CATHOLIC VOICES

Brian Evers, the associate director for Safe Environment in the Diocese of Albany, has had a long association with Pyramid Life Center, the Diocese’s 800-acre retreat center nestled in the Adirondacks. Evers went to programs there in his teens, was director of Camp Breakaway, and had a lifelong friendship with Sister Monica Murphy, the former director of Pyramid Life Center, who was tragically killed in a car accident last August. Evers is the new director of Pyramid Life Center and The Evangelist talked with him about his ties to the center, the legacy of Sister Monica and what is in store for 2020 in the latest installment of Catholic Voices.

TE: What do you expect this year at Pyramid Life?

BE: We have added a good number of things. And some are things Monica and I had always talked about. We are adding directed retreats; we are going to offer a weekend and then a full week. We have a lot of people in this Diocese who go on directed retreats and go to places like Eastern Point (Retreat House) in Gloucester, but for a lot of people, those are too expensive. And what we can offer is that we have really good spiritual directors in this Diocese; we have worked with Sister Kitty Hanley, who runs our spiritual direction program. And we have some really good spiritual directors who are ready and want to come for that. We are going to do a thing called “Dad’s Camp.” It’s a weekend where it’s disguised as camp but it’s really a retreat for dads and either their son or daughter, ages 8-12. They will fish together, swim together, hike together, but we also have a program where they will have time to just talk and grow as a family. That is a neat thing that has been in the works for a while. We have a lot of school groups that are coming; Catholic High is coming in April with their freshman which is nice because of (Sister Monica’s) connection to Catholic High. We are also doing something called “Camp Max.” And it is for kids who have a parent who has a substance-use disorder. … It’s free of charge for those kids and we are going to give them a camp experience for a couple of days. We think that will be a cool experience for those kids.

TE: Talk about the commitment it takes to be director of Pyramid Life?

BE: A summer day depends on the group. If we are cooking, besides being the director, you are the chief cook and we have a staff of mostly high-school age, young people and college-age young people. And if you have 150 people at camp, you are cooking three meals a day and also working on registrations. Sometimes it’s just sitting with someone and talking with them; they just want to chat. We have some older staffers who do carpentry, it could be working with them to build a staircase. You are occupied all the time. But at the same time, you have that commitment to those kids that are on our staff. It’s like having your own little youth group; you are teaching them. That’s another legacy we give is: (Monica) taught us and now we get to teach them. Every day, from my experience, is different.

TE: Talk about the beauty, spirituality that Pyramid life offers?

BE: For me, and a lot of others that I know, there’s no place better where they connect with God. We have close to 800 acres of Adirondack land and everything that is not ours is forever wild. Even if the place is full, you feel like you are the only one there because we have so many different places where folks can just be and reconnect. We have people that just stop in because they need to be there. I am a big believer in you can find God anywhere and you can find God in nature and for a lot of folks that’s what they do. They do find their spirituality there. I think we offer that and the hospitality that is offered there. Monica was super big on all are welcome no matter what and we obviously believe that.

TE: What does Camp Breakaway offer kids?

BE: We started Breakaway, this will be our sixth year, and we started it because during the CLI seven years ago, the registrations were extremely low and camp was literally 75 percent empty. I was there during that week and Monica and I were sitting in the dining hall having a conversation and because I was involved in the scheduling, we said we need to fill these; this was a prime week in the summer. And we just got to talking and I said, ‘What if we did something for middle-school kids at the same time that would complement it. (And she said) ‘Let me think about it.’ And a couple weeks later, she and I were sitting in those exact same seats and Beth (Thayer, the new director of Camp Breakaway) happened to be at Pyramid and (Monica) said, ‘Okay.’ God works in funny ways. We started it because we wanted to fill some space in camp and we had it the first summer and there were only 30 kids but it was a great experience for those kids just to be who they are. We disguise it as camp but it is an extremely powerful experience for them. And one of the nice parts is they can keep coming back. So this year it is for kids entering sixth grade, so your current fifth graders up through seniors. We have a separate program for the middle schoolers and we started a high school program last year to replace the previous high school program. You just sit sometimes in those rooms and you listen to those kids share their stories and we know that it is a safe place for them where they can build great friendships. This is not just one week in the summer for them. They gather all the time and have formed some of their best friendships. They can go deep in their faith and they can be open about it. There is no other experience like that.

TE: Do you have a favorite week? Or favorite spot?

BE: Breakaway for me is — in terms of working with kids — that’s my favorite week and I am close to it because I helped start it. And I know, at least for me personally and for a lot of the staff, we know that Monica — because she told us last summer — how proud she was of what we had done. It’s always going to have a special place in my heart. … I think every week brings its different experiences. We have several recovery programs and you sit and listen to people tell their story and the ways they built their lives back up. Every day it’s a powerful moment whether it’s just having a conversation with the kids in the kitchen or watching them go do something that they have absolutely no experience to do and they accomplish it. … My two favorite weekends are Memorial Day and Columbus Day, where we are full of volunteers who come on those holiday weeks to help open camp and close camp. And some of them have been coming forever and I have had the chance to know them for a long, long time … and they care about that place so much.

TE: What could you tell someone who has never been to Pyramid Life Center?

BE: Besides its beauty, we offer an environment where you can just be who you are and the peace that that brings no matter who you are, no matter what you are going through. I think it’s a place, once you have been there, you come back. And we always say it’s the best-kept secret in the Diocese, but we are trying to make it not a secret anymore. … You will see on Sunday, when people are supposed to leave, they can’t leave. They go back out in a kayak, they just sit and be. It’s the place but it’s also the people.