SCOUTING AT 100

Ambria Hammel/CATHOLIC SUN

Hundreds of Boy Scouts and their leaders took a break from camping and service projects Jan. 23 to celebrate the organization’s 100th anniversary.

Scouts celebrate century of faith-filled service, adventures

SCOTTSDALE — The link between Catholic youth ministry and Scouting is almost as old as Scouting itself.

The first Scout Troop chartered by a Catholic parish formed two years after the Boy Scouts of America was established.

Local Catholic Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts alongside their leaders and families filled Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish Jan. 23. They came from around the Valley — troops in northern Arizona were snowed in — to celebrate both the 100th anniversary of Scouting in America and the Church’s role in it with a special Mass and reception.

Men often use the skills they learned in Scouting as a youth to become responsible, full members of society and faithful members of the Church, Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted said during the opening prayer.

Fr. Dennis O’Rourke, VF, chaplain for the Phoenix Diocesan Catholic Committee on Scouting, agreed.

“Some of the finest people I ever met were Boy Scouts and Catholic and proud of both,” he said.

Fr. O’Rourke, who has also served on the board of directors for the National Catholic Committee on Scouting since 1984, compared the traits listed in the Beatitudes — the Gospel reading that day — to traits each Scout embraces through character-building activities.

“Whoever has this utter poverty will deeply respect what God gives us,” Fr. O’Rourke said about being poor in spirit. In Scouts, “we are taught to leave the area cleaner than when we came.”

The merit badge program provides opportunities to care for earth’s creatures, he said about the third beatitude. Merit badges that Fr. O’Rourke earned during his 48 years in Scouting decorated his chasuble.

Boy Scouts throughout the diocese sometimes earn badges and new ranks by helping the Church. The outdoor Stations of the Cross at Mount Claret were installed as an Eagle Scout project. Other parishes have seen similar improvements.

Many Scouts go on to hold positions in Catholic leadership, most notably priests.

Thirty percent of diocesan and religious priests ordained in the United States last year once participated in a Scouting program.