Rosary patch question

[Sprocket]

Hi all,

My wife has been tapped to coordinate our pack's participation in the rosary patch program for this year. For the past couple of years, the pack has had the boys earn that year's rosary patch at the Jan. pack meeting (our CO is a Catholic church).

 

She's hoping people might have ideas for doing the rosary patch as a big group. Last year, the CM read a story/explanation to the boys followed by a round-robin format where different adults each had a question, and the boys would go around and get a sign-off on a card when they answered a question correctly.

 

The wife is thinking of doing something different, but she's used to working with jr. high/high school age kids, rather than 1st-5th graders, so she's having trouble thinking up new ideas.

[ScoutNut]

Just one comment first, even though your CO is a Catholic Church, you probably still have members who are not Catholic. Be sure to let those families know what you will be working on & get written permission for their boys to participate.

 

With a large group it is harder to do something "creative" so that all of the boys get involved. It also depends on how much time you have to prepare & how much time of the Jan Pack meeting you are allocating to this.

 

The questions essentially cover 3 events, the Resurection, the Last Supper & the Immaculate Conception. You might consider spliting the boys up into 3 groups &, with their parents help, have each group take one event & put on a little skit, take turns telling the story, or do some kind of presentation, making sure the questions on that event are covered. That way everyone learns about each event & there is no boring question & answer round robin.

 

Or, you could have a group of adults put on a skit about the Resurrection/Ascension. Seeing a skit is more fun than simply being read to. After the skit you could simply ask the whole group the 5 questions & pick different boys to answer each one. If the skit has kept their attention there is no reason to have each boy actually answer every question individually.

[frank10]

(This message has been edited by wingnut)

[frank10]

Fine point on Catholic terms:

"the Resurection, the Last Supper & the Immaculate Conception"

 

I'm not familiar with the patches and questions, but I expect this should read

"the Resurection, the Last Supper & the Nativity"

 

The Immaculate Conception refers to the event that precedes the birth of Saint Mary who was "conceived with out sin". The Catholic church teaches that Saint Mary did not carry the stain of original sin like the rest of us.

[ScoutNut]

I was refering specificly to the questions involved, & they are about the Immaculate Conception. The Rosary Patch program teaches about the Mysteries of the Rosary. The Mysteries covered in the program for 2006-07 are the Glorious Mysteries. The Nativity is not one. Of course, technically, the Immaculate Conception & the Last Supper aren't either, but they do figure into them.

 

These are very basic questions that serve simply to illustrate some of what the youth have learned.(This message has been edited by ScoutNut)

[frank10]

my error. Should have read the questions myself before replying.

[devaney_scouts]

What is a rosary patch? We live in West Virginia and as Catholics are the minority. No one here has heard of the Rosary Patch, is it a council item or church sponsored item? We are chartered at a Presbyterian Church and have done Light of Christ with our oldest, and working on it with the next two on our own with the help of our church and would be interested in more info please :*)

 

Thanks

[ScoutNut]

Check out the website of the National Catholic Committee on Scouting.

 

http://www.nccs-bsa.org/emblems-awards/rosaryPatch.php

 

 

[John-in-KC]

I agree with ScoutNut.

 

BSA is by its nature non-sectarian. If you have non-Roman Cubs, you owe them an equally rewarding religious activity. You also cannot make them take denomination-specific training, just because "it's what the Den is doing."

 

Here is some information from the Boy Scout program, but if you were to contact your Council Chaplain or your Council Relationships Committee, they'd take you down this same trail.

 

Source document is BSA 18-625, Boy Scout Board of Review training:

http://www.scouting.org/boyscouts/supplemental/18-625/18-625.pdf

 

Duty to God

 

"Scouting maintains that no member can grow into the best kind of citizen without recognizing an obligation to God. In the first part of the Scout Oath or Promise, the member declares, "On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law." The recognition of God as the ruling and leading power in the universe and the grateful acknowledgement of his favors and blessings are necessary to the best type of citizenship and are wholesome precepts in the education of the growing members. No matter what religious faith a Scout might be, this fundamental need of good citizenship should be kept before him. The Boy Scouts of America, 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 the organization of the group with which the member is connected shall give definite attention to religious life.

 

"In practical terms, this means that the Scout is expected to subscribe to these principles. Bear in mind that a Scout is trustworthy and further that he and his parents have subscribed to these principles when he joined Boy Scouting and that he has pledged his duty to God each time he recites or pledges the Scout Oath and Law.

 

..."The Boy Scouts of America does not define God for a Scout, nor does it interpret Gods rules. Those are matters, as said above, left to home and to the religious body to which the Scout belongs." ...

 

We can also go back to BSA's Declaration of Religious Principle...(This message has been edited by John-in-KC)

[Sprocket]

Since this thread has some life again, let me clarify for ScoutNut & John-in-KC.

All of the boys in our pack are Roman Catholic. If any aren't that I'm not aware of, their parents have already chosen to send them to a Catholic grade school where they sign an agreement about the Catholic religious education that will be provided for their child. I'm not worried about getting written permission for the boys to participate. They were all informed in our pack newsletter that the boys would be working on the Rosary patch at the pack meeting. Besides, it's a pack meeting--the parents are *supposed* to be there anyway...

 

John-in-KC,

I understand your point about scouting being non-sectarian, but a religious organization CO can use scouting programs as part of its youth ministry (as do many Catholic scout units and seemingly all of the LDS). Instead of high adventure, our parish's Venturing crew is organized as a religious activities crew, and is used as the parish youth group for high-school aged youth.

 

As an fyi,

The Glorious mysteries have to do with the resurrection, the ascension, Pentecost, and the assumption and coronation of Mary.

 

What we'll be doing for the pack meeting tomorrow night are skits for each of the Glorious mysteries, acted predominantly by leaders with each den taking a part in one of the skits. The boys will then do a round-robin session to go around to adults in different parts of the gym to answer 5 questions of their choosing out of the 10 questions provided to complete the requirements for the patch. Should be fun--we have makeshift costumes & everything!

[John-in-KC]

Sprocket,

 

I agree that a Chartered Partner can integrate Scouting into its programs ...

 

BUT I RESPECTFULLY DISAGREE WITH YOU THAT THE CHARTERED PARTNER CAN INTEGRATE ITS FAITH INTO SCOUTING.

 

That the boys are enrolled in a Catholic School, and their parents have made agreement, does not provide the Pack official cover for religious education after school.

 

I agree that Scouting and faith go together. I counsel the God and Country Protestant awards. I do that though, outside of unit program time. The sole exception was when I was asked by Venturers to counsel God and Life as part of their path to the Quest Bronze.

 

I'm simply saying I agree with Scoutnut: Get written permission. That way, parents cannot later make a complaint on the record to Council that your parish was prosleytizing Scouts. That is a way for a Chartered Partner to forfeit a charter ... it's happened before.

 

In the meantime, walk with Him and have fun with this activity for the vast majority who are Roman in your Pack.

[Sprocket]

Were our pack chartered to a non-religious organization, I would agree with all of John-in-KC's comments, however I will continue to disagree with some of them. The Rosary patch program does not require the boys to profess Roman Catholic beliefs; it educates them about the Rosary. The Rosary is not actually specific to Roman Catholicism. Some of the most prolific Marian scholars have not even been Catholic (one was a Lutheran pastor and seminary professor).

 

At any rate, my wife and I are neither the CC nor the CM. The patch is something the pack has done for the past year or two, and doing the activity at a pack meeting was a done deal before we joined up. My wife was just tapped to run it this year. I'm a lowly tiger den leader.

 

I don't expect any parent complaints, but if there are, the CC and CM will handle them, as the activity was their call, and our IH/priest, a longtime scouter (silver beaver, etc., etc.) will be happy to chat with the parent about the differences between packs chartered to Catholic churches vs. those chartered to public school organizations. (knowing him, that's the approach he would take)

 

I doubt we'd feel heat from the council. Our membership and popcorn numbers are good...

[devaney_scouts]

With regards to the rosary patch, I asked as my family is Catholic in a predominatly non catholic area. As to a pack doing religoius awards, it is my understanding that a charter organization has the right to require participation in specific events. Our pack is chartered to a Presbyterian Church and we offer the God and Country program to all scouts who want to participate. We hold it at a seperate time than regular meeting times to accomadate all of the boys. My three are working on or have done their rank levels for the Catholic Religious award.

 

Back to what chartered organizations can do, the new scout registration form tells parents that the Chartered organizationagree to use the Scouting program in accordance with their own policies. Faith is also a recognized core value. I would give non catholic parents an info sheet on what the group is working on and give them the option to opt out and work on their family's personal religion's award during the same time period if they felt strongly about not participating