‘Scouting is back,’ going strong teaching life skills to youths in Archdiocese of Baltimore

An inspiration from prayer helped Lucy Loughlin come up with her Eagle Scout project – dog beds for animal shelters.

Lucy, 16, a parishioner of Holy Family in Davidsonville and a past chaplain of BSA Troop 396, which meets in Annapolis, relied on tires from a tire dump and donated fabric and pillow materials for what she dubbed her Sew Ministry, which earned her Eagle Scout badge.

Having prayed to see a need and finding one, like so many others, she credits Scouting with helping her learn basic skills in addition to the outdoor camping practices that were a foundation of Boy Scouts of America since the organization’s founding in 1910. That mission continued in 2019 when the organization began admitting girls and changed its name to Scouting BSA.

Lucy credits the education in her troop with having “helped me to get through turmoils and challenges I’ve encountered.”

BSA Scout troops, currently chartered by about 90 parishes in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, are far off the peak membership of the Baby-Boomer years. No one maintains a precise statewide census, but the current estimate of Catholic youths in Scouting programs in the archdiocese is about 2,000.

Even after the Boy Scouts’ 2020 Chapter 11 bankruptcy to cap payments for sex abuse lawsuits – the organization emerged from Chapter 11 in April 2023 after making a $2.64 billion settlement – Scouting programs have survived.

Archdiocesan Scouting officials hope to glimpse the future of the programs at an April 19-21 retreat at Walkersville Watershed in Frederick. It’s the first since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Father Jim Bors, appointed last year as chaplain of the Archdiocesan Catholic Committee on Scouting Leadership, hopes it will show “that Scouting is back.”

In addition to camping and outdoor activities, there will be talks on the rosary as well as eucharistic adoration and the sacrament of reconciliation.

To draw as many Scouts as possible, there’s a Saturday-only option, and it’s also open to all Catholic youths in Scouts BSA, Venturing, Sea Scouts, Exploring, Cub Scouts, Troops of St. George, Trail Life, American Heritage Girls, Girl Scouts and Camp Fire.

For Father Bors, a Naval Academy graduate who is associate pastor of Our Lady of the Chesapeake in Lake Shore and St. Jane Frances de Chantal in Riviera Beach, the retreat will be an opportunity to assess Scouting as an extension of youth ministry.

His other goals include the increased pursuit of religious emblems by Catholic participants and greater engagement with their parishes.

Cub Scouts age 6-7 can work toward the Light of Christ medal, Cub Scouts age 8-10 have the Parvuli Dei medal, and for Boy Scouts, there are the Ad Altare Dei and Pope Pius XII medals. 

Scouts participate in Masses as altar servers, and burn the Palm Sunday fronds that become ashes for Ash Wednesday.

Being useful both in their school and faith communities is a common theme of Scout projects. They’re usually small projects, and inevitably they are something essential.

Eagle Scout Antonio Przybysz, also 16, a parishioner of St. Michael in Poplar Springs and active in Troop 428, constructed four picnic tables for his previous high school, Chesterton Academy in Annapolis, as his Eagle Scout project. Scouts from his previous Troop 446 in Hanover and his current Troop 428 in Mount Airy helped him.

“We didn’t have any outdoor seating, really,” he said. “I was able to give something back to (the school) before I left.”

Antonio credits the close bonds he’s formed that he expects will last into adulthood.

Eagle Scout Kyle Vogtman, 18, a member of St. Michael in Frostburg and Troop 24, developed a digital database for his parish’s cemetery. Having been involved in Scouting since the first grade, and with 36 merit badges, Kyle said scouting has taught him “how to be a better community member.”

“I like the fact that it enables people to go on adventures,” he said. “Whole days to walk in a forest and appreciate what it is. It gives me a chance to reflect on God’s creation.”

Dennis Bryant, an adult leader of Troop 414 at St. Jane Frances de Chantal, has seen the decline  in Scout membership. The troop, currently with 17 members, used to have as many as 50.

But he says the leadership lessons learned there still prevail. He remembers a Scoutmaster telling him, “ ‘You’re going to experience things with these Scouts that their own parents will never get to see.’ I thought that was pretty profound.”

“They’re doing things on their own and basically becoming an individual.” And all this is what “they can’t experience on a cell phone.”

Deacon Cliff Britton, chaplain of Troop 428 at St. Michael, said the inclusion in the Scout oath “To do my duty to God and my country” helps youths live “the ideals of the Christian faith.”

He likes to tell parents, “It’s all about the personal growth,” and is proud to note that at least 30 in his troop have achieved Eagle Scout rank since 1999.

“They’re naturally growing together in faith, together in adventures, and form friendships that last a lifetime.”

Sign Up

To register for the 2024 Catholic Scouting Retreat, visit tinyurl.com/24-scouts

Notable moments

• Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, was an Eagle Scout – adding special meaning when he announced “the Eagle has landed.”

• Archbishop William E. Lori was a Cub Scout and the late Cardinal William H. Keeler was awarded Scouting’s highest honor, the Silver Buffalo Award. Other Silver Buffalo honorees include Walt Disney, Bob Hope and Jimmy Stewart.

• At President Franklin Roosevelt’s request, the Boy Scouts collected 1.8 million items of clothing, household furnishings, foodstuffs and supplies for victims of the Great Depression. 

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