David CO

Is it also near train tracks??

Of course.  How else would they deliver the garbage to the land fill next door?

If you believe that I've got some swamp land...

Great.  Council will probably want to put a scout camp there.

The image next to Snow Owl's name is that of a Chartered Organization Representative patch.  I find it ironic that a COR is advocating against the Chartered Organizations.

No surprise here.  

I think a lot of churches will be dropping BSA.  They will make public statements that it has nothing to do with gay and transgender issues, to avoid bad press, and then drop the program.

I think this is a trans atlantic difference. Equality for the LGBT community is just not considered a political issue here anymore. Sure homophobia and transphobia still exists, but it's a social problem on a par with racism and sexism. It's only political in so far as there are differences between politicians on what to do about it as opposed to there being any differences on the principle of equality for the LGBT community.

I very much doubt that is true.  

I would be the last person to say that scouting is end-all and be-all.  I also understand that unexpected things can happen to cut short a scout fulfilling his obligations in a POR.

I just have a difficult time believing that your son's athletic schedule was unforeseen.  It seems more likely that he intended, from the very start, to quit his POR after getting what he wanted.

A POR is not a position of convenience.  It is a responsibility.  Your son did not live up to his responsibility. It is sad that the eagle rank often goes to the people who want it the most, rather than those who deserve it the most.

A similar thing happened in our T-ball league.  A high school senior signed up to coach a youth baseball team as a way to fulfill his high school service hours graduation requirement.  Once he had his service hours completed, he quit with 3 games left in the season.

His actions clearly demonstrated that he didn't care about his boys.  He just wanted an easy way to do his service hours.  

This topic would be funny if it wasn't so serious.

Our athletic program requires a complete medical exam for all athletes when they start school sports in fifth grade. This includes a genital examination.

We have had several boys diagnosed with undescended testicles (requiring surgery) during these exams.  I think it is ridiculous that this condition could go unnoticed for 10 years, but it happens.  

I agree that boys don't need to have a genital exam at every checkup, but they do need it every once in a while.  If your son has never had a complete medical exam, it is time to schedule one.  

I would suggest that the boy be told about it in advance, to let him get used to the idea, and be given privacy during the exam.

I think it has been an advantage for Catholic schools that we have had scouting programs.  We have been able to offer something that the public school doesn't have.  

I wish the scouting organizations hadn't made the decisions that have brought us to this junction.  

The scandals have certainly played a part, but Catholic school enrollment has been declining for decades. Tuition goes up, enrollment declines. It's a never-ending cycle. And frankly, there is not much reason to pay tuition so your kids can learn the same thing in Catholic school that they would learn in public school.

Are you talking about common core?  

Scandals.

Now I'm confused. Earlier you said your troop would "kick out" this 17 year old, regardless of the specific circumstances, because your troop/CO has a "zero tolerance policy", but now you are saying that the pastor and bishop (which I assume is the leadership structure of the CO) would probably allow such a person back in as an adult leader. This doesn't seem consistent to me.

You are exactly right.  It is not consistent at all.

A parish priest in our diocese was convicted and sent to prison for manufacturing and distributing GBH, an illegal synthetic drug, out of the parish rectory.  He was sent to prison, served his time, got out, and is now back in the pulpit in a neighboring parish. All is forgiven.

Students and teachers are still on the zero tolerance policy.  Priests and parishioners aren't.

I would personally be opposed to having a convicted drug offender as an ASM, but my pastor and bishop would probably allow it.  

Though I have some firmly held opinions, I am not a dictator.  I don't expect to always get my way.

I see a Catholic youth (youth/family) program forming that does not involve a generic,outside youth program which may be doing less than hoped, from the Church viewpoint, to boost youth involvement in the Church.

 

A hard fact, there are fewer Catholic children attending a Catholic school than there are Cub Scouts in the US. Our local elementary/secondary school closes this June. My younger son's weekend Confirmation classes resemble Scouting in terms of activities, service requirements, and time commitment (more reading/study). More and more time conflicts.  Back in the day when more Catholics attended Catholic schools and Catechism classes, the Church taught religion and the troop taught scouting with the Scout Oath and Law as the bridge.

 

http://www.ncea.org/NCEA/Proclaim/Catholic_School_Data/Catholic_School_Data.aspx

 

My $0.01

I am seeing the same thing in my town.  Over the past 5 years, our Catholic schools have lost about a third of their enrollment. The grade school and middle school have been consolidated.

Some people like to own vacation homes and enjoy the familiarity of a home away from home.  Other people prefer to travel about and not be tied down to one place.  It is the same with scout units.  To each their own.

There is some advantage to having a "home" camp.  You can focus your attention (and donations) to one camp, giving your unit a better chance of actually making a difference.   

I thought the patrols were named after Sgt. Provo, of The Green Berets.

I think they want to make this change slow and agonizing .  A fully coed Scouting program has been cussed and discussed amongst Scouters for at least the 45 years I have been connected with the program, so why rush it now, right?

 

For some reason, National seems much more hesitant to flip on this like they did on other membership issues. Also, I kind of detect more resistance to it in my contacts with other Scouters than I ever did with the more recent changes. Just my observation.

 

So, we wait....

 

I think national is looking to find someone else to blame it on.  They want to do it, but they don't want to own the decision.

But did they go to there every month of the year, year after year?  

No.  Spin couldn't afford it.  He had to work a paper route all year round just to pay for half of the cost of summer camp.  

his eagle project is not complete, if the decision is made to remove to boy from the troop he can not complete the project. the troop owns the project and will take it over. he can move on to another troop and still get his eagle but he will be 18 in 8 months. If he is found guilty in a court of law of criminal behavior it then becomes a council issue and the boy will be banned from boyscouts 

It makes sense to me.  I think it means the troop will not leave the beneficiary of the eagle project with a half-finished job. The troop will step up and finish it.

Am I wrong?

I think this is a very good idea.  

I don't know why.  Spin and Marty went the same summer camp year after year.

No.  The Chartered Organization owns the unit.  The council has no business telling a CO where its unit must camp.

I don't agree with Ankylus.  I think most educators are very careful about privacy issues.  

In a situation like this, when a student is arrested at school, a teacher may or may not be able to talk about it.  It often depends on whether or not the student was arrested in public.  

A big liability issue bringing such a Scout back in to the Scouting fold. Will he do this on a camp out? What risk is there to other Scouts? 

 

There's another side here: The SM's obligation to all the other Scouts in his charge.

I agree.  I would add that this obligation is not the SM's alone.  The Chartered Organization owns the unit, and it has the bulk of the obligation to protect all of the other scouts.

Those are three very different questions. I am not the one who dispenses forgiveness. For forgiveness, the boy needs to repent and make a good confession.  I am not a priest, so I don't do that.

He will never earn my trust.  Druggies can't be trusted.

For rank advancement, he needs to join another troop.  My unit is not a sanctuary troop for drug users.

An approach I try to take - Its possible not to tolerate something, without kicking the boy out (and thus casting him outside your sphere of hopefully-positive influence.)  Not sure why drug use is an unforgivable sin for so many among us, especially considering the harmful side effects of exiling an already at-risk youth on account of what may be a small transgression.

Drug use is not an unforgivable sin, but it is not a small transgression either.