Religious Medals

[AKdenldr]

I'm interested in doing the God and Family award with my son. There are a few more parents in his den (I'm the Web DL) that are also interested. We are a 'friends of" pack and nobody attends the same church. (I've got most of the materials and understand the basics of the program.)

 

Anyone put together a program under these types of conditions? Want to share your experiences?

 

Either respond in the forum or PM.

 

Thanks much, AK

[ScoutNut]

I would pick the church that the majority of the interested boys belong to, and then go speak to the pastor.

 

 

[jhankins]

The religious emblems aren't official BSA awards, they're worn on the uniform after being awarded by the church, so you have to have a church's sponsorship for the program. If your chartered organization is a church, you have it easy. If not, find a church the parents don't mind agreeing upon, and approach the pastor of that church. Sell him on the idea and how his congregation will benefit.

 

Once you do that, you're golden.

 

 

[packsaddle]

As I understand it, the religious award is an individual endeavor that involves the scout and his own church or faith, not something that is done as a unit. Each award is for each faith and the faith decides the requirements and makes the award. BSA merely recognizes this award so that it can be worn on the uniform. If this has changed I'd like to hear about it.

[ScoutNut]

AK, while you state that nobody attends the same church, are all of the boys of the Protestant, Independent Christian, group of religious organizations?

 

Different religious organizations have different awards. The families of the Scouts in your den should check with their own religious organization to see if they have a different religious emblem program.

[AKdenldr]

Thanks all. ScoutNut to answer your question, I think just a subset of the boys attend church -- My guess is that about half the den would fit the God and Family. No two boys attend the same church.

 

Packsaddle -- according to the materials I have this can be taught as a group, or mentor / family approach. My intention based on the makeup of my den is NOT to teach it to my whole den as part of our schedule for the year. But I'm hoping to organize something that my son can be a part of. Of course we'd have the boy's churches involved.

 

Jhankins -- interesing idea. Have you done it? How did it go?

[SSScout]

Jhankins and packsaddle have the gist of it right.

In most cases, a Scout may not earn the religious award by himself, he needs the imprimatur of a church/temple/mosque/meeting.

The awards are, as has been said, earned from and awarded by the faith involved and as recognized by the BSA, the award is allowed to be worn on the Scout uniform.

Doesn't mean the Scout has to belong "officially" to the faith involved, only that some leader of that faith needs to mentor the Scout and approve the awarding of the award. These have sometimes been called a "religious merit badge", and can be seen as being earned in a similar fashion as the regular merit badge.

A Scouter can certainly encourage and help the Scout and his parents. Being aware of the opportunities and mechanics involved can be off-putting, but holding a Den class might not be the right way to pursue this.

 

Look to www.praypub.org for alot of the details.

 

Good Scouting to you...

[Proud Eagle]

As a member of a Catholic Committee on Scouting I should mention these just in case someone looks at this thread. Catholic Scouts should pursue the particular Catholic religious emblems and info on this can be found at the National Catholic Committee on Scouting http://www.nccs-bsa.org or the Catholic Committee on Scouting of the diocese (office of youth ministry usually) or sometimes the local parish. The Catholic programs are not coordinated through PRAY. The National Catholic Committee for Girl Scouts and Camp Fire: http://www.nccgscf.org/index.htm has programs for those programs.

 

I know several of the protestant faiths have essentially the same programs and emblems through PRAY but do require some learning about the particular faith of the Scout. Others Christian groups have their own programs. Non-Christian groups tend to have seperate, particular programs.

 

There is no reason you can't introduce the topic of religious emblems to the entire den and all parents, let everyone know what is out there and where to go for info, and let them know that BSA encourages these programs. For those who are interested in working on these, some may need to be directed to their own programs, but some basic support will certainly help them. For those who may be working on essentially the same program, it may perhaps be possible to conduct part of it in a group setting with the denomination specific parts on their own. (I have heard of ministers approving of this at times, but this isn't the norm. More likely they will work with their parents and clergy or perhaps in a small group all of the same faith.)

 

As the den leader, your best bet is to provide information on these programs, help each family find the right program for them, help them find the needed resources, and perhaps even check if there is an established counselor for the programs there is interest in (through the local council and its contacts). You can then offer recognition and congratulations to those who complete the program.

[ASM915]

AK,

 

If the youth are all of the Protestant denominations, see if Council can lend you the RE books for those denominations. Take a look at the requirements and see how much they vary. If they are pretty much in line with each other, have the family ask their pastor if he has an issue with another pastor (if you have a willing one) work with the little ones as a group. Since each pastor has to sign the application that he/she knows that the youth is working on the RE, this is a good time to ask. Then the pastor that is helping the youth signs as the counsellor. Have the youth go back to his own pastor after they finish, and have a talk with the pastor about what he did.

 

It shouldn't be a problem. I know we have several Packs, and a couple of Troops that do it this way in our Council.

 

If you have a couple Catholic youths in the den, see if there is a parent willing to work with them on God & Me. Just make sure that the paperwork gets back to the appropriate Diocese. Our poor Council has to deal with five Diocese. One Diocese has two locations where they merge with two of the others (two on the west side, and the other two to the east) where you can have youth from each of the three Dioceses in the same unit. Talk about chaos & confusion. LOL. And I took on Religious Relations Chair why???

[Eagle92]

Actually the Light of Christ and Parvuli Dei Awards do not require a counselor, instead they work with their parents on the awards. Oldest and a few of his friend in his Catechism class, aka Sunday School, are doign that with their parents.

 

Unfortunately God and Me don't work for Catholics as there are different trequirements.

[ScoutNut]

You can not just assume one religious emblem program (God & Me, God & Family) will work for all faiths. It will not.

 

If your boys are of one of the Protestant faiths, the P.R.A.Y. program of God and Me, Family, Church, and Faith might work. You should have the families check to be sure.

 

If your boys are Catholic, the P.R.A.Y. religious emblem program will not be recognized as they have their own program.

 

Many other religious organizations also use their own program. Jewish, Buddhist, LDS, and Church of Christ, are a few.

 

Most religious emblem programs, including the P.R.A.Y. program, require that when completed, the boys booklets must be gone over, and signed, by a member of the religious organization. In other words, if you work on the booklet with your son you can not sign off on the back page for him to receive the award. It must be done by your Pastor, or someone appointed by him.

 

Talk to the families. Find out who is interested in working on their religious emblem. Find out what their religious affiliations are. Have them find out what religious emblem program their faith uses.

 

If all of the faiths, of the families that are interested in earning their religious emblem, use the P.R.A.Y. program, you might be able to do a group class.

 

In order to do a group class you need to talk to the pastors of the boys churches to get their permission to be the boy's Counselor. You will need to work with them on who will sign off on the booklets. Some might want to go over their members booklet themselves. Others might let another pastor (yours?) do it. The emblems should be presented to each boy at/by his own church. If they do not have a specific church, the church of pastor who signs the booklet might be nice.

 

Remember, if you are doing a class, instead of the individual families working with their sons, you also need to get signed permission slips from the families.

[Rockford8070]

I did God and Me with my two sons. I can see how you could do it as a group, in fact, I think I remember the book even covering things as a group would. However, I would like to point out that for some faith is a deeply personal issue, and the boys or their parents may not react well in a group when things are different from what they know/learned.

[Pack212Scouter]

We run the God & Country program as a Pack every two years for Wolf-Webelos. Our church views Scouting as part of their youth program and outreach. We present the Protestant PRAY program to the youth. Youth are not required to attend on those nights and if the family desires, we will get them into a different religious award program.

[ASM915]

Scoutnut,

You're right about "GOD & ME". I meant to say "LIGHT OF CHRIST". 92 caught my mistake. Thanks 92.

[AKdenldr]

Pack212 said, "We run the God & Country program as a Pack every two years for Wolf-Webelos...."

 

Great. I'm looking coordinating the 4th grade program (Webelos -- God and Family). How many nights do you use and how long are your meeting times?

 

-- AK