This is what the sodomites want to do to the Boy Scouts.
Sadly, he’s right. Once upon a time, Catholics were not allowed to join the Boy or Girl Scouts and had their own alternatives and, eventually, special chapters.
One of the original reasons for this was that Scouting was very anti-Catholic (founded by what would now be considered Evangelical Protestants, during their late 19th-early 20th century “muscular Christianity” phase) and also that it was devoted to the secular religion.
Sadly, yesterday’s secular religion looks like total Christian orthodoxy compared to what they are pushing today. And the Evangelicals have abandoned it, too, so the only folks left (at any rate, those in charge) are complete secularists.
We need to revive the Scouting alternatives.
25 years ago, I was a girl scout leader. This would never be discussed with my scouts.
I refuse to buy Girl Scout cookies.............
In fact next yeear, I’ll tell them WHY!!!!
Would they take such an equivocating attitude toward cigarettes? ("Don't smoke until you feel ready"?) Bulimia? ("It has dangers, but many young women have made this decision and here's how you can prqctice safer bulimia"?)
Parents of girls teach them to resist the Lady Gaga mentality, and now they have to teach them to resist the Girl Scouts?
It's insidious.
Kathryn Jean Lopez, over at NRO, wrote about this back in October 2000.
http://old.nationalreview.com/23oct00/lopez102300.shtml
June 1, 2011 - For many Catholics, Scouting is one of the best memories of childhoodand for good reason. Its a time of fun, friendship and adventure. That was certainly my own Boy Scout experience.
At its best, Scouting forms the young person in a spirit of service. It creates a sense of duty to the wider community. It also builds character and cultivates civic virtue.
So its no surprise that many Catholic parishes sponsor Boy and Girl Scout troops. And theyve done so, with great results, for decades. Plus, when it comes to the Girl Scouts, who can argue with the best cookies in the world?
Over the past year though, a growing number of Catholic parents and youth ministers have shared a concern with me. And it deserves some discussion.
Their unease involves the Girl Scouts, and especially the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS).
Youth ministers are quick to note that Scoutings structure allows for a lot of autonomy. Girls make up local troops. Troops make up councils. And nationwide councils make up Girl Scouts USA (GSUSA).
GSUSA and a few other large organizations make up WAGGGS. Each local council or troop determines whats appropriate for its specific needs. Each troop leader decides what members see.
Nonetheless, what happens at the international and national levels of Scouting has an important trickle-down effect. This is exactly why pro-choice organizations have worked to develop connections with the Scouting movement.
Parents would be wise to spend some serious time browsing the WAGGGS (www.wagggsworld.org) and GSUSA websites, following the links they find there, and examining for themselves how these organizations deal with sexuality, choice and reproductive issues. It may be a sobering experience.
As one youth minister recently wrote:
Its hard to imagine that a girl who remains involved with Girl Scouts into young adulthood wont eventually learn of the connections her organization has with pro-choice, pro-contraception and reproductive freedom groups.
Having been influenced by GSUSA, shell be more receptive to this agenda. And if she was introduced to GSUSA through her parents and her local parish, then that will inevitably create contradictions between her Catholic faith and her Scouting experience.
The many good things offered by Girl Scouting in Colorado deserve praise from the Catholic community. Scouting and the Church have always had, and hopefully will continue to have for many years, a very positive relationship.
But parents, as the primary educators of their children, have every right to insist that their beliefs, especially their moral and religious beliefs, be respectednot underminedby the organizations to which they entrust their children.
Parents need to remain alert to the content of their daughters activities. And Catholics involved in the Girl Scouting movement should make it clear to leadership that Scouting is only a means to an endthe proper formation of young character.
Its not an end in itself; and should Scouting ever fail in that proper formation, other groups can be found or formed to take its place.
** The Register editors welcome comments about Scouting in general and the Girl Scouts in particular; the experiences of parents with Scouting; and examples of Scouting at its best. Email editor@archden.org.
Most Rev. James D. Conley is auxiliary bishop of the Denver Archdiocese.""
I have a friend who was related to Juliet Lowe and she said that even before Ms. Lowe died she was ashamed of what the scouts had become.
I would not allow my daughters to be in Girl Scouts — and that was a long time ago. Even then I could see they were drifting left.
Gosh, I miss Thin Mints. I won’t even eat them when a co-worker leaves a box out, because I refuse to reciprocate. Somewhere I’ve got a recipe for imitation, but I know they won’t be the same.
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.
Why do we allow the continued existence of Planned Parenthood?
There are enough sane people in this country to make it go away, and I don’t mean by waiting for congress to act.
That’s not the way I remember Girl Scouts.
there are about 17 girl scout councils in the USA that have a direct affiliation with Planned Parenthood while many others support planned parenthood and are pro-abortion and pro-lesbian, roughly 30% of the GSA’s professional staff are lesbians.
NO Catholic Parish should be affiliated with the Girl Scouts.