Resources & Links

National Catholic Committee on Scouting - Statement Supporting the Chartering of Boy Scouts of America Units

Letter from National Committee on Scouting - 1/19/2021

Dear Diocesan Chairs and Chaplains, The Boy Scouts of America have updated their Charter Partner Agreement. The new agreement has two changes which are of particular interest to us in the Catholic Church.

THE ANNUAL UNIT CHARTER AGREEMENT - updated January 2021

To encourage youth members to work on the religious emblem pertaining to the denomination of their choice.

National Catholic Committee on Scouting (NCCS-bsa.org) .

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.

Fall 2020 edition of The Bridge – National’s quarterly newsletter

Office for Child and Youth Protection Archdiocese of Philadelphia - the Archdiocese of Philadelphia Office for Child and Youth Protection’s (OCYP) website and hope that you will find it both helpful and informative. On these pages, you will find an overview of our services, resources for victims/survivors of child sexual abuse and their families, important information and resources for Archdiocese clergy, staff and volunteers, as well as a link to our Training Institute.

Praypub.org - the P.R.A.Y. Program - a Bible-based religious emblems program for Protestant and Independent Christian churches designed to bring children, youth, and families to Christ. Our program has impacted the lives of thousands of children nationwide

Eagle Commendation letter: Archbishop Perez writes commendation letters to new Eagle Scouts who are members of parishes or units within the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Requests can be submitted by emailing Ms. Donna Huddell in the Office of Archbishop. Requests should include the Scout's name, his unit type and number and chartered organization, his parish, the date of the Eagle presentation, and mailing address and phone number for the requesting person.

Cardinal Krol Award: An award for Catholic Scouting units located in the Archdiocese.

Presentation of Religious Emblems at Mass: This sample ceremony is appropriate for a parish priest to use at Mass when awarding religious emblems to youth.

National Catholic Committee on Scouting

St. George's Trek: The St. George Trek is a biennial, high adventure, backpacking retreat program for Catholic Scouts and Venturers administered by the National Catholic Committee on Scouting in cooperation with the Boy Scouts of America’s Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, NM. The program begins and ends in Albuquerque, NM, but the hike, itself, takes place at Philmont.

Catholic Charter Organizational Representatives

The National Catholic Committee on Scouting has developed a new online training module to supplement your Boy Scouts of America's Charter Organizational Representative (COR) training. Our focus is not to retrain you on your role as a COR, but to give you the tools to use the Scouting program as a tool for a deeper Catholic youth ministry experience for the youth.

The NCCS COR Training is a four module training available on BSA's ScoutingU system. The modules covered are:

Chartering to a Catholic Institution

This module helps the COR to understand Scouting in the Local Church, the (arch)diocese. This session will discuss the role of the BSA charter in the context of the role of the Parish as part of the Diocese and the role of the Bishop.

Reaching Youth Through Scouting

Scouting is youth ministry when the programs of the BSA are used in conjunction with programs of the NCCS and seek to fulfill the three goals of Catholic youth ministry.

Your Role as a Catholic COR

COR's are the key to ensuring a Catholic program. This module will review the role of the BSA COR as part of the Catholic faith.

Catholic Scouting under BSA Standards

This module will examine the BSA Rule and Regulations and address some of the concerns of Bishops and Pastors with fully implementing a Catholic program that fully participates in the life of the parish and seeks to fully develop the faith of its members.

We are developing new modules to help direct contact leaders in Catholic Units and parents of Catholic Scouts. If you want to keep up to date on new training available to Catholic Units, Catholic Leaders, and parents please sign up to receive the NCCS quarterly Bridge (https://www.nccs-bsa.org/index.php/diocesan-resources/the-bridge-newsletter [nccs-bsa.org]) or like our page on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/nccs.bsa/ [facebook.com]).

NEED TO FIND OUR TRAINING ON ScoutingU (BSA Learning Center)?

These new modules can be found in the BSA Learn Center by selecting Position > COR Training > NCCS COR Training. Attached is a step by step to get you to the correct section. Thank you for your work in faith formation of our youth through Scouting.