Justice Together Camp
Climate, Identity, Community
Sunday, July 20 - Saturday, July 26, 2025
Pilgrim Lodge, West Gardiner, Maine
For Campers Entering Grades 9-12 & New Graduates
$560.00 - $795.00
Tiered Pricing
During this unique and powerful week, campers will have the opportunity to explore themes of justice through the lens of imagination, kinship, eco-grief and the common good. Together, we will delve into the deeply interconnected justice issues that impact our own communities, our identities, and within the context of a climate-changed world. We hope to honestly engage the world as it is, as well as the world we are longing to make manifest.
While spending a week on Lake Cobbosseecontee in West Gardiner, ME, campers will befriend, honor, and learn from the lake and forest where Pilgrim Lodge is located, while being invited to hold an imaginative posture — expanding their vision from what is, to what if. Campers can expect to cultivate embodied, justice-seeking practices; to learn about climate science as it relates to Maine’s ecosystems and watersheds; and to build deep and supportive peer relationships.
In addition, campers will enjoy all that camp has to offer, such as swimming, boating, singing, crafting, playing games, enjoying cookouts, savoring ice cream, spending time with old and new friends, and so much more!
While Pilgrim Lodge is a camp of the United Church of Christ with deep roots and sacred symbolism from the Christian tradition woven throughout its identity, Justice Together is a multifaith program that has been created for young people of diverse cultural and religious backgrounds to engage in meaningful conversations that respect the spiritual and religious paths of all campers. Pilgrim Lodge has counselors and staff representing a variety of faith traditions, including atheist and agnostic. All of these pathways are honored and celebrated. Our Sacred Gathering times carve out space to be still, to engage one another’s stories, to sing, and to enjoy the beauty of nature and community.
We are thrilled to invite you to this bold (and fun!) exploration of who we might choose to be in these turbulent times as we work to build communities that protect both people and our beloved planet.
Justice Together Camp is offered as a partnership between Pilgrim Lodge and The BTS Center.
Meet the Deans for Justice Together Camp
Madeline Bugeau-Heartt serves at The BTS Center as a Program Associate. She is a graduate of the Harvard Divinity School and NYU Tisch School of the Arts. A longtime experimental theater and film-maker, Madeline is passionate about creating spaces for people to tap into their kindest, most imaginative selves, especially as we navigate this radical transition that our beloved, climate-changed world demands. She draws from this artistry, her “catholic-adjacent” mysticism, as well as her past-lives as farmer and caregiver to practice into better ways of being with others. When not working, Madeline can be found taking lengthy walks, spending time with her cherished family and friends, and lifting weights; she is forever cooking up new ways to build neighborhood in her home of Belfast, Maine and beyond.
As a life-long Pilgrim Lodge camper, then counselor and dean, Erin Shultz is excited to see her professional life as an environmental educator join with the love she has for Pilgrim Lodge. Working as the Program Manager for The Ecology School in Saco, ME, Erin is dedicated to helping young people connect to nature and learning in an outdoor setting, and mentoring young professional educators to teach in this setting. She loves to snowshoe, ski, kayak and walk when outside, and loves to find a good book and cup of tea to curl up inside. Erin considers herself an Ocean Optimist, hopeful for the future of marine and ecosystem conservation.
Meet Pilgrim Lodge
Pilgrim Lodge, owned and operated by the Maine Conference of the United Church of Christ, is a seasonal retreat center and summer camp located on Lake Cobbosseecontee in West Gardiner, Maine. Campers come to Pilgrim Lodge for one-week sessions in the summer, each session geared toward a particular age group. Pilgrim Lodge offers fun and meaningful programming in addition to all the familiar camp activities such as arts and crafts, swimming, boating, nature education, music, and games. The Pilgrim Lodge experience is rich and rewarding for campers, volunteers, and staff. All people who strive for a just world are welcome at Pilgrim Lodge and integral to our mission, regardless of faith journey, age, gender identity or expression, ethnicity, skin color, ability, sexual orientation, income, citizenship status, or any other similar labels. We live our faith through serving children, groups, and families of all backgrounds with the same loving grace that has been so freely given to us.
Meet The BTS Center
With roots dating back to 1814, The BTS Center is a private foundation in Portland, Maine, building on the legacy of the former Bangor Theological Seminary. Today The BTS Center seeks to catalyze spiritual imagination, with enduring wisdom, for transformative faith leadership by offering theologically grounded programs of continuing education and spiritual / vocational formation, including workshops and retreats, learning cohorts, courses, public conversations, and projects of applied research, all focused around cultivating and nurturing spiritual leadership for a climate-changed world.
