What is the National Catholic Committee on Scouting?

[David CO]

What is the National Catholic Committee on Scouting?

In another thread, someone posted a quote from the NCCA. What is the NCCA? Is it a private organization or is it owned/operated by the Catholic Church? Who are its members/leaders? Does it have any authority to speak for the Catholic Church? 

 

[DuctTape]

https://www.nccs-bsa.org

[Eagle1993]

Copied the about us section...

WHAT IS THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC COMMITTEE ON SCOUTING®?

The National Catholic Committee on Scouting® (NCCS) is a church committee of concerned Catholic lay people and clergy who see as their mission the constructive use of the program of the Boy Scouts of America as a viable form of youth ministry with the Catholic youth of our nation.

The committee, which is advisory to the Boy Scouts of America, seeks to sustain and strengthen the relationship between BSA and the Catholic Church in the United States.

Through interaction and dialogue with the Secretariat on the Laity and Family Life (the formal connection between youth ministry in the United States and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops), NCCS works cooperatively with various other groups involved in youth ministry in the United States.

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OUR AUTHORITY.

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The National Catholic Committee on Scouting® (NCCS) is a church committee of concerned Catholic Laity and Clergy which is advisory to the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and relates to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) through its USCCS Episcopal Liaison.

 

 

NCCS MISSION.

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The National Catholic Committee on Scouting® (NCCS) exists to utilize and ensure the constructive use of the program of the BSA as a viable form of youth ministry with Catholic youth of our nation.

 

 

OUR PURPOSE.

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The purpose of the NCCS is to utilize and ensure the constructive use of the program of the BSA as a viable form of youth ministry with the Catholic Youth of our nation. The NCCS seeks to sustain and strengthen the relationship between the BSA and the Catholic Church and to work cooperatively with the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry (NFCYM) and various other groups involved in youth ministry in the United States.

[Peregrinator]

17 minutes ago, David CO said:

What is the National Catholic Committee on Scouting?

In another thread, someone posted a quote from the NCCA. What is the NCCA? Is it a private organization or is it owned/operated by the Catholic Church? Who are its members/leaders? Does it have any authority to speak for the Catholic Church? 

It doesn't have any authority to speak for the Catholic Church, no. In my opinion it is basically an arm of the BSA (a trademark search will show that the BSA owns the trademark to the organization's name); it doesn't work with non-BSA scouting associations (not even the Girl Scouts of the USA) or recognize them in any way.

[David CO]

34 minutes ago, Eagle1993 said:

OUR AUTHORITY.

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The National Catholic Committee on Scouting® (NCCS) is a church committee of concerned Catholic Laity and Clergy which is advisory to the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and relates to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) through its USCCS Episcopal Liaison.

Under the heading, Our Authority, the NCCS says it is a church committee. Many people might take this to mean that it is owned and operated by the Catholic Church. A person might also jump to the conclusion that the NCCS gets its authority from the Catholic Church. It doesn't actually say from where it derives its authority, does it?

I might also point out that Catholics are instructed to always capitalize the word Church when they are referring to the Catholic Church. Anyone can form a church committee. It takes an appointment from a bishop, or his designee, to form a Church committee.

 

Edited May 17, 2018 by David CO

[Tampa Turtle]

The Catholic Church has many, many organizations, groups, and orders that are sometimes aligned with Rome and sometimes not. Surprisingly diverse. Just get a group of Priests, Nuns, and Monks together and you will find out. 

The United Methodist Church (which is a CO of many units) has multiple Scouting oversight groups but no one in our UMC sponsored Troop ever recalls a single contact, letter, or brochure since we have been around since 1955. 

The United Methodist Men has this: http://www.gcumm.org/scouting/  They mostly like any group.They seem to parrot whatever National says.

[David CO]

1 hour ago, Tampa Turtle said:

The Catholic Church has many, many organizations, groups, and orders that are sometimes aligned with Rome and sometimes not. Surprisingly diverse. Just get a group of Priests, Nuns, and Monks together and you will find out. 

The United Methodist Church (which is a CO of many units) has multiple Scouting oversight groups but no one in our UMC sponsored Troop ever recalls a single contact, letter, or brochure since we have been around since 1955. 

The United Methodist Men has this: http://www.gcumm.org/scouting/  They mostly like any group.They seem to parrot whatever National says.

Same here. My unit has never had a single contact with NCCS. NCCS seems to parrot whatever BSA says. 

 

Edited May 17, 2018 by David CO

[Jameson76]

6 minutes ago, Tampa Turtle said:

Gee maybe then National is right...

Now you're just being silly

Edited May 17, 2018 by Jameson76

[Eagledad]

48 minutes ago, Tampa Turtle said:

 

The United Methodist Men has this: http://www.gcumm.org/scouting/  They mostly like any group.They seem to parrot whatever National says.

The United Methodist is more complicated, they do no parrot National. At the most they parrot the General Methodist Convention. National is very liberal and publically supports liberal causes, which is why it is viewed a left moderate Church. But the bylaws are created by the more conservative delegates at the Methodist General Convention. The United Methodist Mens are independent and generally viewed as conservative. I'm told liability is the main reason they submitted to allowing gays in their units.

Barry 

[T2Eagle]

To answer the question who is the NCCSA and what authority it has, it's useful to understand the hierarchy of the Church itself.  Although there is a national organization, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), that organization does not have the authority, strictly speaking,  to dictate to its member bishops, rather the bishops are responsible to the Pope and to each other. "As Christ's vicar, each bishop has the pastoral care of the particular Church entrusted to him, but at the same time he bears collegially with all his brothers in the episcopacy the solicitude for all the Churches. Though each bishop is the lawful pastor only of the portion of the flock entrusted to his care, as a legitimate successor of the apostles he is, by divine institution and precept, responsible with the other bishops for the apostolic mission of the Church."

Because of this structure there can be no national organization, scouting or otherwise, that dictates policy for the country.  Within each diocese, the head of the diocese, for simplicity's sake the bishop, is responsible for all things Catholic within his domain, and so "each diocesan bishop oversees arrangements with scouting organizations in his diocese."

Having said that, it's a bit disingenuous to dismiss the NCCS.  If they were providing guidance that was contrary to the teachings of the Church as understood by the USCCB they would lose any affiliation with the USCCB, and to the extent that the folks there are clergy, they could be admonished to speak differently, either by their bishop or by their order.  

 

 

[Tampa Turtle]

30 minutes ago, Eagledad said:

The United Methodist is more complicated, they do no parrot National. At the most they parrot the General Methodist Convention. National is very liberal and publically supports liberal causes, which is why it is viewed a left moderate Church. But the bylaws are created by the more conservative delegates at the Methodist General Convention. The United Methodist Mens are independent and generally viewed as conservative. I'm told liability is the main reason they submitted to allowing gays in their units.

Barry 

Yes and the UMW is very liberal. It is quite a mixed salad of directions. At our church the men's group was always hostile to the scouts (too much dinged up furniture) while the women love us. The irony was the complaints went away when the men's groups died off and the church rolled their remaining funds to the troop.  The women support us on a regular basis and chip in now and again as the boys look smart in their uniforms and provide labor for this and that.

[Tampa Turtle]

1 minute ago, T2Eagle said:

To answer the question who is the NCCSA and what authority it has, it's useful to understand the hierarchy of the Church itself.  Although there is a national organization, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), that organization does not have the authority, strictly speaking,  to dictate to its member bishops, rather the bishops are responsible to the Pope and to each other. "As Christ's vicar, each bishop has the pastoral care of the particular Church entrusted to him, but at the same time he bears collegially with all his brothers in the episcopacy the solicitude for all the Churches. Though each bishop is the lawful pastor only of the portion of the flock entrusted to his care, as a legitimate successor of the apostles he is, by divine institution and precept, responsible with the other bishops for the apostolic mission of the Church."

Because of this structure there can be no national organization, scouting or otherwise, that dictates policy for the country.  Within each diocese, the head of the diocese, for simplicity's sake the bishop, is responsible for all things Catholic within his domain, and so "each diocesan bishop oversees arrangements with scouting organizations in his diocese."

Having said that, it's a bit disingenuous to dismiss the NCCS.  If they were providing guidance that was contrary to the teachings of the Church as understood by the USCCB they would lose any affiliation with the USCCB, and to the extent that the folks there are clergy, they could be admonished to speak differently, either by their bishop or by their order.  

 

 

I wouldn't dismiss anybody...you don't want to attract attention as a problem. I have known different receptions at different places by different RC bishops. It mostly boiled down to if the bishop had been a scout and had fond memories of it.

[Jameson76]

1 hour ago, Tampa Turtle said:

See..that's not accurate because if it was really the Methodists they would not actually have voted.  The skorts issue would have been discussed, then talked about, then discussed again, then a sub-committee of Bishops would have looked at it, then it would have been brought up at the next annual conference, then there would have been a motion to table and vote at the next General Conference if so warranted by the sub committee

[Tampa Turtle]

14 minutes ago, Jameson76 said:

See..that's not accurate because if it was really the Methodists they would not actually have voted.  The skorts issue would have been discussed, then talked about, then discussed again, then a sub-committee of Bishops would have looked at it, then it would have been brought up at the next annual conference, then there would have been a motion to table and vote at the next General Conference if so warranted by the sub committee

You got me there. I am holding my breath on the UMC Central Conference in Africa vote on Skorts vs. Skirts.

[NJCubScouter]

The mission of the National Jewish Committee on Scouting (NJCOS) is to prepare young Jews to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of Judaism as expressed in the Scout Oath and Scout Law.

www.jewishscouting.org

Sound familiar?

Edited May 17, 2018 by NJCubScouter