SHANGHAI, China : A recent weeklong summer camp received a big thumbs up from Catholic university students in Shanghai after they were able to get closer to God and reflect on their spiritual side away from high-tech gadgetry.

Many of the 120 participants in the Aug. 2-8 program were attending the event for the first time. The students were given the chance to pray and adore the Blessed Sacrament during a one-day retreat, to test their knowledge of the Bible and catechism through contests, and to learn about themselves. Priests and nuns also shared with them about religious vocations.

A young man surnamed Xu, 20, said the Aug. 6 retreat was most impressive. After surrendering his mobile phone, the student learnt how to pray to Jesus and meditate with the Bible, adore the Blessed Sacrament and talk individually with a spiritual director. "It made me truly calm and nearer to God," he said.

Zhang Xiaolai, 21, was also moved by the peaceful atmosphere of the Taize-style prayers during the retreat. "In the simple melodies and silent prayers, we were inspired and some cried aloud. I guess such touching feelings can only be experienced through God's love," she reflected.

The young woman said she is determined to spend at least 20 minutes each day praying to Jesus, sharing with him all her feelings.

Shanghai is one of many mainland dioceses that held summer activities for Catholic students during the vacation months of July and August.

Sister Maria, an organizer of the Shanghai camp, said some students expressed their joy at the sense of community they experienced and felt sad thinking of the loneliness that would set in once they returned to their houses, university dormitories or flats. Most students are their parents' only child and came alone to Shanghai to study.

"I asked them if this high-tech era had brought them a richer life or had led them into a lonely existence," the nun told UCA News. She added that they showed her they had a desire for God, for spiritual nourishment and to be loved.

Father John Zhao Shijie of Shanghai, another organizer, told UCA News on Aug. 17 that the diocese began summer camps six years ago. He said most Catholics learn catechism in childhood, but later get busy with high school life and preparations for entering university that leave them with no time to deepen their faith or join Church activities.

Thus, he sees the summer program for Catholic university students as crucial in giving them the opportunity to experience God and rediscover their faith.

The program also encourages students to form small communities that can meet regularly for prayer, Bible-sharing and pilgrimages, enhancing their spiritual growth, he said.

This year's theme was "Where are you?" Father Zhao said this theme awakened the students to the fact that God is with them even if they are not aware of it, that God is calling to them even when they are preoccupied with material pleasures such as mobile phones, computers, games and money.

Campers are encouraged to experience God's existence in a calm atmosphere and to let God enter their lives, he said.

In his observation, more than 60 percent of the almost 500 Catholic students who have taken part in the Shanghai summer camps have subsequently attached greater importance to their faith and attend Sunday Masses regularly.

"Youths are the future of our Church," the priest said. "At this stage in their lives, they need the Church to invest its time, human and financial resources in them and to care for them."

Father John Baptist Luo of Mindong diocese in Fujian province, also in eastern China, ran two summer camps for university students. Education in China has taught Catholic students to be ignorant about God, he said, so the Church "needs to affirm God's existence and enhance their affection for God and Church communities."

Courtesy : UCAN