Not Just Churches: Camps Are Also Prone to Child Sexual Abuse

(RNS) — Day and overnight camps are a staple of summer, a welcome relief for working parents. 

But they can also present opportunities for sexual predators.

Last week, Noah Paradis, 19, a staffer at a LifeWay camp in Arizona, was arrested on five counts of inappropriate touching. 

The abuse allegedly took place during CentriKid Camp, which was held at the Bison Ranch Retreat Center in Overgaard, Ariz. Paradis is accused of abusing two children at the five-day, four-night camp for third through sixth graders. 

Paradis was being held in the Navajo County Jail in Holbrook on no bond as of Monday (June 17). He is a Georgia resident.

The camp is a ministry of LifeWay, an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. This year, LifeWay anticipates more than 122,000 children from 40 states will attend one of its summer camps or mission projects. 

“We are heartbroken for the victims and the victims’ families,” said LifeWay acting CEO Brad Waggoner. “Our primary concern is the safety and wellbeing of all our camp participants. We are grieved that someone representing LifeWay would behave in this manner and abuse their position of authority with a child.”

The arrest on Thursday came one day after the SBC ended its annual meeting, dominated this year by discussions on countering sexual abuse in churches. It passed…