Special Session

Special Session is a week-long camp for mentally and physically challenged people.  It is held during the week of July 4 each year at Camp McDowell. 

The Rt. Rev. Kee Sloan, Alabama's Suffragan Bishop, is very clear: his experiences as a teenager and young adult at Special Session in the Diocese of Mississippi defined his spiritual life.  When he arrived at St. Thomas in Alabama in 1993, he immediately began to dream of bringing Special Session to Camp McDowell, the Diocese of Alabama's summer camp and conference center.

It wasn't easy.  The camp's summer schedule was full and there was no time slot for a new session. McDowell traditionally closed the week of July 4, and the summer staff went home for a break.  That was the only available time.  So in 1998, during this only possible week, the first Special Session happened, with about 20 campers, 17 teenage counselors, and 7-8 adults.  It was a mess.  We were novices (everyone but Kee), in way over our heads, with no idea what we were doing.  The week finally ended, the campers had a great time, the staff survived, and we knew what we needed to improve for 1999-EVERYTHING!!!  

We've been improving it every year since.  Several of us-adults and teenagers alike-spend every July 4 week at Camp McDowell.  We pay our own way to work incredibly hard in the heat of July, learning anew every year that it is in giving that we receive.  In 2008 we had 93 campers, 65 teenage counselors, and 40-some adult support staff.  Special Session is a diocesan event now, and people come from all over the country to be part of it.  

Many of the campers return every year and have become our friends.  For some, Special Session is the only vacation they get.  When it works, Bishop Kee likes to say, it's like making gumbo; we each start the week as different individuals, but over the week as the "gumbo" simmers, we lose our rough edges and become part of something bigger than ourselves.  We become better together than we could ever be alone.  We live the Gospel of Radical Inclusion. That's Special Session!  

Glimpse the Gospel of Radical Inclusion. Watch "Do I Make You Proud."  (Requires Quicktime 7.  Download)

On the final night of Special Session 2008, Camp Director Kee Sloan took time to speak with the EpiscoPatter about the experience.  Listen

For more information about Special Session call the church office, or visit http://www.dioala.org/dave/episcopatter.html or www.campmcdowell.com.