MONROE — Hiking before dawn to pray at sunrise was one of the memorable experiences Brian Garcia and Andrew Roemhildt carried home from Quo Vadis Days at Camp Hamilton in June.

“It was nice to grow a deeper relationship with God and talk with a lot of great people,” said Roemhildt, 17, a member of St. Joseph Parish in Vancouver who was attending the vocations-focused camp for the second time. “It made me look at priests differently and the ministry they do,” he added.

Quo Vadis — Latin for “Where are you going?” — is an invitation from the archdiocese’s vocations office for young men in high school to learn more about the priesthood, deepen their faith and relationship with Jesus, and discover how to hear God’s call in their lives.

“We encourage discernment and incorporate God into that through prayer and how God is acting in their life,” said Father Justin Ryan, vocations director for the Archdiocese of Seattle.

Father Justin Ryan, vocations director for the Archdiocese of Seattle, talks to Quo Vadis Days campers in the chapel at Camp Hamilton in Monroe. (Katie Kolbrick Photography)

Because of the pandemic, this was the first Quo Vadis Days since 2019. This year, the program was limited to young men in grades 9-12 (the exceptions were a couple of graduates who wanted “one more Quo Vadis experience before going off to college,” Father Ryan said).

The 37 participants, representing 24 parishes, were joined at Camp Hamilton by three priests — Fathers Ryan, Tyler Johnson and Lou Cunningham — and 10 seminarians.

Plenty of activity was packed into the June 27-29 camp: talks, prayer, confession, daily Mass (including one celebrated by Bishop Eusebio Elizondo) and small group discussions, along with hikes, meals and traditional games like Capture the Flag and Battlefield Chaplain to build fellowship.

Roemhildt said the three-day camp exposed him to new faith experiences, including Holy Hour, the devotional tradition of spending an hour in eucharistic adoration, and meditative dialogue on the mystery of Christ in the Liturgy of the Hours.

Campers gather to pray during Quo Vadis Days at Camp Hamilton. (Katie Kolbrick Photography)

It was the first Quo Vadis Days experience for Garcia, 14, an altar server at St. Louise de Marillac Parish in Bellevue.

Garcia said he enjoyed listening to and talking with the priests and seminarians about their experiences and “what it takes to be a priest.” He also learned more about how they live and their responsibility to “care for the Church and the community.”

Planting the seeds

It was 2003 when Father Derek Lappe and Father Hans Olson launched the first Quo Vadis Days in Vancouver for young men in the archdiocese’s Southern Deanery.

Father Olson, then pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Vancouver, gives credit for the idea to Father Lappe, then pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Camas and currently pastor of Our Lady Star of the Sea Parish in Bremerton.

“It was his inspiration and organization that got it going,” said Father Olson, now pastor of St. Mary Magdalen Parish in Everett and St. John Mission in Mukilteo.

Modeled after a program in the Portland archdiocese, the inaugural Quo Vadis Days — presented by the Southern Deanery, the archdiocesan vocations office and the local Serra Club chapter — drew 10 participants from southwestern Washington parishes.

Seminarian Patrick Gitau, right, plays soccer with campers during Quo Vadis Days in June. (Katie Kolbrick Photography)

By 2005, the event moved to the Puget Sound area, drawing 80 participants from around the archdiocese who were joined by 17 priests and eight seminarians. By 2019, the number of youths had doubled to “all we could accommodate,” Father Olson said.

It’s impressive, he said, to see the number of priests and seminarians who give their time, support and enthusiasm to the Quo Vadis program, along with support from organizations, including hands-on and financial support from local Serra Clubs, which promote vocations.

Today, Quo Vadis Days continues the founding traditions, focusing on priesthood and prayer with some fun in the mix — “not just lecture and study,” Father Olson said.

His fondest memories from previous events are of the campers’ “impressive reflections on God’s faith and his call in their life” during discussions following the campfire rosary and prayer.

“Ultimately, what we wanted young guys to do was answer God’s call,” Father Olson said. “Broadly, the goal was finding God’s call in their life and his influence, to find joy in the Mass and the Church’s life.”

Bishop Eusebio Elizondo talks with campers Bishop Elizondo with campers outside the chapel at Camp Hamilton. Bishop Elizondo celebrated Mass with the campers during Quo Vadis Days. (Katie Kolbrick Photography)

‘A path to follow’

That’s what Matthew Ho found by attending three Quo Vadis Days.

“My first two years I wasn’t very close to the Church,” said Ho, a member of St. Stephen the Martyr Parish in Renton who also spends time at Vietnamese Martyrs Parish in Tukwila.

But during the pandemic, he studied the Bible and was confirmed. When he returned to Quo Vadis Days this year, Ho found good friends, met like-minded people who were open to deep discussion and made a discovery: “I truly love my religion,” he said.

Campers pray evening prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours during Quo Vadis Days at Camp Hamilton. (Katie Kolbrick Photography)

Ho, who will be too old to participate in Quo Vadis Days next year, encourages other young men to attend — and all young people to stay close to the Church after Confirmation.

“I want to share with other people that they have a path to follow,” he said.

Ho, Garcia and Roemhildt said they don’t see priesthood in their futures, but Father Olson said some participants do.

Although the archdiocese doesn’t track the number of participants who become priests, Father Ryan said at least two priests in the archdiocese — Father Ben Bray, priest administrator of Holy Trinity Parish in Bremerton, and Father Lou Cunningham, priest administrator of Sacred Heart Parish in Enumclaw — speak of the impact Quo Vadis Days had on their vocations.

Father Cunningham attended Quo Vadis Days yearly starting in 2005.

“It was great to be around priests who wanted to teach us how to pray,” Father Cunningham said, “to talk at our level and spur us forward, calling us to something.”

Father Lou Cunningham, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Enumclaw, displays the artwork on one of the many Quo Vadis Days T-shirts in his collection. He said he wears them under his cassock to remind him of his commitment to the priesthood and to spark conversation with youth. (Brenda Sexton)

One summer, he swam over to the vocations director and asked for an application to become a seminarian.

“I knew from that young age it was something that really stuck in my heart,” said Father Cunningham, who entered the seminary after graduating from high school in 2010 and was ordained in 2018.

Father Cunningham still wears his Quo Vadis T-shirts to remind him of his commitment to the priesthood and to spark conversation with youth.

“It’s the only shirt I wear under my cassock,” he said.

Learn more about becoming a priest in the archdiocese.