The St. Michael the Archangel Youth Center, dedicated Sept. 8, 2024, at Camp Howard, is a multipurpose building for Mass, performances, movies, and meetings which will be a home of joy and faith for the next 100 years. Executive Director Sister Krista von Borstel, SSMO, states, “Our donors were very generous in their gifts for this building, knowing it would be the heart of the camp and provide experiences which are transformational for our youth.” St. Michael’s strong biblical inspiration and spiritual strength, much needed today, inspired the youth center’s namesake. 

 The building sits on a large, elevated, natural open-space area. Douglas firs from the camp’s fallen trees were milled on site that saved $150,000 during the building’s construction. The exterior cast concrete plaza, modeled after the famed Chartres Cathedral’s labyrinth in France, offers a serene space for reflection and contemplation. Sister Krista adds, “Comfort and warmth are now highlighted at our camp with St. Michael the Archangel through fireplaces, comfortable and flexible seating and ‘elegant simplicity’. The Youth Center speaks to the spiritual side of our being.” Its design allows staff to create any environment needed. This new building will play a major part in our new Catholic OutDoor Education (CODE) program. Father Peter O’Brien, pastor of churches in Lebanon, Scio, and Jefferson, handmade the altar, ambo, four tables, and three chairs for liturgy. 

 Designed by Soderstrom Architects and built by O’Brien, the collaboration’s outstanding expertise, leadership, and teamwork brought the St. the Archangel Youth Center from concept to reality. This “crown jewel” of the Camp is the newest building completing a $15 million capital campaign and development effort which also includes Mary's Lodge Dining Hall and the Elsie Franz Finley Welcome Center. Come visit Camp Howard and get a close-up view of this very special place. 

Photo credit: Stephanie Phillips, O'Brien

The St. Michael the Archangel Youth Center, dedicated this summer at Camp Howard, is a multipurpose building for Mass, performances, movies and meetings. It “speaks to the spiritual side of our being,” says Sister Krista von Borstel, longtime executive director of CYO/Camp Howard. “I hope people will appreciate our desire to make the very best use of the building while honoring our Lord with a very special place to say Mass at the camp.”

Why name it after St. Michael the Archangel? “St Michael offers such strong biblical inspiration, and we need strength in the world now,” says Sister Krista. This last of the four major camp buildings is away from the clanging of the kitchen. It offers a large open space that evokes the woods via exposed Douglas fir timbers from fallen trees at camp that were milled on site by Karen von Borstel, the multi-skilled property manager.

The new building will play a major part in Catholic outdoor education being set up by staffer Erin Cahill. On the spiritual side, the altar, ambo, four tables, and three chairs for liturgy were handmade by Father Peter O’Brien, pastor of churches in Lebanon, Scio and Jefferson.

An 80-foot-wide sliding glass door system that opens onto an outdoor plaza creates a connection between inside and outside that is just right for a spiritual building at a camp.

Crosses figure prominently in the design, and a 40-foot in diameter labyrinth modeled on the one at Chartres Cathedral in France is poured in concrete in the plaza.