International Catholic Conference of Scouting Celebrates 100 Years of Service to the Worldwide Scouting Movement
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VOLUME 29 NO. 4— WINTER 2020 International Catholic Conference of Scouting celebrates 100 years of service to the worldwide Scouting Movement and became a Jesuit novice in By Phil Krajec 1900. While preparing for his NCCS International Committee ordination, he became interested Chair in the Scouting movement that was gaining strength in When the founder of the the United Kingdom. However, worldwide Scout Movement many in religious circles were Lord Robert Baden-Powell was critical of Scouting, and he ob- asked where religion came into tained permission from his supe- Scouting, he replied, “It does not riors to investigate the move- come in at all. It is already ment. He attended a scout rally there.” in London in September 1913, Almost from the beginning of where he met Baden-Powell him- Scouting in 1907, there were self. responsibility, dedication, educa- Catholic Scout troops. By the After meeting Baden-Powell, tion, and the natural world but also time Baden-Powell visited South Father Sevin wrote his classic included a spiritual component. America in 1909, Scouting had ocumentary study called Le Father Sevin was able to already started in Argentina and demonstrate to skeptics that Scout- Chile. In 1910, the Boy Scouts ing could meld Baden- of America was incorporated Powell’s model and the Chris- and the first known Catholic tian Gospel. Baden-Powell said Scout Troop in the BSA was that no one turned his thoughts into formed in St. Paul, Minnesota. reality better than Jacques Sevin. Catholic troops formed in Bel- Father Sevin met Jean Corbisier gium in 1910 and in Austria in of Belgium and Count Mario Ga- 1912. In 1916, an Italian Catho- brielli di Carpegna of Italy at the lic Scout association was found- 1st World Scout Jamboree in Lon- ed. don in1920. Professor Corbisier This year marks the 100th an- was at the time the Chief Scout of niversary of the international The Association of Baden-Powell structure that unites all Catholic Scoutisme, attended Wood Badge Belgian Boy and Sea Scouts. Scouts around the world, the or- at Gilwell Park, and started Count di Carpegna was a politi- ganization we now know as the adapting its applications for cian, soldier, and the founder of International Catholic Confer- French Scouting. In 1918, he es- the Associazione Scouts Cattolici ence of Scouting (ICCS). tablished the first Catholic Scout Italiani (ASCI). Father Jacques Sevin, consid- troop in France and, in 1920, ered by many to be the Father of founded Scouts de France, an or- (continued on page 2) Catholic Scouting, was born in ganization of French Catholic Scouts. Its program focused on ICCS celebrates 100 years (continued from page 1) Together they decided to create FROM THE CHAIR an international group to bring to- Jim Weiskircher gether all Catholic Scouts, an idea supported by Pope Benedict XV. The coronavirus continues to challenge us. The Their dream became a reality later hotel that we booked for our annual meeting that year with the creation of the came to us and said that they could not guaran- International Catholic Office of tee that we could hold our meeting there be- Scouting. A new charter was ap- cause of social distancing requirements that may proved by the Holy See and the or may not be in place at the time. They recommended that we move the umbrella organization of Catholic meeting from 2021 to 2023. The Executive Committee agreed so we will Scouting took the name Interna- be having a virtual meeting during the same time period in April 2021. tional Catholic Conference of We are entering into our annual campaign. Both the chaplaincy at Scouting/Conférence Internationale Philmont and the St. George Trek will be going strong next year and will Catholique du Scoutisme (ICCS/ need our financial support. Please be generous with your year-end giving. CICS) in 1977. If your unit or diocesan committee is doing anything creative, please Father Jacques Sevin died in let us know so that we can pass along those ideas to others through The Northern France in 1951. The Bridge I encourage all to submit articles or ideas to Mike Gannon at cause of his beatification was intro- [email protected]. duced in 1989, and he was declared Thank you for your continued support of Catholic Scouting as a Youth Venerable on May 10, 2012. Ministry. Yours in Catholic Scouting as a youth ministry, Jim Unit Excellence award has been revised for 2021 Using the BSA Journey To Excellence (JTE) recent revisions as a guide, Father Jacques Sevin the NCCS Pope Paul VI National Catholic Unit Excellence Award has been revised for 2021. Historically, only about one percent of Catholic Today, his legacy lives on as scouting units have submitted applications for the Pope Paul VI award. In ICCS provides the opportunity for an effort to increase participation and simplify the paperwork for submis- its over 60 member organizations sion, the requirements and methods have been changed starting on Janu- from four regions to gather as ary 1st, 2021. See the NCCS website http://www.nccs-bsa.org/ friends and share their experiences. index.php/catholic-quality-unit-award for details on the revisions. It still has its headquarters in Rome, at the offices of Associa- zione Guide e Scouts Cattolici Ital- The Bridge is an authorized publication of the National Catholic Committee on iani (AGESCI), the successor to Scouting (NCCS). It is published quarterly to provide news and information to ASCI, just a short walk from the members of the NCCS, diocesan Catholic committees, youth ministry personnel Vatican. and Boy Scout councils. A traditional Italian birthday NCCS National Chair Jim Weiskircher toast wishes the recipient 100 years NCCS National Chaplain Father Joe Powers of life. Here’s to another hundred Chair, Marketing and Public Relations Jason Wolz years of Catholic Scouting – altri Advisor, Marketing and Public Relations Father Roger Lopez cent’ anni, ICCS! Editor Mike Gannon NCCS Webmaster Roselito de los Reyes To submit items for future editions of The Bridge please contact Mike Gannon at [email protected]. Photos are acceptable and should be in a jpeg format. Please ensure all people in photos are identified and the subject matter is fully described. 2 The Chaplain’s Religious emblem manuals now available for sale on Corner NCCS website Father Joe Powers By National Chaplain John Doerr As of July 1, 2020, all NCCS Religious Emblem manuals (both In early November, I hosted a TEAMS meeting for all chaplains involved hard copy and the electronic AAD with Catholic Scouting. It provided an opportunity to share chaplaincy and version) are available for sale on training opportunities for diocesan chaplains. These included chaplaincies our NCCS website. This allows Re- next summer at Philmont with (Father Kevin Smith) and the St. George ligious Emblem Coordinators, par- Trek (Father Mike Santangelo). New priests were encouraged to attend ents, and scouts to purchase these Scouting in the Catholic Church and Scouting in the Local Church when- manuals directly from NCCS and ever the programs are offered. save a trip to the Scout shop or pur- chasing through BSA’s website. All Covid-19 has severely limited events in our respective dioceses. I encour- proceeds from these manuals go age you to find a way to honor those adults who are worthy to receive a directly to NCCS and support of Bronze Pelican or St. George Emblem. The same goes for acknowledging our Religious Emblems and Activi- religious awards earned by Scouts. It is important that we find safe ways ties. to carry out Scouting in the Catholic Church. My sincere ‘thank you’ to ESCO, our long time Religious the priests and deacons who are serving as chaplains for diocesan commit- Emblems supplier, has increased tees or for NCCS. Also, to all adult leaders who make Scouting a reality prices to NCCS for all Religious for our youth. God bless and keep everyone safe. Emblems. However, NCCS is ab- sorbing this increase on behalf of Scouting in the Catholic Church training set for Diocesan Committees with the fol- lowing exceptions: The Light of Philmont Training Center this July Christ and Parvuli Dei awards will increase from $12.00 to $12.50, Whether a newbie or a veteran to Catholic Scouting, consider attending effective March 1, 2021. All other the NCCS’ Scouting in the Catholic Church this July 18-23 at the Philmont emblems and pins remain at the Training Center. In the words of the Philmont Hymn, you’ll be in same price. We wanted to give you “Scouting Paradise,” “out in God’s country,” enjoying mountains “against as much lead time as possible so an azure sky” during the day and “starlit skies” at night. This is the setting that you can place an order at the for a training conference that brings together laity, clergy, and religious, old prices to cover you through from around the country for a week of learning, faith, fellowship and fun! Scout Sunday. These prices are The goals of the conference are to help participants understand how consistent with those of similar Scouting is Catholic youth ministry, gain knowledge about Catholic Scout- faith-based awards. This is only the ing resources and use the training to promote Catholic Scouting in their second ESCO price increase in the home dioceses and councils. last 11 years and represents just a The Philmont Training Center (PTC) is also a great family vacation 4% increase over the last 3 years. spot! The PTC offers a full, organized, program for every member of the ESCO, as part of each Ad Altare family from infants to spouses through its Family Conference Programing Dei and Pope Pius XII award order, and Family Adventure Camp.