In 2015, Rob Masloski first volunteered at Extreme Faith Camp — which is now held at Trinity Woods Catholic Retreat Center in Trego, Wisconsin.
Now the faith formation director at St. Patrick in Oak Grove, Masloski this summer — for the first time — was the week lead at an Extreme Faith Camp.
Trinity Woods first opened in 2024, but Extreme Faith Camp has been going on since 2001.
During Masloski’s first Extreme Faith Camp 11 years ago, the camps were held in different places over different periods of time during the summer.
“When we were all kind of scattered, we were collaborative from week to week,” Masloski told “Practicing Catholic” co-hosts Leah Heselton and Father Tom Margevicius for an episode that debuts July 17 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM.
“The factors each week of camp for all the different parishes were so different that there were a lot of different things that we had to adjust and make work within the context that we had,” Masloski said. “As well, a lot of the places we were going to camp weren’t built for Catholic retreats. They were your typical camp locations where they don’t have a chapel, they don’t have most of the liturgical items that are needed to have Mass and all of those factors.”
Masloski said that once Trinity Woods opened all eight weeks of Extreme Faith Camp could be held at the same location with “missionaries that fundamentally understood the mission of Extreme Faith Camp.”
This summer, students from St. Patrick were at Extreme Faith Camp from June 29 to July 3.
“I got to go with all of our campers to camp and we had a particularly big week of camp,” Masloski said. “I think we had 360 people total at camp. Of course, St. Patrick’s is just a fraction of that. … We had a great week. This was my first year being back at St. Patrick’s, so kind of a new crop of students. (It was) a really great opportunity for me to really spend some significant time with our young people and to partner with some of our adult chaperones and things.”
To hear more from Masloski about his experiences at Extreme Faith Camp, listen to this episode of “Practicing Catholic,” which repeats at 1 p.m. July 18 and 2 p.m. July 19.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest episode also features Tim and Helen Healy, founders of Trinity Woods who helped create the nonprofit Minnesota Catholic Youth Partnership, which purchased the property.
Listen to interviews after they have aired at practicingcatholicshow.com or choose a streaming platform at Spotify for Podcasters.
Editor’s note: This version corrects the ownership of Trinity Woods in the penultimate paragraph.
