As the reconciliation process continues at Shrine Mont Camps, Diocese of Virginia Bishop E. Mark Stevenson recently announced four key goals for renewal and growth.
Reconciliation began in early 2025 in response to those who have experienced conflict with others in the Shrine Mont Camps community and the Diocese. The diocese published an update and call for reconciliation and conducted healing phase sessions. A new camp director, Greg Randall, was called in summer 2025. Each step in reconciliation is rooted in the Gospel’s call to love, listen, and care for one another as members of one body in Christ.
“We are rebuilding trust and strengthening bonds,” Stevenson said in a video message, in conversation with The Rev. Beth Franklin, a longtime priest in the Diocese who grew up as a Shrine Mont camper. “This process is a gift for the entire Diocese — an example of what it means to live as a reconciling people.”
Four Goals for Renewal and Growth
Shrine Mont Camps is embracing four key goals — each rooted in faith and community:
1. Creating a Safe and Nurturing Environment
Campers and staff are committed to caring for one another in spaces that are physically, emotionally, and spiritually safe. “One where everyone feels secure and seen,” Stevenson said.
2. Training Staff and Chaplains to Model Christ’s Love
Staff and chaplains are receiving extensive training to live out values that Jesus taught: radical welcome, empathy, and inclusion. “We’re raising up leaders who show our campers what it means to live as disciples who embody grace and compassion,” Franklin said.
3. Encouraging Growth Through Formative Experiences
Campers are engaging in fun, challenging, and faith-filled experiences that nurture both heart and spirit. “Our camps are evolving with the times, but our goal remains the same — to offer a good, healthy, Spirit-filled experience to every camper,” Stevenson said.
4. Strengthening Connections with Congregations and the Wider Church
The hope is that each camper and family will feel more connected to their home congregations, the Diocese, and the wider Episcopal community through their camp experience. “Shrine Mont is a family,” said Franklin. “As that family grows, our faith connections deepen.”
Renewing a Beloved Place Apart
For more than 60 years, Shrine Mont Camps has been a sacred place in the mountains of Virginia — a place where laughter, faith, and friendship meet under open skies.
Shrine Mont Camps is the overarching name for a collection of individual camp programs, each one distinguished by a unique name and number of sessions. In 2026, Shrine Mont Camps offers 15 different camp sessions for children ages 7-17.
But like any long-standing community, there are seasons of challenge and change. Shrine Mont is in a season of healing, reflection, and renewal.
“Reconciliation is one of those church words we’re all supposed to know,” Franklin said. “But what does it really look and feel like?”
Stevenson responded with a passage from the Book of Common Prayer: “the ministry of reconciliation is exercised through the care each Christian has for others.”
“Often we think reconciliation means making everything all better again,” he said. “But from a Christian perspective, it’s about remembering that we are created to care for one another — even when we disagree. It’s in our spiritual DNA.”
Healing Through Listening
The reconciliation process brought together past and present campers, staff, and leaders to share their experiences — the joys, the challenges, and the hurts.
They sat face-to-face, often in pairs, and practiced deep listening. Sometimes it was direct conversation about specific moments of pain; other times, one person spoke on behalf of a larger group.
“The power was in hearing firsthand the lived experiences of others — and then having the courage to say, ‘I need you to listen again,’” Franklin said. “That kind of honesty and vulnerability builds trust and opens the way for healing.”
Bishop Stevenson agreed: “It wasn’t about pretending things didn’t happen. It was about seeing clearly — through the lens of God’s love and grace — so that we can move forward together.”
Both leaders emphasized that reconciliation is not a one-time event but an ongoing commitment.
“We know that hurts will happen,” Franklin said. “Living in community is hard. But we now have the tools — and the spiritual maturity — to address those hurts in ways that bring healing.”
A Call to Prayer and Community
As Shrine Mont Camps prepares for 2026 summer camps, the Diocese invites all members to join in prayer “for Shrine Mont Camps and all who participate — past, present, and future — that our time together may be a healthy, Spirit-filled experience on the mountain.”
In every song, campfire, and quiet moment of reflection, the Diocese’s hope is that campers and leaders alike will remember their shared calling: To love as Jesus loves, to seek reconciliation where there is hurt, and to build a community where all belong.