Catholic Religious Emblems for Boys

There are several levels of awards that can be earned by boys in the BSA.

Light of Christ - Designed for 6-7 years old Cub Scouts 

Parvuli Dei  - Designed for 8-10 years old Cub Scouts. 

 

Ad Altare Dei - Designed for 13-14 years old Boy Scouts. 

Pope Pius XII - Designed for Venturing Crew Members and Boy Scouts 15 years old and older.

Light is Life - Designed for Boy Scouts, 12 -13 years old of the Eastern-rite Catholic Churches. (Scouts in the Eastern Catholic Churches work on Light is Life rather than the Ad Altare Dei emblem.)

   



The National Catholic Committee on Scouting has a  lot of information on this topic also. (Most of the content from this post is from there.

The BSA's Declaration of Religious Principle

The BSA has a very well defined statement that is on all of it's application forms and many other documents, that explains it's exact stance on religious principals.  

Declaration of Religious Principle

The Boy Scouts of America maintains that no member can grow into the best kind of citizen without recognizing an obligation to God and, therefore, recognizes the religious element in the training of the member, but it is absolutely nonsectarian in its attitude toward that religious training. Its policy is that the home and organization or group with which a member is connected shall give definite attention to religious life. Only persons willing to subscribe to this Declaration of Religious Principle and to the Bylaws of the Boy Scouts of America shall be entitled to certificates of membership.

As with anything on religion, There will be some that disagree with it. Some will argue that it is too inclusive, that they can't agree that all Religious faiths should be treated equally. There will be others that argue in the other direction, that by Excluding Atheists, the BSA is wrong.

But either way, it is a private organization, and this is the stance you sign on with when you register as a leader, or register your son as a scout. It doesn't mean you have to believe this outside of a scouting context. When I'm in church on Sunday, I'll definitely have my own opinions about what I believe, and I will say that the faith I follow is correct, and that others are incorrect. 

But as far as scouting goes, on Thursday evenings, that's not the place for me to be making that particular distinction.

What is a Chartering Organization?

The Boy Scouts of America relies on a "Chartering Organization" model for each of it's units. A Chartering Organization could be a business, a civic group like the VFW, or an educational institution, like the PTA of a local school. However, a large number of these chartering organizations (Almost 70%) are religious institutions.

The BSA has some statistics here about what kind of groups charter units.

Each chartering organization agrees to serve families and youth via their scouting program.

Some organization focus primarily on serving the current members of their group. Examples might include the LDS Church, who uses the Cub Scout / Boy Scout Programs as an integral part of their church's youth program, or a Private School that operates a Pack that is open only to boys who attend that school.

The majority of units serve the larger community, meaning that boys from families outside the organization are welcome to join. Particularly for religious chartering organizations this can lead to some confusion where religious advancements are concerned, as you may frequently have a situation where a unit meeting at a United Methodist church  has boys from families who attend Catholic, Baptist, or even Muslim or Buddhist houses of worship. I'll get into this in more detail in later posts.

The Chartering Organization agrees to 

• Conduct Scouting in accordance with its own policies and guidelines as well as those of the BSA.
• Include Scouting as part of its overall program for youth and families.
• Appoint a chartered organization representative who is a member of the organization and will represent it to the Scouting district and council, serving as a voting member of each.
• Select a unit committee of parents and members of the organization who will screen and select unit leaders who meet the organization's leadership standards as well as the BSA's standards.
• Provide adequate and secure facilities for Scouting units to meet on a regular schedule with time and place reserved.
• Encourage the units to participate in outdoor experiences.

In my personal experience, I find that a large number of Chartering Organizations primarily focus on providing meeting facilities, and assume the rest of it will be taken care of by parents inside the unit. This often leads to a unit that is poorly supported.