Scout Sunday (Boy Scouts go to "church" as a group)

[St_Francis]

So, Scout Sunday is coming up. Since we live in a rural part of the Bible Belt, there are lots of Protestant places to go, but the Catholic church is far away. The Scout leader wants all the scouts in my son’s troop to go to the Protestant eccelsial community which sposors the troop. So… surely We are not the first Catholic family to find ourselves in this situation! What do others do?

Thanks!!!

 

[mellowcalico]

I am not sure on this, but maybe it would be possible to go to Saturday vigil to fulfill your obligation and then go to the Scout Sunday on Sunday. Maybe ask your priest to be sure.

 

[Zekariya]

So, Scout Sunday is coming up. Since we live in a rural part of the Bible Belt, there are lots of Protestant places to go, but the Catholic church is far away. The Scout leader wants all the scouts in my son’s troop to go to the Protestant eccelsial community which sposors the troop. So… surely We are not the first Catholic family to find ourselves in this situation! What do others do?

Thanks!!!

What would the Scout leader do if one scout was Jewish? This is wrong. There should be freedom of religion.

 

[janet1025]

My family attends the Saturday vigil at our church and then the episcopalian church for scout Sunday. We do this as a way to thank the host church. Our scout group reaches out to all of the churches in our town to see if any would be interested in having a mass. Since our involvement (6 years) the only church willing to have scout mass is the Episcopalian Church. Some of our groups are hosted at the catholic church and some in the Methodist church but they are not interested in hosting a Scout Mass.

 

[SonCatcher]

What would the Scout leader do if one scout was Jewish? This is wrong. There should be freedom of religion.

There is. The Scouts only require that their members profess a religion but absolutely prohibit any form of sectarianism.

That said, events conducted with the chartering organization are encouraged. When I was involved, Scout Sunday was at the Protestant church around th block from my parish. I didn’t perceive any conflict because I was there in official capacity.

One of the boys in my troop was Jewish, BTW. I don’t recall him ever having a problem with any of the events tied to religion. In fact, the only time his religion came up was when a (Protestant) council executive expressed concern about how to behave in the synagogue where my friend was to receive his Eagle Scout badge. (He only needed to be reminded of the twelfth point of the Scout Law to understand - “reverent”).

 

[1ke]

where I am from, scouts go to their own church on Scout Sunday and are usually wearing their scout uniform and get some sort of recognition from the pulpit.

I would not take my child to the EC. I would attend Mass as usual. If there are others in his troop who are Catholic, perhaps you could sit together at Mass, wear uniforms, and ask the pastor to give them a blessing.

 

[RoseMary131]

So, Scout Sunday is coming up. Since we live in a rural part of the Bible Belt, there are lots of Protestant places to go, but the Catholic church is far away. The Scout leader wants all the scouts in my son’s troop to go to the Protestant eccelsial community which sposors the troop. So… surely We are not the first Catholic family to find ourselves in this situation! What do others do?

Thanks!!!

We often attend the Scout Sunday event offered by the Protestant Church which charter’s our Boy Scout Troop. (Reminding Catholic boys that they should not participate in “communion” at the Protestant Church.) We do not substitute this for our obligation for Sunday Mass. We still attend Mass.

We sometimes arrange to have “Scout Sunday” listed in our Catholic Parish bulletin. We often wear our Scout uniform to Mass, even if we did not have Scout Sunday listed in the bulletin. We ask Father after Mass to have his picture with our Scout or group if other Scouts are with us.

No Scout should be “required” to attend Scout Sunday - only invited.

We also always make sure our Scout can attend Mass on weekend Scout trips.

 

[ThyKingdomCome]

My ds’s boy scout troop is sponsored by the Catholic church near my house (which is not our regular parish). My ds will go to Mass at this church, and now our own parish. But there are plenty of non-Catholic kids in the troop, and those boys will not attend the Mass. Whether they wear their uniforms to their own churches probably depends on if their particular churches are also honoring scout Sunday. If I were in your situation, I would not bring my child to the protestant services, because I wouldn’t want him being a part of protestant services. The only reasons I would allow my kids to attend protestant services would be to attend a wedding, a funeral, or something equally important. I would be willing to let him staff a table outside of the place where the services are taking place, but I would be more likely to tell the scout leader that it interfered with our ability to go to Mass and that therefore we can’t attend.

 

[SamH]

What would the Scout leader do if one scout was Jewish? This is wrong. There should be freedom of religion.

There is religious freedom, there is no law compelling them to go.

Why not attend the church that is sponsoring them?

 

[St_Francis]

So it seems there is a variety of actions that people take Thanks so much for all your answers!

 

[Allegra]

Well, it makes sense for the troop to attend a service at the church that is sponsoring it. Most of the families I know don’t enroll their child in a troop that is sponsored by a church they don’t attend, so I’m not sure whether this “is done” or not, but seeing as your son isn’t that religion, couldn’t he be enrolled in either a troop at your parish or a non-religiously-affiliated troop at his school? That would solve further issues. In the meantime, I don’t see any harm in him attending as long as he also meets his own Mass obligation. Furthermore, I don’t see anything wrong with him sitting this one out if you are uncomfortable with the community in question. It’s completely up to you. I would not recommend sending him without a parent.

 

[SonCatcher]

Well, it makes sense for the troop to attend a service at the church that is sponsoring it. Most of the families I know don’t enroll their child in a troop that is sponsored by a church they don’t attend, so I’m not sure whether this “is done” or not, but seeing as your son isn’t that religion, couldn’t he be enrolled in either a troop at your parish or a non-religiously-affiliated troop at his school? That would solve further issues. In the meantime, I don’t see any harm in him attending as long as he also meets his own Mass obligation. Furthermore, I don’t see anything wrong with him sitting this one out if you are uncomfortable with the community in question. It’s completely up to you. I would not recommend sending him without a parent.

Scouts don’t have “territories” so there would be nothing to prevent joining a different troop. However, many communities are small enough they can only support one troop, regardless of who sponsors it.

 

[Allegra]

Scouts don’t have “territories” so there would be nothing to prevent joining a different troop. However, many communities are small enough they can only support one troop, regardless of who sponsors it.

I find that surprising. Perhaps scouting is a bigger deal where I live. In general, if there are enough boys to have a third grade class, there are enough boyscouts to have a third grade boy scout troop. The question is whether you want to join your school’s toop or your parish’s troop. (If they are willing to take filthy, obnoxious, inferior public school boys, that is.) The same goes for girl scouts, though I think more of the families favor their parish toop for the girls because the Girl Scouts organization has such a bad reputation for sexualizing the girls and teaching them things that the Church finds immoral.

 

[BettyBoop416]

So, Scout Sunday is coming up. Since we live in a rural part of the Bible Belt, there are lots of Protestant places to go, but the Catholic church is far away. The Scout leader wants all the scouts in my son’s troop to go to the Protestant eccelsial community which sposors the troop. So… surely We are not the first Catholic family to find ourselves in this situation! What do others do?

My family attends the Saturday vigil at our church and then the episcopalian church for scout Sunday. We do this as a way to thank the host church.

This is exactly what we did when my son was in the Boy Scouts. As long as his Mass obligation has been fulfilled, sitting through a service with his troop at the sponsoring church is not going to put his soul in peril.

 

[St_Francis]

I find that surprising. Perhaps scouting is a bigger deal where I live. In general, if there are enough boys to have a third grade class, there are enough boyscouts to have a third grade boy scout troop. The question is whether you want to join your school’s toop or your parish’s troop. (If they are willing to take filthy, obnoxious, inferior public school boys, that is.) The same goes for girl scouts, though I think more of the families favor their parish toop for the girls because the Girl Scouts organization has such a bad reputation for sexualizing the girls and teaching them things that the Church finds immoral.

Thanks Allegra. The next-nearest Scout troop is an hour away and not at our parish, wwbich does not have a Scout troop. So there is just this one

 

[St_Francis]

This is exactly what we did when my son was in the Boy Scouts. As long as his Mass obligation has been fulfilled, sitting through a service with his troop at the sponsoring church is not going to put his soul in peril.

Thanks BettyBoop