Nestled in the lush mountains of Randolph County, West Virginia, is the only Catholic sleep-away summer camp named for the first soon-to-be canonized millennial: the Blessed Carlo Acutis Youth Camp. It is also known, affectionately, as “Camp Carlo.”

It’s a hit with Catholic youth of all ages.

“I really like the swing, and I really like the water slide, and I like the zip line,” said camper Catherine Tyler, 10, who is going into fifth grade and is from Baltimore.

“There’s a lot of things I like. I basically like everything. I love the faith formation and the church stuff. I really like all that stuff. I want to be a Carmelite nun because nuns seem cool to me, and I’m reading Story of a Soul right now.”

Fellowship is the high point for Elijah Criste, 15, who is going into 10th grade in Morgantown, West Virginia.

“I like the Catholic environment, being with friends, helping people. When I’m not here, it’s hard, because not everybody around is Catholic. There’s a community sense here with Catholicism,” he said.

Regarding the activities, he added: “They’re great! Going to a place with all the activities is awesome!”

Nick Chancey, director of youth and young adult discipleship for the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, welcomes such feedback and recalled to the Register how all Catholic summer camps closed, due to COVID, during the summer of 2020. This gave his camp, previously named Camp Tygart and then Camp Bosco, a chance to reset.

“Our camp existed in West Virginia for 59 years, and we wanted to reset it for the next 60 years,” said Chancey. “2021 was the perfect time. Blessed Carlo came onto the world stage and became much more prominent. For us, Carlo was the perfect, providential inspiration. The point of our camp was to bring young people close to Jesus and the sacraments.”

Blessed Carlo Acutis, whose life was ended by leukemia at the age of 15 in 2006, advocated for a life centered on Jesus in the Eucharist in a powerful way.

Camp Carlo is coed and runs four one-week sessions during the month of July. Campers stay in single-sex cabins on the property. The first week is only for high schoolers. The next three sessions are for campers from grade 3 through grade 12. It is significant to note that West Virginia is only 8% Catholic, according to a 2021 report by West Virginia University.

Yet Camp Carlo is at capacity.

Campers have a chance to backpack through the mountains, go horseback riding on trails, take part in a high-ropes course, learn archery, take a giant swing over a lake, enjoy a water slide, in addition to canoeing and fishing. There is also barn-dancing for the high-school students on Fridays.

Kara and Steve Milinovich, parents of seven children, are co-directors of the camp this year for the first time. Two of their children are counselors, three are campers, and the youngest two are staying with their mom and dad at Camp Carlo.

They spoke about the camp’s motto, Cum Ipso in monte (“With Him on the mountain”), a reference to the transfiguration of Jesus.

“We are literally surrounded by two mountain ranges, and we are here in a valley with Jesus,” said Steve Milinovich.

“The goal of our camp is prayer,” said Kara Milinovich. “Our theme is Romans 12:2: ‘Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.’ We want the kids to raise their minds and hearts to God, especially during Eucharistic adoration.”

Besides the myriad of activities, the campers have the opportunity to delve deep into their spiritual life, with Mass, confession, adoration, spiritual talks and a Eucharistic procession at the end of each week.

“We are exposing them to different kinds of prayer,” said Kara. “Besides all their fun activities — like zip-lining, swinging over the pond and canoeing — the camp schedule is interspersed with talks on mental prayer. We want to show them that prayer life can be a part of your life.”

Stellar Staff

The counselors, 14 in total, seven young women and seven young men ages 18 to 22, each give a witness talk.

Camp Carlo also has 10 “junior counselors,” who are in high school, who help out with cooking meals and other logistics of running the camp. All of the counselors go through special training to get certified in a high-ropes course, lifeguarding and archery.

“These young people are passionate about their faith,” said Kara. “They are prayerful, with tons of energy, and a real passion for children. We could not have envisioned a staff like this.”

She attributes lots of prayer, especially seeking the intercession of Blessed Carlo Acutis, for the wonderful staff. Often, the counselors are young people who attended the camp during high school themselves. Others came through word-of-mouth.

“Our camp counselors are on fire for the faith. They provide a good example of what holy friendship between girls and boys looks like,” said Chancey.

“This is all God-ordained. We keep seeing how great they are and say to ourselves: This is why we hired them,” explained Kara.

The directors of Camp Carlo have also marveled at the priests who come to help out.

“We are literally in the middle of nowhere, and there are priests who will drive several hours to come be here for these kids,” said Steve. “This year, we have 225 campers registered,” said Chancey. “It has been providential timing: Carlo’s canonization and the National Eucharistic Revival. These things have heavily influenced our decision to speak about the Blessed Sacrament. We try to discuss Carlo as an example,” he said.

Parents are also happy with the experience.

“My son David enjoyed it last year and wanted to come back, but said this year was even better,” said mom Jaime Kapur. “He actually cried when we got home and said he just wanted to be back at camp. From what he described, it sounds like the whole week was covered in so much prayer and spiritual formation which I am so grateful for. He loved all the other activities too, especially rock climbing. Even though we live eight hours away in North Carolina, it has been well worth the trip to attend your camp.”

The team behind Camp Carlo has been in talks with a Catholic artist to create a statue of Carlo Acutis, so that the campers can visualize the millennial saint.

Though Carlo never traveled to the United States during his lifetime – his example is making an impact on the hearts and minds of young Catholics.

Chancey believes that, with Carlo’s witness, young people living today have a relatable example of holiness.

“He was a boy who played Pokémon. Carlo was in the world but not of the world. Jesus Christ in the Church defined him. There are so many things to enjoy in this world, but we don’t have to let those things define us,” said Chancey. “What better example than Carlo?”

LEARN MORE

CampCarloWV.org