July 14, 2013
Of course we didn’t want it to come to this, but as of now, Saint Odilo Parish will no longer be associated with the Boy Scouts of America. Our charter with them expires in December and we will not renew it.
Since our packs and troops have already paid their hefty dues to “National” we will finish out any activities that had been planned under Boy Scout auspices and then figure out ways to strike out on our own.
The most important issue for our parish—or any parish—is how best to provide for our families—and in this context—for our boys and their parents. That is why our families will still have activities and programs and meetings right here at Saint Odilo—as long as they want—but they will not have to pay dues any more to some alien organization to be burdened with non-Catholic and unhealthy attitudes that actually can hurt families.
I have chartered Boy Scout troops my whole life as a priest. It always seemed a fine and courageous organization. However, in order to placate their enemies they have alienated their friends; and they have declared that avowed homosexuality is no longer a bar to membership. What this ultimately means is that Boy Scouts of America is teaching in our Church (by their policy and presence) that homosexuality is neither a personal problem nor a moral issue. And that we do not believe.
Sexualizing of the Boy Scouts
This new policy is truly unfortunate because it puts membership in the Boy Scouts in the context of sexual attraction. Am I alone in thinking that 10 and 11 year old boys should not have to worry about such things? What has been accomplished is the sexualizing of the Boy Scouts—and that is just plain wrong. Is there nothing left in our culture where we are free to think of things other than sex and gender? In a certain sense, this is an abuse of these boys who should not have to deal with such issues. How unfair to some boy who may be so confused by the media propaganda that assaults him daily that he is not sure what to think about anything; and he is now made to feel in his confusion that he must declare his before all his peers and leaders and the world.
Any adult with a heart will know that it is not right to pressure a boy to identify himself in this way so early, so problematically and so conclusively. One wonders if this is just a new strategy of gay recruitment? A young man should be talking to his parents about such things rather than with a Boy Scout troop. There is nothing sacred or sacrosanct about this corporation called the Boy Scouts of America. We don’t owe them a thing.
What is sacred and sacrosanct are our boys and their families. Period.
If our fathers and sons want to continue this beautiful fellowship, we can call them Rangers or Cadets or Knights—or whatever—and our boys and their families will meet and gather and have anything they need here at Saint Odilo—but they won’t have to be burdened any longer with being involved with an organization that no longer understands boys.