The Catholic camp in Shawano celebrates its 100th anniversary this year
By William Van de Planque | For On Mission
Photography submitted
SHAWANO, WI — Camp Tekakwitha, an outdoor ministry of the Diocese of Green Bay that offers summer and winter youth camps, year-round retreats for all ages and groups, and year-round family events, celebrates 100 years this year serving and ministering to the youth of the diocese.
This year at camp is centered around celebrating their history and deepening alumni connections, emphasizing the impact of the camp experience on every generation.
“Our theme for the year (is) just really centering around the word celebrate and how we honor all of the past 100 years, and then also at the same time look forward to the years that are ahead,” said McKenna Runde, who is serving her third year as director of camp.
Runde will spend her 14th summer at camp this summer. Like so many others, her relationship with camp began as a camper in middle school.
“I was really homesick, but I distinctly remember being impacted by my counselors,” she said. “I just remember (thinking) that I wanted to be a counselor one day.”
She started on summer staff after her freshman year of college, serving as a counselor for a couple of years before transitioning into a role that was called, at the time, associate director.
“It’s really beautiful when you get to look back in hindsight at how God works because he’s totally interwoven in all of it,” she said.
Rebecca Sievers, who served as director of camp from 2016 to 2023, had a similar experience as a camper back in 1996.
“I knew from the very first day as a camper that I wanted to work there one day,” she said. “When I had that opportunity in college, I absolutely jumped on it.”
Sievers described the experience of stepping into the role of camp director years later as “one of the most beautiful things in (her) entire life,” she said.
Sievers had impactful experiences interacting with the counselors at camp, who, at the time, were about 30 percent international college students.
“Going to a Catholic school, sometimes faith can be confined to religion class,” she said. “When I was at camp and when I got to see all of these college (students) from all over the world… that was the first time I really understood how big and beautiful and connected we all are, and it all stems from the Eucharist.”
Sievers grew up attending Catholic school and now works in the St. Francis Xavier Catholic School System of the Diocese of Green Bay.
A staple of Camp Tekakwitha has always been its Catholic identity. From its founding as an all-girls camp named Catholic Girls Camp in 1926 to recent efforts to make the sacraments more readily available at camp, Camp Tekakwitha has sought, first and foremost, to provide a unique and deeper encounter with Christ.
“It was created by the diocesan Council of Catholic Women; we know that Christ was at the center of their intention as they created camp,” Runde said. “Even though we weren’t part of those first years personally, we can still have the confidence that that is an underlying theme.”
After Eric Blumreich, who served as camp director from 2006 to 2016, transitioned out of the role, Sievers took over. One of her priorities as a camp director was to infuse the Catholic faith more into the camp experience, she said.
Following her installment as director, daily Mass was celebrated every day during summer camp.
“There were so many weeks where campers would go to Mass every day,” she said.
Sievers described hearing from parents that their children, upon returning home from camp, would ask them every week to go to Mass.
“That was one of the most gratifying things,” she said.
Many years after serving as a counselor at Camp Tekakwitha, Sievers has remained good friends with the other young adults with whom she served, she said.
“I think a lot of that is because the friendship, the community, everything was rooted in faith from day one,” she said.
Before Sievers took over as director, tradition was the once-a-week Mass on Wednesday afternoons.
Fr. Finian Zaucha, OFM, served as the chaplain of Camp Tekakwitha, celebrating the Wednesday afternoon Masses for 21 years from 1984 to 2005. Sometimes, he would stay for a meal and visit with the Larson family, of which Ralph and his wife Roberta “Bobbie” Larson directed camp for over 30 years.
Fr. Zaucha, a Franciscan Friar of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Province since 1959, has served in over 30 different ministries across his religious life, including a dean of students role at a high school, a pastor for 12 years at a Green Bay parish and the chaplain for the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity in Manitowoc.
“Wherever I was stationed, I would go (to camp); it’s just that sometimes it took me a little longer,” he said.
Many changes have been made over the years to enrich the sacramental and overall experience of campers. In 2002, a building campaign took place, following the fire that burned down the main lodge, to fund the construction of several buildings, including the present-day chapel, St. Francis of Assisi Chapel. The camp then began to have year-round offerings, like retreats.
“(We had) this whole new opportunity untapped for welcoming school groups, parishes and retreat groups, which has continued to grow especially in the last five to 10 years,” Runde said.
Brighid Riordan, CEO of Cellcom, a regional wireless service provider based in Northeast Wisconsin and the fifth-largest wireless network operator in the United States, was greatly impacted by the young adults who served as counselors during her time as a camper, specifically by their acceptance of the campers.
“What really struck me was, even if I don’t fit in anywhere else, these counselors reflected to me that I have gifts for the world and that I am important to making this place special as well,” she said.
Riordan has sent her two children to camp, and both worked as camp counselors last summer.
“For me, (camp) is the place where I grew especially close in my faith and to God, and I’m seeing that happen with my children as well,” she said. “It’s in a place where they can do it amidst nature and learn it for themselves.”
My children went there every year that they possibly could, sometimes for three weeks and sometimes for four weeks. They wholeheartedly embraced it, sometimes more than I did.”
Riordan and many others have been greatly impacted by the different directors who have led the camp over the years.
“Eric Blumreich just breathed life into the camp,” she said. “He made a difference by being there. He added to the goodness and the joy and the celebration that this camp is, and we want to memorialize that.”
Ralph Larson came to visit camp with his daughter two years ago, following the death of Bobbie, his wife.
“It was cool to see how meaningful it was to their family and how much they gave to it,” Riordan said.
Riordan credits her camp experience, especially her time as a counselor, with her deeply rooted Catholic faith and carries it into her secular professional environment.
“My faith is present in everything I do,” she said. “A lot of my camp experiences definitely informed how I am as a leader.”
She is the fourth generation of the Riordan family, which first took ownership of Cellcom in 1923. Recently, she has started doing something that is extremely abnormal in a secular workplace.
“I lead the team in prayer,” she said. “I always start with prayer… and I invite (coworkers) to join me.”
Riordan worked as a camp counselor for a couple of years during college, but has been associated with camp throughout her life, primarily as an alumnus, serving on multiple advisory boards since 2003.
In the 100th year of camp, Runde knows how important it is for alumni, many of whom have had incredibly formative faith experiences at camp, to stay connected to Camp Tekakwitha.
One of the goals of the 100th anniversary is welcoming back as many alumni as possible to “recognize how it’s changed but also to feel like it’s still the same camp that they remember,” Runde said.
“We are most focused on young people and families, but anyone, across every generation, all of our alumni at all different ages can continue to come back and have a deeper encounter.”