About us - History

Chapter 1: The Forming of BACCLC

Chapter 2: Organization Structure and Support Team

Chapter 3: Leading to a California State-wide Living Camp

Chapter 1: The Forming of BACCLC

Chinese Catholic Living Camp (CCLC) is a term first used by the Eastern Canada Chinese Catholic Community (ECCC), for its annual conference that was founded in 1977 by Rev. Bob Seguin and a group of young Chinese Catholics from Toronto and Windsor. The original goal for this annual conference was to target young Chinese Catholics, especially Cantonese students in Eastern Canada, to have an opportunity to get together for fellowship and spiritual growth. Through activities and spiritual sharing in their own dialect, young Chinese Catholics could enhance spiritual growth and the practice of living a Christian life with the same background. In 1983, the name of the annual conference held in Eastern Canada changed to "Living Camp" to distinguish its difference than a retreat, and to emphasize its livelier nature and interactive activities during the event. It has been called the Eastern Canada Chinese Catholic Living Camp (ECCCLC) since then.

The idea of "Living Camp" reached Western Canada in the late 1990s. Two previous ECCCLC participants, Odilia Lee and Gus Yam, brainstormed the idea of holding a Western California Chinese Catholic Living Camp (WCCCLC). WCCCLC would hold the same mission and objective as ECCCLC, but serving the Western Canada region. In 1997, the first WCCCLC was founded by a group of young adults from a cell group in Vancouver. Many of the young adults who have been to ECCCLC before have also joined this camp, including a group from the Seattle Chinese Community. WCCCLC invited Fr. Denis Kong, S.D.B. as the Spiritual Director and Speaker of the camp.

Fr. Denis Kong brought the idea of "Living Camp" to the Bay Area in California. He witnessed how great the living camps were in Canada and thought the young Chinese Catholics in the Bay Area would also benefit from an event like this. He started recruiting from the major Chinese Catholic Communities in the Bay Area, including the Sts. Peter and Paul Church in San Francisco and St. Leo the Great Church in Oakland. With Philip Ho as the Overall Coordinator of the newly formed team, the first Bay Area Chinese Catholic Living Camp (BACCLC) was held in 1998, a year after WCCCLC started. It was not until 1999 that all three living camps (ECCCLC, WCCCLC, and BACCLC) were held at the same time, the Labor Day long weekend in North America.

Past Camps

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The theme for each year's camp is different; it is formulated by every year's Executive Committee (ExCo) and Spiritual Director, depending on the Spiritual Director's expertise and the current needs of the young adults.

Mission and Objectives

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Chapter 2: Organization Structure and Support Team

When BACCLC started in 1998, the founders used the same organization structure as ECCCLC and WCCCLC in forming an Executive Committee (ExCo). Exco consists of Coordinators with different responsibilities in the camp, and each Coordinator forms their own support team. In the first couple of years of BACCLC, Coordinators in the ExCo are not clearly divided into a specific help area. It was common that a Coordinator may have overlapping duties and responsible for more than one area in the camp. In 2000, job responsibilities were well divided and developed into different teams headed by a Coordinator.

The first three BACCLCs (1998-2000) were sponsored by various local Chinese Catholic Communities and ExCo members were also recruited from across the Bay Area. Each Chinese Catholic Community from a parish would put aside some funds to support their young adults to participate in BACCLC. Participants paid their portion for the cost of accommodation and meals at the camp site, and the miscellaneous cost was subsidized by their parishes¡¦ funds. Around the year 2000, the Chinese Ministry in the Archdiocese of San Francisco officially incorporated BACCLC into its ministry. The Director of the Ethnic Ministries, Sr. Maria Hsu, FdCC, became the Spiritual Advisor of BACCLC. Since 2000, Sr. Maria Hsu has been BACCLC's Spiritual Advisor in providing guidance and financial support to each year's ExCo. With Chinese Ministry's sponsorship, a financial system for BACCLC was set up to insure donations and expenses were recorded properly, so the fund was able to pass down to a new ExCo every year.

Here is an organizational chart for BACCLC from 1998 to 2004:


As shown from the above organization chart, the Administration Coordinator acted as Overall Coordinator's assistant, supporting all of the administrative duties for BACCLC including design, web publishing, and registration duties. In 2005, the Overall Coordinator Kenneth Tan saw the need to have a separate coordinator to handle the design duties, so that the Administration Coordinator responsibilities would not be overwhelming for any individual. Hence, the position of Design Coordinator was created in the year 2005 as part of the Executive Committee.

In 2006, the Overall Coordinator Helen Lau introduced a support team from Southern California to be part of the ExCo. This support team was called the Southern California Core Support (SCCS) and led by an active member Nicholas Lau at the St. Bridget Chinese Catholic Community Young Adult Group in Los Angeles. SCCS functioned as a mini-ExCo in Southern California, assisting in promotions, fundraising, and registration in the Southern California region. SCCS was also in charge of organizing Taize during BACCLC 2006. This was the first step made to promote BACCLC as a state-wide event and to encourage involvement from young Chinese Catholics in Southern California. (More details will be discussed in the next section, Leading to a California State-wide Living Camp.) SCCS reported directly to the Overall Coordinator to work hand-in-hand in supporting BACCLC with the Northern California ExCo.

Here is an organizational chart for BACCLC from 2005-2006:



Organization chart for SCCS (Southern California Core Support) in 2006:


When it has reached the 10th year of BACCLC in 2007, the concept of having a Northern California and Southern California Executive Committees passed onto the Overall Coordinator of 2007, Ricki Hung. Ricki Hung and Nicholas Lau further developed in involving more young Catholics in Southern California. It was for the purpose to prepare the formation of a living camp in the Southern California region. In the same year, Web support branched off from the Administration team to be a semi-independent team itself, headed by a Web Coordinator who directly reports to the Overall Coordinator.

Here is an organization chart for BACCLC 2007:


A new organization chart will be effective with its name changed from BACCLC to CACCLC in the year 2008.

Chapter 3: Leading to a California State-wide Living Camp

Southern California Chinese young adults have been an important part of BACCLC since 2003, with a gradual increase every year on the attendance rate. They made up an estimate of 15% of all of the campers in 2003, and to about 45% at the year of 2007. The Executive Committees over the years have noticed the change and realized how BACCLC has been evolving into a California state-wide living camp. That is precisely why in the year of 2006, the Overall Coordinator Helen Lau made implementations to the planning team to include a Southern California Core Support group, to involve and provide support to BACCLC participants in the Southern California. Likewise, in 2007, the Overall Coordinator Ricki Hung invited some of the Southern California participants to be part of the ExCo.

The reason behind having a state-wide living camp in California is simple. As the number of participants in the living camp from Southern California increases, there is a need to make the living camp more readily available to young Catholics in Southern California for their spiritual enrichment. By alternating the venue of the living camp in Northern and Southern California each year, more young Catholics can then benefit from the living camp in both locations. It is the hope that such expansion would attract more young people in Southern California, where many university campuses are located, while maintaining the leveling growth in the number of participants in Northern California.

Over the last 10 years, the Chinese Catholic Living Camp has fulfilled its purpose and objectives to serve young Catholics with the help of our Lord in the Bay Area. With the growth of participants from Southern California and for their spiritual needs, making the living camp a state-wide event is an organic development that will only expand and manifest its ministry to more people in California.

Co-written by Helen Lau and Eddy Kwong
References and Consultants:
Philip Ho (1998 BACCLC Overall Coordinator)
Helen Lau (2003 Music Coordinator, 2006 Overall Coordinator)
Roque Remedios (2003 Administration Coordinator)
Shamson Wong (BACCLC Participant Since 1998, Active Group Leader)