David CO

1 hour ago, carebear3895 said:

you right. We just chill at the office and make lists of how to make life harder for volunteers. By the way have you turned in your FoS pledge card yet?

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. 

29 minutes ago, Eagledad said:

Here is something interesting.

Pope's reported comment to a gay man may indicate a new level of acceptance of homosexuality

http://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-pope-chile-gay-20180520-story.html

Barry

 

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 insensitive to people who are hurting. We also don't want to disseminate false information. Some times it is a difficult tightrope to walk.

2 hours ago, Eagledad said:

18 is the age limit for being labeled a youth in the BSA, but it’s not the limit for the game with a purpose. I became a better father, husband and community citizen because of my scouting experiences at age 45.

This is where I disagree with you, Barry.

24 minutes ago, qwazse said:

I remember at Jamboree as a kid meeting a guy being wheeled around in his chair. He introduced himself as "the oldest scout in existence."

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.

3 hours ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

 

Regarding pensions and medical benefits for retirees, while it may seem the easiest and best thing to do to save money, THAT IS AN OBLIGATION TO THOSE WHO SERVED US OVER THE YEARS! ( emphasis). This was something that these folks, especially those who stayed at the lower levels instead of taking promotions and moving all over, have been promised. This is something to compensate them for all the years of service for little pay at the lower levels.

 

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.

6 minutes ago, SSScout said:

" Not to worry.  If we go out with ten Scouts, we have never failed to return with at least ten Scouts. Sometimes eleven, but never less than ten...."

Ah yes, coed scouting.

13 minutes ago, Saltface said:

What if 90% of each boy comes home?

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

1 hour ago, Tampa Turtle said:

I did like the line "Never trust anyone who likes your kids more than you do".

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.

3 minutes ago, Saltface said:

No more boxing nuns?  

Only on Boxing Day. 

30 minutes ago, T2Eagle said:

Do you know whether other Catholic sponsored troops are required to use parish emails (between youth and adults)?  The newest policy may be requiring that for us, I have to parse it a bit more carefully.  As an alternative to every leader in the troop having a new email, I may see if we can have one parish email and copy all leader/communications to include that email.

Out of curiosity, it's never been clear to me, is your school parish based, run by one of the orders, or something else?

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 conscious.

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. 

5 minutes ago, ianwilkins said:

Nice to see what we Brits have exported around the world.  Our Explorers seem to think it's banned, so they play French Poodle, in which everything is exactly the same as British Bulldog but the name.

 

We called it Hill Dill. 

Thank you very much. We enjoyed it.

On ‎5‎/‎16‎/‎2018 at 11:24 AM, Cambridgeskip said:

 

I look back on my teenage years, the early to mid 90s, and the idea that anyone could have come out as openly gay and not been subjected to a torent of abuse and all kinds of difficulty is ludicrous. It just wouldn't have happened.

 

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 anyone to a torrent of abuse. That would have been ludicrous, and it still is.

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

1 hour ago, Oldscout448 said:

that sounds risky!    WE used a sturdy branch.  

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 have been a witness/complainant/respondent before the grievance committees and tribunal hearings. So I can't quite agree that the Catholic Church leaves all judging to God.

24 minutes ago, HashTagScouts said:

 As Papa Francesco says, "who am I to judge?"... that job belongs to only one, God.

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.

3 minutes ago, Oldscout448 said:

Last time I camped out with the troop, sitting round the campfire, some of the older scouts asked for a scout story from the old days.    So I told them one or two, then turned to go.  They asked for another, then another.  Surprised and somewhat pleased they were so interested I never once thought I was getting myself in trouble.

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.

5 hours ago, Eagledad said:

I'm curious to learn what the Catholic teaching is on homosexuality?

Barry

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

2 hours ago, ParkMan said:

I'd welcome us to focus on the 95% we have in common.  I think that would be wonderful.  

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.

2 hours ago, ParkMan said:

My sense is that groups like this exist to allow a faith (or really any group) to have a more co-ordinated voice on issues in Scouting that impact the faith.  if you had 5,000 churches in a faith each saying their own thing, it would be hard for that faith to have much influence.  So groups like this exist to provide that singular voice.  I figured as it was overseen by a bishop that someone must have decided it makes sense.

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.