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April 3, 2025Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Camp offers much for retreat-goers, especially youth.
Cabins nestled in the wooded area of Wellston, east of Oklahoma City. Activities. Swimming. All sorts of outdoor fun.
A chance, too, to grow closer to God and grow in the Catholic faith.
Students from numerous Catholic schools across the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City have spent time learning and growing with one another in the natural setting. And camp leaders are welcoming potential students this fall to learn about God in the midst of his creation.
Corky McMullen, the principal at Saint Philip Neri Catholic School in Midwest City, has taken his middle school students to retreats at the facility for a program taught through Duc In Altum, Latin for “Put out in the Deep.”
The phrase comes from chapter five of the Gospel of Luke, where Jesus called Saint Peter to trust him and throw his nets into deep waters. The concept still impacts the church today, especially the youth who want to find a deep faith in God.
“It is a call of trust to step out of one’s comfort zone,” McMullen said. “(The camp) is great because it is like an outdoor classroom, it is growing and learning in faith, but it is academic, too.”
The Duc in Altum program is focused on middle school students within Catholic schools across the archdiocese. Schools that have participated in the program include Saint Philip Neri, as well as Saint Joseph in Enid, Saint Charles Borromeo and Christ the King in Oklahoma City and Saint Elizabeth Ann Seaton in Edmond.
The program takes a dual role of educating the students in their faith, but also outdoor and in the environment, from a science curriculum.
Duc in Altum involves three aspects that are taught to students: Project Learning Tree, Project Wild, or Wildlife in Learning Design, and Project Wet, or Water Education Today.
“We have sixth, seventh and eighth graders come for three days at a time, and we’ll do science experiments and projects, all outside,” said Anna Horn, coordinator of camp programs, youth, young adult and campus ministry for the archdiocese.
Those science studies cover a variety of outdoor concepts, including a ropes course, archery, pollination, water conservation, meteorology, astronomy and even wilderness survival, the ability to be able to live in the great outdoors. Students stay three days in cabins, with adult supervision and meals provided.
“It is a science-based curriculum, outdoor labs,” McMullen said. “It is a hands-on outdoor education, but within the context of the Catholic faith.
“We spend a lot of time in prayer and adoration in the chapel, there is a lot of faith formation. We have adoration and Mass, which allows the students to really deepen their relationship with the Lord.”
The students also have time for free time and relaxation.
The faith is put on display with many of the activities, including praying the Rosary, which in its own way helps connect the students to the science program itself, praying in the midst of creation.
“Stargazing is a highlight of the trip, praying the Rosary under the stars, as well as praying the Rosary around the campfire, with creation, an intimate meeting with God for our students,” McMullen said.
“This is a team building event for our middle school students,” McMullen said. “When you’re in his creation, your true identity is revealed to you.”
For more information about the Duc In Altum program, visit campguadalupe.org.
Everett Brazil, III is a freelance writer for the Sooner Catholic.
Photo: (Above) Anna Horn, coordinator of camp programs, youth, young adult and campus ministry for the archdiocese, led a group of students on an outdoor lab at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Camp. Photos Avery Holt/Archdiocese of Oklahoma City.