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Protoclete

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Everything posted by Protoclete

  1. "Just curious, what does NSO stand for? I looked online and found the following:" Yes, NSO is National Scout Organization. That is the terminology used by the World Organization of the Scout Movement to identify national body (equivalent to BSA in the US). There is only one NSO per country. These are the official members of the World Scouting movement. If a country has more than one National Scouting Association, they can form a federation or umbrella group to act as NSO. [This is the case in Italy, for example, which has the Italian Scout Federation acting as NSO, which
  2. The BSA Far East Council runs what they call a "trilogy camp" - a rotating high adventure camp that occurs in a different part of the Council every year. This year happens to be Nepal. (The other two countries in the cycle are Mongolia and Thailand). https://scoutingevent.com/803-Nepal2023 You could either jump in on that or at talk with the team that plans it to get some ideas.
  3. There's a good question there, one I'm trying to track down. What is the BSA procedure for adopting a WOSM program and is it different than allowing any Scout who has earned a WOSM badge to wear it on their uniform even if not a BSA adopted program? Like, who decided that we promote Messengers of Peace in the BSA but not Patrimonito? I don't know. Working on finding out. But, as far as i can tell, BSA scouts and scouters could wear any WOSM badge they earn in the temporary insignia area (or on a jacket, etc) unless otherwise indicated (like the MoP ring around the world crest), even if
  4. Yes, i was referring to the Catholic episcopal conferences. The Episcopal Church is something else altogether, and part of the Anglican Communion. Some bishops want to act as if they only answer to the pope, (and even then they don't like it) but that simply isn't Catholic ecclesiology.
  5. No, as pointed out by the reference to the chances to the code of canon law, there are in fact decisions that can be made by the episcopal conference that are binding on all members. But of course, it is the bishops themselves who pass those laws, so if they don't want to agree to something they won't. But the charter for the protection of minors is one example. The USCCB could have decided to make a national decision, but instead opted to leave it up to the individual dioceses. (Which is their most common decision). Bishops are part of both a province and a national episcopal conference,
  6. I recently started a term as a global consultant for WOSM, working with their "Better World Framework" programs. Given the popularity of Messengers of Peace with BSA scouts and scouters, I'm always surprised some of the other programs have not caught on as much. I'm particularly invested in Dialogue for Peace and the Interreligious Dialogue badge, but thought this might be a good place to draw attention to the others, too: Has anyone had experience with any of these? Mind sharing? Or maybe contacts through another country's scouting program that's done some of them? I'm curious to h
  7. I'd just echo what a couple have said. Once they earn one award, they have earned that award and can keep wearing it even if they convert to a new denomination or religion. They can then earn the award(s) offered by the new religious org and have two or more religious emblems. Also, some of the emblems are open to be earned by scouts of any faith, while others require you be an initiated and/or practicing member when you earn it - but nobody "revokes" an emblem if the person leaves that faith. And it sounds like this scout would be in a prime position to consider the interreligious
  8. Also found a pdf of the Piedmont-Appalachian College of Commissioner Science. Palmetto list of theses.pdf
  9. In fact, if anyone has a council (or other) list of theses/projects could you add it here? These are the ones I have found: Atlanta Area Council Chicksaw Council Dan Beard Council Mid America Council Middle Tennessee Council NorCal College of Commissioner Science
  10. I think its a good way to provide structure for ongoing raining and development for commissioners. But I've been in very different councils. One dropped the whole "college" and degrees language, as they found it a little too pretentious. Another only held one every couple years. The pandemic has done some good, at least, in encouraging more online colleges. Makes it easier to get some needed classes in. As for the 'doctorate', there is a wide variety of quality I have seen. Some are basically like woodbadge tickets. Others are serious research papers that would be worthy of a university
  11. I was thinking of something like these, worn on the chest, like the training wards.
  12. Just coming off our Council annual meeting and awards dinner, I am renewed in my only uniform pet peeve in Scouting. Too many adult medals around the neck. Certainly, most of us don't wear most of them most of the time anyway, and that is the nice thing about the square knots (when there is one), and even in formal settings choosing just one makes sense. But we have three minimedals that stand out as unusual (and, i think, exemplary) in this regard - the Scouter's Key, Scouter Training Award, and Den Leader Training Award. It always struck me as strange that there were only these t
  13. Are there any Councils out there that do not have Districts, or in which Districts are not organized geographically? Someone raised the question recently in a Roundtable and I was stumped. Figured I'd throw it out there and see if anyone knows if there are, and, if so, how they operate.
  14. As of Feb 15, there are still several places open for this course, if you know anyone who needs or wants to join.
  15. The Denver Area Council is hosting a virtual Sea Badge training over two weekends in April. This is the adult leader training parallel to Wood Badge for Sea Scouters, but is also open to any Scouters, and while similar in some respects to Woodbadge, is different enough that it would still be interesting. Registration is open to Scouters from any Council, and is only about 1/3 full at this time. I did this through Transatlantic Council in 2020, and while not a Sea Scouter, found it helpful and informative, and will be on the staff of this one, so thought it might be of interest here.
  16. Sounds like your unit needs a chaplain, chaplain aide, and/or religious emblems coordinator! There's one for basically everyone (even people not belonging to a formal religion). What we have usually done is this: The emblem (medal) is presented by the religious organization - some do a big annual presentation to all the Scouts of that faith that have earned them in the region, others just have it presented at worship or an appropriate religious gathering. The knot is presented at the Court of Honor or similar event. In some places, it is easier if they are presented at
  17. A couple of posts - @CynicalScouter, @mrjohns2 - referenced no change to board structure/governance. There is, however, a big push to change the composition of the National Board, first by shrinking it to 40 (from 72 I think), to include fully 1/2 of its membership from local councils, who will represent not only geographic diversity via the NSTs but also diversity of size, enabling some membership from councils that would never have had a voice before, my own included. I am not sure the status of that at the moment, but it sounded like several dozen councils were on board with that.
  18. Hi, TGB. I'm very sorry to hear this, and a bit confused. I am a long-time Catholic scouter, chaplain, and theologian, and I'm not aware of any new rules that are particularly discriminatory or that would have prompted this. I wonder if there is a new pastor or COR who is taking things to an extreme that is not necessary. Scouting has been viewed as Catholic Youth Ministry since 1912. That's not new. Not every parish does this well, but the ideal is that the COR is the youth minister or other parish staff person responsible for youth ministry and/or family religious programs, or someone
  19. At the risk of getting off the thread topic, while the particular statement of religious principle varies by each NSO, the "Duty to God" element is a core principle at the global level. (https://www.scout.org/node/614310) Admittedly, WOSM and many of the European orgs use the language of "the relationship to the spiritual life and spiritual reality" as a way to explain "Duty to God" in the oath, to avoid misunderstanding it as having a preference for Abrahamic monotheism. And while traditional religious identities still have priority as the default understanding of what that means, "Spiritu
  20. I just read through this thread. While the discussion on changes of belonging by generational cohort were interesting and relevant, I think this hits on some more relevant issues. Granted, the reason so many of the younger GenX and Millennials are less likely to have a sense of loyalty to institutions or organizations, from employers to churches to scouting is precisely because of the abuse and unreliability of many of these institutions towards them over the decades. But back to Eagle1993s points, this really is a time of crisis, which means a good time to reassess, reorganize, and elimi
  21. I can put you in touch with the BSA Council that serves American Scouts in Georgia, and some who are there or near there, as well as some who have put on camps in Croatia, Switzerland, Italy, and Kenya. Or if you have contact information of the people / group who own or are planning the camp, I can send that to some of the volunteers who might be able to help or share ideas.
  22. I think that would be ideal - not only for Scouting, but every organization. Churches, sports leagues, etc. I'm also imagining the cost and the difference between what the federal government can throw at this in terms of staff, resources, and authority vs what a much diminished voluntary organization that has spent all its assets on lawyers could do. And the time it would take to get there. But also, honestly, it took until this last week to be able to simply assign people who have been registered as leaders to new positions in the online system. I can't even get a decent report on
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