BARABOO — Parishioners at St. Joseph Parish in Baraboo helped Fr. Francis Xavier Gray — later Monsignor Gray — buy the land for a Reedsburg youth camp on Shady Lane in the early 1950s.
Not long after, they used dynamite to clear stumps from the athletic field and built cabins from wood they salvaged from crates of ordnance produced at the nearby Badger Army Ammunition Plant just outside of Baraboo.
During this Year of Faith, we are called to take time to consider what is at the heart of the practice of our Catholic faith.
Hopefully this season of Advent has been a chance to prayerfully think about this topic and wait in anticipation for the answer. This may have been a battle, as our world poses many challenges to this task. There are Christmas parties to attend, light displays to enjoy, trees needing to be trimmed, gifts waiting to be wrapped, and meals to be planned. The pre-Christmas to-do list goes on and on.
Last fall, during a mere six-week period, over $100,000 was donated to Camp Gray for the construction of a new swimming pool.
To the editor:
Thank you to all who donated to and participated in the Bowling Benefit at Edwin Memorial Lanes on October 1 for Camp Gray Catholic Youth Camp Director Jeff Hoeben, who is battling cancer.
St. Joseph Parish will host an all-you-can-eat pizza dinner to benefit the Jeff and Rebecca Hoeben family on Saturday, June 25, from 5 to 7 p.m., in the school gym, 310 Second St., Baraboo.
