Mechernich/Widdau – Over 50 children and young people explored Greek mythology and its ramified pantheon of gods at ‘Camp St. Agnes’, which pitched its tents at the Widdau scout camp on the Rur at the start of the summer holidays in 2024.

During a day full of games, they had to cross ‘Hades’, the river bordering the underworld, in a rubber dinghy, hurl and throw arrows and spears in a race with Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, and lift weights like the demigod Hercules, descended from Zeus, the father of the gods, and the mortal Alcmene. Poseidon, the god of the sea, brother of Zeus and one of the twelve Olympic deities, emerged from the fresh water of the Rur and challenged the participants to transport water with unusual aids and over long distances. Aphrodite expected the combined overcoming of a course in teams of two, whereby the one with vision had to guide his/her partner over the winding obstacle course with words and instructions.

It was about "God type"

With so many deities with different tasks in the Greek pantheon of gods, it wasn't easy to find meditation and worship themes for the St Barbara Mechernich Christian camp. But the Monschau priest and former regional youth chaplain Hardy Hawinkels, who has been attending the St Agnes camp for 20 years, had a brilliant idea.
 
All the children and young people prepared a worship service together, focussing on the ‘type of God’, i.e. the images and concepts of God that people have of the Creator of all things and the Redeemer of mankind. Some camp participants built an altar and set up a birch cross and seating in the open air, others chose prayers and texts and recited them, while others formulated and read out intercessions or rehearsed songs and music.

Others acted out the passage from the Gospel of Matthew in which Jesus asks his friends who people think he is. He finally addresses the all-important question to Peter on behalf of all people: ‘But who do you say that I am?’ And he answers: ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!’
 
In addition to the camp leaders Holger Stürmer and Peter Heimbach, the twelve-person team of counsellors also included the kitchen ladies Simone Groß and Christine Roggendorf as well as Caroline Tesch, Steffi Meyer, Katja Linden, Melina Sporkett, Fabian Hensch, Noah Klinkhammer and Andreas Kurth and, as spiritual guide, Deacon Manfred Lang.

Founded in 1995

The latter founded ‘Camp St St Agnes’ in 1995 together with his parish council colleagues Karlheinz Mertens, Hannelore Ackermann and Hermann and Gisela Kolvenbach, initially as a parish youth camp for the parish of St Agnes in Mechernich-Bleibuir.
 
The campsites change from year to year, mostly between the Lower Rhine and the Moselle - Skarszewy, Mechernich's Polish partner town, has also been visited. Last year, the children and young people from Bleiberg camped at the ‘finger of God’, the castle ruins of Schloßtal near Dollendorf; in 2025, the team plans to pitch its tents at another site on the Rur near Dedenborn. Once again this year, the children and young people had to take on various tasks themselves. These included helping to prepare meals, setting and clearing tables, cleaning and night watch. An attempt by non-camp members to steal the self-designed camp flag - a scouting ritual - failed due to the attentiveness of the St Agnes camp members.

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