Students pray at school in spirit of law Local group of Fellowship of Christian Athletes ‘huddles’ at Rockport high before class

ROCKPORT – It’s close to 7:30 a.m. on a Thursday, and a half-dozen students and three teachers are gathered in a classroom at Camden Hills Regional High School.

The lights have been turned off, and a candle is lit.

Heads bow, eyes close, and the candle is passed. As each accepts the candle, he or she offers a prayer. Some invoke the name of Christ. After a group “amen,” the lights are turned back on, the students gather up their books and leave, as do the teachers.

It’s not some clandestine prayer group, operating beneath the radar of school authorities, but rather a legitimate Christian organization, functioning well within the letter – and the spirit – of the law covering religion and public schools.

The group meeting at Camden Hills is a chapter of the national Fellowship of Christian Athletes, a nondenominational organization founded in 1954. Chapters are common in schools throughout the South, but are relatively new in Maine.

Any formal or informal group of students with or without teachers is free to gather to pray or study religious material inside school walls, relying on a Reagan-era measure that allows religious student groups equal access to school facilities enjoyed by other clubs.

The Camden Hills chapter – or “huddle,” as FCA calls them – is coordinated by teacher Steve Moro and meets in his classroom. On Thursday mornings, a small group meets to plan the full-membership meetings on Tuesday mornings. The full group meets about three dozen times during the year.

Moro said that as long as teachers do not recruit for the group, or become its leader, the law is satisfied.

Greg Scott, the state Department of Education’s legislative coordinator, said a U.S. Supreme Court case clarified the status of faith-based groups’ use of schools. If public schools allow public groups to use the building, the court said, and a group like FCA fits the school’s guidelines for users of the school, then there is no conflict with laws covering religion in schools, he said.

The local chapter was formed seven years ago, due in large part to then-student Jessica Stammen, now 22 and a basketball player at Cooper Union in New York, and her father.

Stammen’s father, Tom Stammen, said that seven years ago, while employed as the school district’s business manager and as a junior varsity basketball coach, he noticed players in televised college and NBA games – a few from each team – gathering in huddles after games to pray.

He learned that the athletes were members of FCA. So he searched the Web for information on starting a chapter.

This year, some of the regular student members don’t have to be in school until after 8 a.m. because of a first-period study hall, yet get up early on Tuesdays for FCA meetings.

On average, 20 to 30 attended in the early years. Though FCA is organized around sports, nonathletes frequently attended, Jessica Stammen said. And no denomination is stressed over another; in fact, Moro said, very little about individual churches is mentioned.

The full membership meetings draw two dozen or so students each week, Moro said.

Regular meetings have some rituals, the students explain. At the outset, a ball is tossed to a representative of a team – say, to a boy on the basketball squad – and he gives the group a quick report about recent games, injuries or upcoming contests. The ball is then tossed to a representative of another team, and so on.

After the reports are done, students may consume some coffee, juice and a doughnut. Then a skit might follow or a quick game of Bible Jeopardy.

The meeting closes with prayer, and – in just 25 minutes – the gathering is over, and students and teachers are out the door to start their days in the bustling high school.

The huddles have no dues, no official roster and no attendance records, and Moro does not receive a stipend for his efforts.

But one thing FCA is firm about: the group is “Christ-centered.” Its values are:

. Integrity, demonstrated through Christ-like wholeness.

. Serving, modeled on Jesus’ example.

. Teamwork, expressed in unity in Christ in all relationships.

. Excellence, by honoring and glorifying God in all things members do.

Peter Johnson, a senior at Camden Hills, said FCA has been a support group for him as a Christian in a secular school, “so when you see people in the hall [who attend meetings], you can say, ‘Hey, how’s it going?'”