David CO

Not a chance. I never contribute to FoS. I'm sure that DE's work very hard, and put in long hours, trying to raise money to pay the bloated salaries of the higher level scout execs. That's your job. You don't do anything for us.

We all find ourselves in that type of situation. We see someone who is hurting, and we want to say something to comfort him. I don't know if this indicates a new level of acceptance or not. I can say unequivocally that it doesn't change the catechism or the teachings of the church. The Pope has also been reported to have said, to a young boy, that his dead dog is in heaven. Catholics don't believe that animals have a soul. I don't think the Pope's comment in any way changes this teaching. We talked about these issues in my catechism training. We don't want to be heartless and insensi

This is where I disagree with you, Barry.

That is exactly what I don't want. Scouting is a game for boys.

My breaking point was getting too old. Aside from that, I would have discontinued my association with scouting if my church/diocese had pulled out. In the grand hierarchy of things, my religion is more important to me than scouting.

My unit has no obligation to the execs. We didn't hire them. We didn't promise them anything. They didn't do anything for us. I have no doubt that the upper level execs cheat and mistreat the lower level execs, but that's not my problem.

Ah yes, coed scouting.

That would be the ideal scout summer camp. Play so hard that you lose 10 to 15 lbs. in two weeks.

Don't trust me then. I've known a number of students/scouts who seemed to be liked better by their teachers/scouters than they were by their parents.

Only on Boxing Day.

I don't know if other troops do this. If they don't, I'm guessing that this will be changing very soon. I was originally employed by a school which was affiliated with a religious order. It was merged with a nearby parish school. So now it is a parish school. There have been a lot of mergers/closings of Catholic schools in the past 10 years. It's hard on the staff who have to move to a new building and management structure. The Christian Brothers were a lot more supportive of the rough and tumble aspects of the scouting program. The parish/diocese schools are much more safety co

At my Catholic school, all teachers, coaches, scout leaders, etc. are required to use the school's e-mail addresses on all school business. A copy of all communications is automatically copied to the office. We have a Christian Brother as an administrator. So yes, Big Brother is watching you.

I don't think this program will take off. Despite what the priests and nuns might want, even the most devout Catholic men and boys don't want to spend every waking moment of their lives saying the rosery.

I don't think this program is intended to be a replacement for scouting. It looks more like a replacement for the Knight's of Columbus youth program, the Columbian Squires. It is almost an exact duplicate, only parish based. The Catholic Church recently directed the KC's to transfer its scout units over to the parishes, because it wants all youth programs and activities to be parish based.

We called it Hill Dill. Thank you very much. We enjoyed it.

The United States is a big country. Our experiences are not all the same. I don't think my town's experiences were the same as those on the East and West coast, and certainly not like you experienced on your side of the pond. It sounds like the people where you live have gone through a much greater shift in attitudes that we have in my midwestern U.S.A. town. We started out a lot more tolerant than what you have just described, and we ended up a lot less accepting of what you now have. We are pretty conservative, and not very quick to change. It has never been our way to subject any

Post was self-deleted by David CO for taking a joke too far.

But a wobbly branch will give you more of a springboard effect on lift-off. Springiness = velocity = big splashes.

The Catholic Church has an extensive system of laws (Canon Law) and courts (tribunals). Every year, the tribunals hears thousands of cases and appeals. The Church has canon lawyers, who are specially educated and trained to present or defend cases before the tribunals. At the parish level, many parishes have standing grievance committees. A grievance committee acts much like a small claims court. A grievance committee will hear the complaints that don't rise to the level of a tribunal hearing. Decisions of a grievance committee can be appealed to the tribunals. At various times, I ha

I would be reluctant to equate off-the-cuff remarks with Catholic catechism. "Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on Earth will be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on Earth will be loosed in Heaven." The Pope is well aware of his authority.

How about swinging from a rope, from a wobbly tree limb, into a swimming hole, while skinny dipping, as other scouts are trying to pelt you mid-air with water balloons. We did that. (Moderators should feel free to delete this post. I'll understand.)

Yes. It is bad enough that BSA has so drastically changed the scouting program. Do they really need to edit out our history as well? I not only hesitate to talk about the old days with current scouts, I am reluctant to discuss them with other old-timers as well. There are too many people who will get mad thinking that I am trying to undermine their current program. It would be nice to have a safe zone where I could reminisce with my old friends without being held suspect.

Hi Barry, I would be happy to answer any questions you might wish to pose to me. I am fully trained to teach Catholic catechism. I understand, however, that you might feel that I am somewhat biased (conservative), and that you might prefer to ask someone else. No offense will be taken if you don't take me up on my offer. David

I am told that people share about 95% percent of their DNA with lower life forms. A 5% difference may not seem like so much, mathematically, but 5% can make all the difference in the world.

It would appear that the NCCS has a Bishop Liaison who is appointed by the NCCS to act as its go-between with the USCCB . The Bishop does not appear to have any oversight of the NCCB. When a Bishop has oversight authority, he is usually appointed be Rome, not by the people he is supposed to oversee. As I said, I have no knowledge of these people, as I have never had contact with them before. But since you quoted them, as an authoritative source of Catholic policy, I thought that you might have some more information about them.