Local Church

July 20, 2006

Arizona Boy Scout camp celebrates 50th anniversary

By J.D. Long-García
The Catholic Sun

CAMP GERONIMO — At a camp just north of Payson, local Boy Scouts of America leaders have taught youth to honor God and country for the past 50 years.

Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted celebrated a Mass to commemorate the anniversary at Camp Geronimo’s outdoor Catholic chapel with more than 60 Boy Scouts and troop leaders July 12.

“The desire of the Boy Scouts in Arizona to have a Mass here on their 50th anniversary is not a small thing,” the bishop said. “It gives me great joy to be here.”

In his homily, the bishop spoke about the nature of temptation.

“Being a Christian is not easy. We can’t think that,” the bishop said.

“That would be like thinking that getting to the top of the Mogollon Rim would be easy,” he added, pointing to the cliff face in plain view from the outdoor chapel.

“We need to know that on our own we have no power against Satan,” the bishop said. “We have to choose who will give us strength to resist him.”

Christ, he said, would give them the strength to do that.

Troops from dioceses in Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico participated in the Mass.

“The Church certainly supports scouting,” said Fr. William Gyure, pastor of St. Philip the Apostle in Payson. “If you’re very religious, they have religious badges. They help a person develop their confidence and sociability.”

Adam Lincoln, a scout in the St. John Bosco Troop 77 and a parishioner of Corpus Chirsti in Phoenix, is working on earning a religious emblem with his peers. 

“It’s basically listening and caring for what God has given us,” the 11-year-old said.

Some 56 Catholic organizations sponsor 6,000 Boy Scouts in Arizona, said Fr. Dennis O’Rourke, the Phoenix Diocese’s chaplain to the Boy Scouts.

He said Boy Scouting began nearly 100 years ago in London. Benedictine monks helped with the oath, Fr. O’Rourke said.

Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell began the scouting movement in England by publishing “Scouting for Boys” in 1908. The book and the movement have spread throughout the world.

“I believe that God put us in this jolly world to be happy and enjoy life. Happiness doesn’t come from being rich, nor merely from being successful in your career, nor by self-indulgence,” Baden-Powell wrote to the Boy Scouts in his later years.

“One step toward happiness is to make yourself healthy and strong while you are a boy, so that you can be useful and so you can enjoy life when you are a man.”