PONTIAC — “God’s love saves us.”

That was the message dozens of young visitors to the house of St. Paul were asked by the apostle to spread to Christians living in fear around Rome.

Only this wasn’t Rome. It was Pontiac. And St. Paul’s “house” was really a portion of the kindergarten room at St. Mary’s School.

And St. Paul? That was diocesan seminarian Matthew Hoelscher, who is serving at the parish this summer.

The message, however, is as true in 21st century Pontiac as it was in first century Rome. And it was only one lesson of faith successfully transmitted to and through the 86 participants in St. Mary’s Vacation Bible School during a weeklong focus on “Paul and the Underground Church.”

The Pontiac effort was one of many Vacation Bible Schools taking place around the Diocese of Peoria this summer. The educational and fun efforts always depend on the contributions of volunteers, and at St. Mary’s it took 58 adults and older students to transform the school into the streets of Rome June 22-26.

It was a perfect way to end the Catholic Church’s year dedicated to St. Paul, according to Karen Peissig, CCD coordinator who headed up the project.

She said she chose the theme “because it seemed to challenge the kids in their faith and what it really meant to be a Christian back in the first century.”

“Because of people standing up for the faith then, we are where we are today,” she said.