in bringing Scripture to life this season. The parish of Holy Name of Jesus – St. Gregory the Great on West 96th Street in Manhattan just wrapped its second year of “Discovery Mission: Catholic Vacation Bible School Summer Camp.” 

At Saint Michael the Archangel Church in the Co-op City section of the Bronx, campers time-traveled to the ancient world with a program themed “Rome: Join Paul and the Underground Church.” “At Rome, everyone gets to explore first-hand the culture of Paul’s world, (experiencing) the heartbreaking trials, joyous victories, and tear-filled celebrations of this unique Bible hero,” the program material noted. 

St. Anthony of Padua Church in the Bronx’s summer camps weave in faith-based discussions and activities of their own.