National Catholic Scout Fellowship ‘...actively supporting Catholics in Scouting Wishing you a holy Christmas The Link. National Catholic Scout Fellowship Page Winter 2013—Number 212 Officer Details… Page 3 Resources… Page 3 Bishop Richard’s Thoughts… Page 4 A string Rosary… Page 5 Manager’s Thoughts… Pages 6 & 7 ICCS message… Page 8 Annual Reunion Report… Page 9 & 10 NCSF Application form… Pages 11 & 12 Uniform Badges... Page 13 Diary Dates... Page 13 Headquarters message… Pages 14 Regional Mass… Pages 14 Fr Fitzgerald RIP… Pages 16 to 18 Prayers… Page 19 Diocesan Chaplains… Page 20 From the National Chaplain… Page 21 Christmas Teasers… Pages 10,19,20 & 22 Idiot’s guide to Gift Aid… Page 22 CISG Contacts… Page 23 Closing Prayers...Page 24 Exec Meetings - Next Executive Meetings 22nd March — English Martyrs Rowley Regis CIGS Meeting 13th April — English Martyrs Rowley Regis The views and opinions expressed in articles in this publication are solely those of the authors and not the Scout Association. They are intended for the consideration of the readership and in particular the members of the NCSF. Page 2 Winter 2013 Issue Chairman Secretary Margaret M H McDowall Patsy Warren 4 Copperhouse Road, 12 Cleves Crescent Strood Cheslyn Hay Rochester Staffordshire ME2 2TQ WS6 7LR 01634 307335 01922-413489 [email protected] Treasurer National RC Chaplain Patrick Warren Fr. John Seddon 12 Cleves Crescent 165 Liverpool Road Cheslyn Hay Crosby Staffordshire Liverpool WS6 7LR L23 0QN 01922-413489 0151 949 1782 [email protected] [email protected] Articles for inclusion in The Link may be sent to the Editor at the email address given below. The name and scouting appointment of the contributor should be given. [email protected] A selection of resource material is available from the NCSF Badge Secretary to ease the work of Catholics in Scouting. They can be obtained from the following address. These are available from: Ann Ingleby Ki-Ro Items Want to see what you are 14 Rangers Walk going to get? Etching Hill 38mm badges 75p Rugeley 50mm badges £1 A catalogue of all the items Staffs Woggles £1.50 available is viewable online WS15 2NA NCSF Pin Badge £1 and downloadable from the website. This should make it Tel: 01889 585345 easier for you to order items. ICCS Centenary badges price £1.50 The Link. National Catholic Scout Fellowship Page 3 From Bishop Richard... A very Joyous and Peaceful Christmas to you all. Very recently, Pope Francis issued a document entitled Evangelii Gaudium - The Joy of the Gospel. This is a wonderful theme for this time of year, when we prepare to celebrate, with great joy, the Birth of Jesus at Bethlehem. Perhaps the last few weeks have been filled with preparations for our family celebrations – buying and wrapping presents, writing cards, putting up decorations and getting the Christmas Tree ready. Perhaps we have been stirring Christmas puddings and cooking too. Some of us may have made the cards and presents that we shall send. All these things bring a sense of joy and anticipation. They can also cost quite a lot of money – not always so easy in these difficult times for many. In the midst of all these things it is important that we do not lose sight of the reason for all our preparations – the Birthday of the Saviour. This is the real reason for our joy, just as it was the reason for the song of the angels and the joy of the shepherds on that first Christmas night. We could take a lesson from the shepherds. The first thing they did was to share their joy at seeing the infant Jesus with everyone they met. They had found the joy of the Gospel! May this Christmas be a time when each of us will discover afresh the joy of the Gospel message – the birth of the Saviour who is our salvation and hope. Page 4 Winter 2013 Issue With the assurance of my prayers for you and all in your family on this Great Feast of the Lord’s birth. String Rosary ... Beavers in their programme have the opportunity to learn a couple of knots. I start our Beavers (most of whom are not Catholic for we are not a Catholic Group) with the thumb knot. Each child is given a piece of string on which s/he is invited to tie ten thumb knots. I talk about praying and show them how they can use this bit of string to remember to pray. On each knot we can think of ten things for which we want to thank God, or ten things for which we want to say sorry, or ten people or situations for which we ask God's blessing, even for ten things which worry us. At this point it may be worth producing a rosary to explain that strings of beads are used as a prayer-aid in several religions. On each bead we pause and reflect on an event in the life of Jesus. We can do the same on our piece of string. If we want to time the pause we can say a Hail Mary while we are thinking. The piece of prayer-string can be kept in the pocket and used anytime in a quiet moment (on the bus to school, waiting for somebody etc) and when only God will know what we are doing. Actually, this works quite well as an introduction to praying for almost any age group. And if the string gets lost - we can do the same exercises using our ten fingers. Fr Robert Miller, PP Tisbury, Wilts The Link. National Catholic Scout Fellowship Page 5 The Manager’s thoughts... Since I last wrote to you, we have had our AGM, which is now called The Annual Review. This was a most illuminating weekend with a series of talks given to us by Bishop Richard Moth about the Year of Faith. This was most interesting and educational weekend. The fellowship was good and we had a chance to get to know each other better. The food was good, the accommodation was good and as I have said the company was excellent. We appointed a new vice chairman/assistant manager, Mr Jim Gildea, and hopefully his input into the running of the NCSF will be invaluable. I have just returned from a Catholic Scouting Conference in Portugal, Fatima in fact. The theme of the weekend was ‘Walk in the Light’ and we had a very in- depth speaker on the Gospel of St John who mentions light in his writings. This was followed by a Scouter telling us how we could introduce this theme into out scouting programmes. The weather was very much like Britain, quite a lot of rain, although on the Sunday the temperature in Lisbon reached 70c. We had a very tight programme which did not give us any free time to explore Fatima more. We met the Bishop of Fatima who joined us for the meal on the Friday evening; they entertained us to a very Portuguese meal in a refurbished castle belonging to the council. At this weekend we elected a new Regional Secretary for the Mediterranean Branch of the ICCS – The International Conference of Catholic Scouting. You can read what he has to say in the Link. Page 6 Winter 2013 Issue Christmas is almost upon us as I write these few words it will soon be time for me to go to Dover to collect the Peace Light as it arrives from the Continent and transport it back to Chatham for distribution. This is a lovely ceremony where we go from darkness into light and then receive the light from the peace light. I know that many of you up and down the country are part of this ceremony. In our church we keep the light burning until Candlemas Day – 2nd February. At our last executive meeting we looked at how we could move the NCSF forward and our thinking in order to do this we would need to have some input from the younger members of Scouting to that effect we are going to invite some young people to our next executive meeting on 22 March 2014 at our usual meeting place in Rowley Regis, Birmingham. Our meeting are always on a Saturday and usually commence at 10.30. We have decided to pay the travel costs and provide lunch for any young person who would like to attend. We are looking at Explorer, Network or Young Leader. If you would like to be part of this discussion then please contact me and we can make the necessary arrangements. We want to move the NCSF on and we feel we can only do it with the help of our young people. So do give this some thought over the next few weeks and feel free to get in touch with me if you want more information. What do I hope for the NCSF in the coming year – I hope for a more active Adult Support Unit, going out to the groups and helping them both ; to produce more resources to help groups achieve their aims and to help the membership of the NCSF grow. However this can only be achieved with the help of yourselves by letting others know of our existence and encouraging them to join us and be part of an exciting new future for the NCSF. Lastly let me take this opportunity to wish all those who support us a very holy and happy Christmas and a very prosperous new year.