Scouting reinforces Church values
By Fr. Ken Mikulcik
One of the surprising things about scouting is how well it dovetails with Church. As an organization meant to foster responsible citizenship and character development of youth, the values that we find in scouts reinforce well the values which the Church promotes. Scouting works well with all religions, and the Catholic church has a particularly strong involvement in scouting.
On Sunday March 17
th, we were happy to celebrate our annual mass with Bishop McRaith at St. Stephen’s Cathedral and recognize the accomplishments of scouts and scouters throughout the diocese. There are awards for each of the levels of scouting in which youth participate. Both girl scouts and boy scouts have emblems which they may earn. Brownies from across our diocese received the "Family of God" emblem; Junior Girl Scouts received the "I live my Faith" emblem, and Cadet Girl Scouts received the "Marian Medal." Cub Scouts received the "Light of Christ" emblem, and the "Parvuli Dei" emblem was given to Cub Scouts of Bear rank and Webelos. Boy Scouts received the "Ad Altare Dei" emblem and may also earn the "Pope Pius XII" emblem. Although they did not earn their emblems, adult scouters were recognized for their service with the "Bronze Pelican" and "St. George" awards. All of the scouts who earned emblems engaged their Catholic faith in another part of their lives, enlivening their scouting experience and their Catholic faith.Scouts who would like to earn their respective emblems may obtain their materials through the scout offices. For questions regarding Girl Scouts, call Kathy Doup, 1 888 771-5174. For questions regarding Boy Scouts call me, Fr. Ken Mikulcik, at 1-534-9000. Boy Scouts, please mark your calendars for the annual retreat at St. Meinrad on the weekend of October 6 of this year.