By Andrew Winter
for the Register
The annual diocesan canoe trip is celebrating its 30th anniversary this summer.
In 1995, Father Ronald Homes led the first group of young people from the Diocese of Lincoln on a three-day trip of adventure on the Niobrara River. This summer, he again is leading more than 100 students on back-to-back trips, starting in Valentine, and moving about 25 miles downstream.
The annual event began with the cancellation of a TEC retreat in McCook in 1995. As a consolation prize to the disappointed retreat students, Father Homes decided to go canoeing. The next summer he opened the trip to students throughout the diocese, and it only grew from there.
In recent years, the canoe trip has consistently drawn close to 200 students from all over Nebraska, not to mention priests and adult chaperones. Father Homes still cooks for the campers himself, and many Catholics from around the diocese volunteer their time in organizing the trip, as well as their resources in donating food.
Longtime volunteer Dotti Easter of Nebraska City raved about the beauty of the trip – both physical and spiritual.
“The Niobrara River Valley truly is a Nebraska state treasure,” she said. “You can see God’s hands at work in the beauty of this valley.” She added that since the trip is conducted on weekdays, “it’s like having a river almost all to ourselves.”
But she said the canoe trip is a great combination of recreation and faith.
“It’s the daily Masses on the riverbanks,” she said. “It’s the evening rosaries said with specific intentions. It’s listening to talks about faith and being led by God. It’s hearing about discernment and God’s plans for your life. It’s traveling down the river and marveling at God’s glory. It’s stopping at breathtaking waterfalls. It’s the camaraderie of all the campers.”
This summer, the first trip will take place July 6-8 and the second July 8-10. The first trip is already nearly full, while the second has many slots still open. Registration is open to rising high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors (no incoming freshmen), as well as college students. Adults willing to drive to Valentine and chaperone during the trip are needed, and Father Homes especially stressed a need for drivers from Lincoln, as many students from Pius X in Lincoln take the trip every year.
But he also gave his strategy for finding enough Lincoln drivers: “What I need to do is get my Aquinas students (in David City) and my Nebraska City ones to sign up immediately… so they can get in before more Pius people get in,” he quipped.
The cost for the trip is $110 per student and $60 per adult chaperone. Registration closes June 27. To learn more and register, visit https://lincolndiocese.regfox.com/04-ym-2025-canoe-trip.
Giving the students ample opportunity to receive the sacraments is vital to the canoe trip, Father Homes said, so many priests always accompany the trip. He mentioned Father Jason Doher, Father Troy Schweiger, and Father Harlan Waskowiak as among those most consistently present on the canoe trip. He estimated eight to 10 priests come to hear confessions.
“It’s a family atmosphere, because so many of us have done it so many times. It’s like family, and actually, the way we run it is more like a family vacation than an institution.” Father Homes said.
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Courtesy photos
Easter mentioned many others who have helped with the canoe trip for years. For example, Doug and Chris Kavan – whose son Mike was a camper years ago and attends now as an adult – are not only camp cooks, Easter said, but the camp “engineers.” They, with Father Homes, built a trailer to bring all the food, two deep freezers, a refrigerator, griddles/grills, tables, electrical cords, hoses, and all the supplies, including food, that will be needed for 200 campers.
The trailer is pulled to the campsite by Jeff Slupe, who takes his summer vacation each year to go on the trip.
“Within an hour, the primitive site is made to have running water, electricity, a microwave, fridge and freezers,” Easter said. “Without people like Jeff, this trip would not be possible.”
Easter encouraged those who might want to assist to contact Father Homes for details.
“Come and camp with us,” she said. “You don’t have to canoe! If you don’t want to camp, but would like to drive, come and bring or pick up a carload of campers.”
James O’Neil will be on his 11th trip this summer, having first attended as a sophomore in high school.
“It was my first real experience of the diocese,” he said. “It was the first time it really sank in for me that the Church was bigger than my own school and community.”
He said there were kids from other schools, and songs and prayers he hadn’t heard before.
“So that ‘bigger’ quality of the faith really came alive. And that trip became a springboard for many other things. I really think the canoe trip was one of the biggest influences on coming to take my faith personally and seriously.”
He continued, “Some of the people I met on those first trips are still close friends to this day, and some of the students I’ve driven in recent years keep coming back. I don’t even like camping, but I love the canoe trip!”
Father Homes said he knows no canoe trip would be a success without the help of God, and he said that the Blessed Virgin Mary is the patroness of the trip each year.
“From the very beginning of the canoe trip, where we get everybody together, I always entrust the camp to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and I’ll do that every single day at the beginning of the day.”
And thanks to the watchful care of the Mother of God, the canoe trip has been a success for 30 years.
But Father Homes understands that a true adventure is never a neatly tied bundle for the adventurers.
“We go by the motto of organized chaos,” he said.
