FAYETTEVILLE — Many Arkansas churches offered vacation Bible school programs this summer, but it’s likely St. Joseph Parish was the only one featuring a flying friar.
St. Joseph of Cupertino, patron saint of air travelers and pilots, figured prominently in activities throughout the five-day program July 18-22, and, by all accounts, he was a smash with the 140 participants. But then, what youngster wouldn’t be fascinated by a levitating priest who was known to suddenly soar into the air during prayer?
The Italian priest, who lived in the 17th century and was canonized in 1767, would be an unlikely figure in most VBS programs because they usually have Protestant roots. Suzanne Krumpelman, director of religious education at St. Joseph, explained that most programs were developed for Protestant churches and then “tweaked” by publishers for marketing to Catholic churches.
But one company, founded by three sisters and their mother, has developed several programs specifically for Catholic schools and parishes. Growing With the Saints, an Indiana-based firm, has developed four different themed curricula, each of which has received nihil obstat and imprimatur approvals from the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend in Indiana, assurances that Catholic doctrine contained in the programs is correct.
“Parade Around the Our Father” was the theme used at St. Joseph and Krumpelman is enthusiastic.
“There was a greater emphasis on the sacraments” than in other programs, she explained, and each unit went into more depth from a Catholic perspective.
Susan Lawson handles marketing for Growing with the Saints. She lives in South Carolina with her husband and four children. She, her two sisters, Melissa Kaiser and Maryalice Beach, both of whom live in Fort Wayne, and their 83-year-old mother, Margaret Windle, began collaborating in 2002 after a suggestion from a family acquaintance. The friend, who wrote VBS programs for Protestant churches, was curious. “Her big question was, Why do you Catholics not have your own VBS programs? Why do people keep buying our (Protestant) programs?” Lawson said.
Taking a cue from those questions, the family began combining their talents. All four are writers and the sisters were inspired by their mother, who had always entertained and taught her own eight children with stories of the saints, Lawson said.
“We incorporated a lot of her stories” into our programs and then self-published the product, Lawson said.
So far, they’ve produced four VBS themes: “Parade Around the Our Father,” “St. Patrick and the Holy Trinity,” “Assorted Saints and the Virtues of Faith, Hope and Love” and “Parachute with the Angels.” St. Catherine LaBoure is featured in the “Parachute with the Angels” program. A fifth theme, “Vatican Express — Don’t Miss the Bus” is currently in development. According to the company’s website, two of the VBS programs are currently sold out.
Krumpelman first heard about the Catholic program from a national religious publication. After speaking with Lawson, she selected “Parade Around the Our Father” for this year’s program. It was significant because St. Joseph didn’t have VBS last year because of a lack of enough volunteer help.
“We were struggling to find a coordinator and we didn’t have enough people stepping up to volunteer,” Krumpelman said. “We can’t put on a halfway vacation Bible school, so we said, Let’s cancel it.”
While disappointing, the cancellation last year was valuable.
“I think it has paid off. We were able to take time off to refocus and it helped make the transition to a totally Catholic program,” Krumpelman said.
One volunteer who was impressed by the program was Debby Brown. Brown home-schools her children and she sees a potential for using the program in year-round schooling.
“Our faith was so incorporated (into the program). It was really great. It didn’t take as much background preparation to put our Catholic-ness into it,” Brown said. “They sell it as a Bible school program but it has so many other uses where it can be used at other times of the year.”
She added, “I was very pleased. I really like the simplicity of it and how it was focused on the Our Father.”
Lawson said other Arkansas parishes that have purchased programs from her company include Christ the King in Little Rock, St. John in Russellville and St. Louis in Camden.
Growing with the Saints can be found online at www.growingwiththesaints.com.
