By Andrea Martinie Eiler from the Bloomington Christian Radical Catholic Worker
This year’s ORV gathering was held at Camp Bedford in Indiana which was a lovely location for us! We enjoyed great indoor gathering and cooking spaces, camp cabins, tent camping, the pool, basketball courts, and plenty of open areas for soccer and frisbee. Unlike previous years, this year we enjoyed wonderful weather and the rain held off until late morning on Sunday. We had a total of 96 people in attendance and 15 different communities were represented! All in attendance pitched in on meal prep, meal clean-up, childcare, and camp clean-up so the logistics of the gathering were smooth and joyful. Certain jobs, being bigger than others, came with gifts--Lyda Jackson from Jesus People was awarded a flower halo for leading the bathroom clean-up at the end of the weekend!
One of our traditions at the gathering is to offer three sessions of Roundtable discussions on Saturday. Folks can choose one of three options during each session. This year the Roudtable topics were Jesus and Empire, Joys and Sorrows, Sacred Harp Singing, 2024 Election Polarization and Jesus, Craft/Art as Prayer, Aging Communities, Church at Church or Church at Home?, Raising a Family in an Alternative Community, and New Community Formation. These were fruitful discussions that often continued over meal-times.
Our annual Saturday evening Contra/Square dance was a delightful success! Kyla Wargel from the Bloomington Catholic Worker, called the dance this year and was skilled in including all dancers from age 2 on up. The evening started with a dance that told a story of trying to get a cat out of a tree and we were all hooked from there. Our Band for the evening was our largest yet. In the past we have paid Square Dance bands to accompany the dancers, but this year we had a band consisting only of ORV attendees. This allowed young and old to try their hand at playing the dance songs. Seeing multiple youngsters and teens joining in made this change in our tradition quite beautiful.
Of our 96 attendees, 38 were children! Our childcare times included frisbee golf, soccer, legos, foosball, blocks, and face painting. It was a joy for all of us to interact with the children and to see new friendships develop across the various communities. One of my top consolations from the gathering was watching the children join in with gusto to the Contra/Square dance. It was so beautiful to see the innocent joy bursting forth from the youngest, especially. Two young (ages 3 and 5) children were so joyful during the dancing that they added in multiple full body spins with arms thrown up in the air. This confused the ordered dancing, but absolutely no one complained!
The children (and grown-ups!) also enjoyed a magic show by Detroit Catholic Worker Jesse and also the POOL. What a joyful time was had at the pool! The Bruderhof Hochstetlers were our life guards and were the most popular adults in attendance because of this. Not that God cares about such things 😊. There were even some “Old Lady Olympics” that entertained the participants and onlookers alike.
One of my favorite parts of the weekend was hearing our high-school exchange student Jules grill other folks on WHY in the WORLD you would live in a Christian community that does not prioritize the individual, the cultural norm of choice in all areas of life, and a large personal paycheck. It was wonderful to see him ask very hard-hitting and meaningful questions of others. The influence on Jules of caring and engaged adults from other communities (especially Catholic Workers, Reba Place, and the Bruderhof) was a moment I will hold dear.
Lydia’s House Catholic Worker led our Sunday morning worship time. We heard the story of the Visitation between Mary and Elizabeth and sang joyful songs to worship God together. Our prayers for each other’s communities were lifted up and carried forth from the gathering in our hearts.
Of course, many of the moments of connection were simply conversations together. Time to be with other individuals from other communities and share our questions and our listening hearts led to deepened friendships and encouragement for our shared calling to live in community. We were blessed with a weekend of such joy, sharing, encouragement, work, and fun. The 2024 ORV gathering was an amazing gift!
