Overlooking the glistening San Francisco Bay from the solitude of the hills in Kensington, California, at the future site of the Carmelite convent of Jesus and Mary, four days did sixteen boys and young men engage themselves in the Institute’s Saint Michael’s Patrol Camp. This year’s theme for the camp was “Following the Footsteps of the Saints”. Over the course of these four days the boys partook in several cleverly arranged team building activities and exercises, attended spiritual conferences, and, of course, assisted at Holy Mass daily, all under the spiritual care and guidance of Canon Meney, the newly-ordained Canon Estrada, Abbé Kevin, and the visiting seminarian Abbé Post.

Throughout the camp, both during the physical activities and the spiritual conferences, the boys learned a great deal about living an authentic life as a Catholic, especially as future Catholic men. From Saint Ignatius, they learned about how they might become true soldiers for Christ, as members of the Church Militant. The Canons gave a great emphasis on fidelity to the Church and Her teachings, fidelity and obedience to Her Pastors, especially the Holy Father, as well as special fidelity and commitment to one’s vocation in life. In his conference on Saint Don Bosco, Canon Estrada relayed the absolute necessity of cultivating virtue, especially those virtues particularly important for boys and future Catholic men. An indispensable means to achieve these virtues, the boys learned, is by a constant and fervent life of prayer fueled by devotion to Holy Mass and our Eucharistic Lord. Indeed, a prayerful and genuine consideration of a vocation to the religious life, as well as married life, was asked of the boys.

These many lessons from the saints, in whose footsteps the campers committed to follow, were tied well into the Patrol’s motto, “Serviam”, coming from Saint Michael the Archangel’s declaration I will serve God rather than Satan. As members of the Communion of Saints and the Church Militant, no matter where God calls each of the young men later in life, the goal of the camp was to imbue in them a holy sense of service to God, the Church, and to one another, especially those who most in need.