Summer camps provide kids with joyful experiences and activities that are hard to forget. Catholic summer camps include all that and mix in Catholic practices that help inspire faith in campers. Want your child to participate in an inspiring, jolly, and faith-based program during the school-break?
Here are the best Catholic summer camps in the country for a religious and adventure-filled summer. We included programs in different states that vary in length so you can choose the one most suitable for your camper.
Best Catholic Summer Camps
1. Camps Kahdalea and Chosatonga
Camps Kahdalea For Girls and Camp Chosatel for Boys welcome campers to join them for an impactful 1-, 2-, 3-, 5, and 9-week experience that can help them grow spiritually, physically, and mentally. With campuses in Brevard, North Carolina right within the Pisgah National Forest, kids will experience the true wilderness of this gorgeous southern state.
They’ll enjoy nights under the bright stars as they experience personal growth and encounter faith in an environment filled with friendly peers. Their all-boys camp and all-girls camp are still open to all faiths, which serves as a way to reach children from all walks of life.
There is Mass at camp each week and there is a strong Catholic presence that helps everyone around grow their faith or encounter it for the first time.
Treating everyone with respect is a big part of both the camp’s missions. Boys and girls will experience adventure through their high ropes courses, white water rafting, rock climbing, arts and crafts, backpacking, and other activities.
2. Camps Bernadette
Camp Bernadette and Camp Fatima welcome your children to a tight-knit Catholic community in New Hampshire where they can be themselves and grow their faith. The Camp Bernadette for Girls is located lakeside in Wolfeboro while their Camp Fatima for Boys is found in the beautiful Gilmanton Iron Works.
The Catholic faith is a central part of their programs and truly shapes the camper experience. There are weekly masses with evening prayer sessions. Kids can also sign up for volunteer activities like adoration, reconciliation, and more.
This is apart from their traditional activities, which include team sports like basketball and soccer, outdoor pursuits like high ropes courses and horseback riding, and water activities like kayaking and sailing. Take a look at a video about their camp on Vimeo.
Campers ages 6-15 can attend any of their two-week sessions where they stay in cabins with other children of similar age. They also have a Counselor-in-Training (CIT) program for older teens 16 years old who want to become camp counselors and a co-ed special needs week at Camp Fatima. Last summer, they hosted over 1300 campers from 25 states and 8 different countries.
3. Annunciation Heights
With a majestic location on the Rocky Mountains, Annunciation Heights has kids build friendships and grow closer to Christ. They have separate boys and girls camps for 4th-12th grade students with 1 week sessions.
Campers can choose from an activities list that involves high ropes, archery, fishing, zip lining, boating, basketball, and more. They make use of their area with hikes around the Rocky Mountain National Park being part of every session.
You can choose from a Base Camp or Rustic Camp session. Base camp takes place more along the campus and makes use of the facilities while Rustic Camp has campers spend more time outdoors and sleep in sleeping bags under tent structures. However, both options maintains their strong focus on faith-based activities just in a different way.
The programs by Annunciation Heights are all about growing together in a faith-filled environment full of adventures.
4. Camp Veritas
Camp Veritas has been hosting Catholic sleepaway camps for teens 12-18 since 2008. You will find their programs across the United States in states like Florida, New York, and Maryland. All of the places have beautiful campgrounds that provide a wonderful outdoor setting to explore.
At one of the Camp Veritas programs, youth will deepen their relationship with Jesus Christ and experience the joy of a traditional camp experience.
The campers will have days filled with team sports, camp activities like rock climbing and gaga ball, and spiritual activities like mass, confession, and educational testimonies about their Catholic Faith. Campers are able to go paddle boarding, swimming, and more at their lake locations.
They receive first-time campers every year, so it doesn’t matter if it’s your child’s first time at camp or their 5th, it’s always a good time at Camp Veritas. It’s a non-profit organization run by volunteers who all undergo a background check process.
5. Camp Marist
Camp Marist is an international Catholic camp in New Hampshire that welcomes kids ages 6-16 from all around the world and the United States. With a beautiful campground near Ossipee Lake, waterfront activities are more than abundant along with time for campers to grow their Faith.
Everything from team sports to the arts and outdoor activities like go-karts and horseback riding is offered at Camp Marist. With 250 acres expanded over the woodlands of Effingham and next to a lake, an unforgettable outdoor experience is expected.
Camp Marist has between 1 and 3-week sessions along with a full 7-week camp, providing flexibility in their rates and scheduling options for parents. As it’s long-running with 75 years of experience, Camp Marist creates a protected environment filled with positive growth and helps kids form real friendships.
6. Conquest Camps
Conquest Camp is a leading Catholic Summer camp for boys in 5th-12th grade. Conquest camp’s mission is to allow young boys to grow their Catholic faith while having fun and making lifelong friends. With over 15 years of experience, Conquest now offers more than 30 summer camps in 25+ locations across Canada (including within Toronto) and America. It focuses on the spiritual development of boys while building leadership skills through exciting activities.
Kids at camp learn how to enjoy a spiritual life with Catholic virtues like friendship, hope, faith, generosity, purity, perseverance, and sincerity. The staff is composed of dedicated volunteers, professional counselors, youth ministers, and priests who work in partnership to bring young boys closer to Jesus Christ. The teaching methods and programs at Conquest camps are unique.
Their summer programs combine various elements that make it effective due to the Catholic, virtue centered, team-based, and age-specific activities. Boys of age 10-17 participate in formative and joyful activities like games, sports, swimming, workshops, etc. Spiritual growth is encouraged through daily prayers, mass participation, and spiritual talks.
7. Camp St. Charles
Nested in the state of Maryland, Camp St. Charles is an overnight catholic summer camp that was first created in 1952. For girls and boys ages 6-13 years, the camp features a fantastic waterfront location with well-built cabins and other essential facilities. With a focus on Catholic values and traditions, the summer program comprises various activities for young students’ spiritual and personal growth.
Campers can enjoy water-based and land-based sports. These include canoeing, swimming, speedboat rides, horseback riding, archery, and high ropes—all under the supervision of well-trained, experienced staff. Camp St. Charles’s primary mission is to provide children an environment based on Catholic values they can implement in their daily activities.
8. Camp Gray
Founded in 1953, Camp Gray is a premier co-ed Catholic Summer Camp with 225 acres of beautiful land in Reedsburg, Wisconsin. Every activity at the camp incorporates Catholic faith and fun. The camp has eight 1-week summer sessions with two short overnight sessions for 2nd-12th grade students while also offering year-round retreats for middle schoolers and high schoolers.
Accredited by ACA, Camp Gray provides a safe, nurturing environment where young kids can learn more about their faith, culture, and values in an amusing and vibrant way. They successfully enrich the spiritual life with a perfect combination of the three F’s — faith, friendships, and fun. Basketball, horse riding, swimming, canoeing, arts and craft, nature, camping in tents, field sports, drama, and campfires are just a few of the activities Camp Gray’s has to offer. For the past 60 years, parents have sent their kids there, resulting in a large community of happy alumni.
9. Camp Wojtyla
Camp Wojtyla is a Catholic adventure camp located in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The programs run from June to July, with various camp sessions suited for campers of different age groups and gender.
Campers can expect exciting activities like rock climbing, mountaineering, hiking, white water rafting, and much more. Their mission is for children to grow a closer relationship with God and foster their faith while experiencing thrilling outdoor adventures.
If you want your child to receive Catholic teaching while making lifelong memories and going on adventures, Camp Wojtyla is a great fit. Their camp sessions include a middle school program, two high school programs, and high school backcountry expeditions. Campers can spend a range of 6 to 9 days overnight, depending on the programs they choose.
10. CYO Camp Rancho Framasa
Camp Rancho Framasa is not just another summer camp with exciting activities. It makes every effort to preserve a living faith in God in the young generation and foster their lives with joy and hope. Founded in 1946, Camp is situated in the beautiful Brown County Hills, Indiana, and operated by the Catholic Youth Organization.
They have a 2-4 week day camp in Indianapolis and their residential camp is located in Nashville. They also offer a few week-long specialty camps that focus on service, horseback riding, and climbing. The campus measures 296 acres of woody hills, facilities, committed staff, and distinctive summer programs. CYO Camp Rancho has a supportive environment that welcomes everyone.
Drama, art, sports, games, archery, cooking, and rope challenges are just a few of the many camp activities. Catholic traditions are alive in every action here. Two things that set them apart from others are their inclusion program where all kids are included.
They also place emphasis on the camper-centered core value. Staff are trained on how everything from talking, walking and engaging with campers in unique ways. They follow the examples and teachings of St. John Bosco, patron saint of youth, of being amongst the children.
11. Catholic Youth Summer Camp
With Christ as the rigid foundation, Catholic Youth summer camp offers the perfect combination of an adventurous and faith-renewing summer. It was founded in 2001 with the initiative to let young adults live life adventurously while strengthening the Catholic faith via various activities.
This faith-awakening camp is held at the Damascus Catholic Campus, 471 acres of land in Ohio, including a 30-acre waterfront and other facilities. Its safe environment allows young students to nurture lifelong faith, friendships, and memories. CYSC offers 1 to 8-week summer camp sessions that start from early June for middle and high-school students.
Young people freely talk about their faith, become more engaged in the sacramental church life, and bring faith into their everyday lives. Kids learn how to have fun in a wholesome way. The fun-filled activities include paintball, high rope, archery tag, wall climbing, zip-lines, and much more.
12. The Pines
The Pines is one of the premier Catholic Summer camps in Texas that helps young children and adults increase their love for Jesus in different ways.
Their main goal is to empower young minds of the Catholic faith and show them how to live joyfully. Each day at The Pines consists of adventures, friendships, laughs, and love for Jesus Christ. Camp Pines inspires the faithful to enter into the joy that Christ offers us.
They provide overnight camps, 1-2 weeks sessions, and special programs. At Pines, a stronger Catholic community is built through the sacraments, fellowship, and exciting camp games.
Want to find more religious summer camps? See our Best Christian Summer Camps guide and our Best Jewish Summer Camps page.