Scouting out the moral high ground
This Sunday’s second reading speaks of how endurance in faith produces “proven character.” Since its founding in 1910, the Boy Scouts of America has focused on character-building. Now that the organization is preparing to vote on whether . . .
The proposal, which would allow gay Scouts but continue to exclude gay adults as leaders, has the unanimous support of Boy Scouts’ top officials and will be voted on by the group’s 1,400-member national council on May 23. But elsewhere in the scouting ranks, there is dissension, particularly from faith-based groups that sponsor more than 70 percent of Boy Scout troops in the country.
The Boy Scouts’ leadership said it considered input from faith-based groups when shaping its policy. “We believe that this policy remains true to the virtues, the core principles of Scouting, not of any one religion, but of Scouting,” said BSA executive committee member Nathan Rosenberg in a webcast urging support for the plan.
Leaders from the Scouts’ largest faith-based sponsoring organization—the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—have said they will accept the new policy if it is implemented. But within the Scout’s second- and third-largest sponsors—the United Methodist Church and the Roman Catholic Church—reaction has been mixed.
As many as a quarter of the 273,000 Boy Scouts connected to Catholic-run troops could leave, some leaders estimate. Still, many Catholic parishes welcome the move to allow openly gay scouts into their troops. “If it changes, that’s fine with us. In fact, I’m hoping they do change it,” said Monsignor Donald Romito of St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Irvine, Calif. “We’re welcoming to everybody, and everybody’s welcome to join the Scouts. It wouldn’t impact our relationship with the troop at all.”
So far the group dedicated to preserving the church’s relationship with the Boy Scouts—the National Catholic Committee on Scouting—has been vague in its public statements regarding the proposed membership policy.
Homily hint: Does your faith community sponsor scouting? If so, how are the proposed changes viewed by members of the community? Though opinions may be divided, preparing the ground by discussing the issues and values involved will allow for a more informed and measured reaction.
Source: An article by Aaron Schrank for Religion News Service