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Forum Newbie
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Last Login: 7/9/2009 5:38:36 AM
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Does anyone know if there is a Totally Catholic version of the Egypt theme? I personally do not think it would matter, but not sure how the church would view it... I was thinking I could just order the kit and with a full year to go we could probably make it work. I think the High Seas one would be fine except some of our children seem to be disenchanted with it all right now and I thought doing something to shake it up and be different would be good.
Jenni
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Junior Member
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Last Login: 7/28/2009 9:54:47 AM
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| I know there was not a Totally Catholic Rome (which would have been a great idea!) so probably not one for Egypt either, but I wish they would make one. We just kind of added our own Catholic touches here and there for Rome, nothing major, just mentioning certain things where they fit. We mainly get kids from our church for VBS, so I figure we have plenty of other opportunities to teach about the sacraments or saints, etc. I know what you mean about being disenchanted, but I think it was me more than the kids  I don't think bored is the right word, because VBS is always fun, but I felt like we were doing the same thing year after year just with a different backdrop/theme. Of course, it's just once a year, but it was still very refreshing when we switched to the Holyland VBS 2 years ago. Then we did Powerlab and then Rome. One of my volunteers mentioned maybe we should alternate years between Easy VBS and Holyland, but I really want to do Egypt next year! Christine
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Forum Expert
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There will not be a Totally Catholic version of Egypt. We work with Harcourt Religion to create the Totally Catholic version, and it's up to them to "opt in" for each program. Thanks for letting us know that you're interested, though
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Forum Newbie
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Last Login: 7/9/2009 12:15:52 PM
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We did Rome this year and I chose it because it was the Year of St. Paul. I found we had plenty of opportunities for adding the Catholic perspective. I think the most important thing we do to make our VBS Catholic is to include Mass in the daily schedule.
We started each morning in a gathering session in the parish hall and moved from there to daily Mass in the Church. We had 101 kids and 48 volunteers (of the volunteers 35 were 6th to 12th grade students). 33 of the children were preschoolers. Even though most of the kids are still too young to receive Jesus in the Eucharist, they loved going to Mass with their friends and our pastor geared his homily to them. It was great!
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Forum Newbie
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Last Login: 7/17/2009 9:05:38 PM
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| I spoke to someone at Group last year about this concerning the Rome program. She told me, as the previous post said, they work with Harcourt, which is a Catholic publisher. She said Harcourt modifies the "easy" program for the Catholic audience, but since the HLA is strictly bible-based, Harcourt OKs them as they are written. We did change some things to include more about Mass, though. Looking forward to Egypt!
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Forum Guru
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Last Login: 9/4/2009 2:03:47 PM
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HLAs by themselves are okay (except for the need to do a few teensy tweaks like in the drama about the Last Supper for JM). I’ve also found the Bible times idea especially suitable for ecumenical ventures. However, I’ve been adding my own Catholic touches to the Holy Land Adventure for our church. It’s been amazingly easy and each year we’ve done more. I use real, full Bible verses instead of the paraphrased ones that come with the program. Last year I reworked the Jerusalem Marketplace daily themes to end with the Emmaus story and give a powerful Eucharistic punch as the grand finale. This year with Rome, I created a handout for all my volunteers with extra Catholic teachings that fit with the theme of each day. Day I- God’s Love is a Gift was a perfect chance to bring in Grace, the Catholic Sacramental worldview, and JPII’s Theology of the Body for example. We had some pretty “high octane” Catholic theology going on. It worked beautifully though. The Underground Christians took my thoughts and ran with it. Children and adults were learning beautiful truths in a fun and exciting way. It worked so well, that I plan to do the same thing for Egypt. I’d be happy to share what I come up with. Just from the daily Bible points up on the website, I’m already seeing two steps of vocation awareness on day 1 and 2, possibly gifts of the Holy Spirit on day 3, the sacrament of reconciliation on day 4, and the communion of saints on day 5.
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Forum Newbie
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Last Login: 9/17/2009 10:12:44 AM
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| Since the Eqypt VBS is set in the Old Testement ... and Christianty in any form including Catholic would not take form until NT ... does it really matter ?? What would you envision to make Eqypt "more Catholic" ?
Laissez les bon temps rouler! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....
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