Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Thoughts for Catholics impacted by the Boy Scouts of America membership policies
canonlawblog ^ | May 26, 2013 | Edward Peters, JD, JCD, Ref. Sig. Ap.

Posted on 05/26/2013 1:56:19 PM PDT by NYer

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-57 next last

1 posted on 05/26/2013 1:56:19 PM PDT by NYer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: NYer; red irish; fastrock; NorthernCrunchyCon; UMCRevMom@aol.com; Finatic; fellowpatriot; ...

Sorry, no sale. The BSA is dead.


2 posted on 05/26/2013 1:57:59 PM PDT by narses
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: netmilsmom; thefrankbaum; Tax-chick; GregB; saradippity; Berlin_Freeper; Litany; SumProVita; ...
First, the policy applies only to youth members (males aged 11 thru 17

I recall reading somewhere that this age bracket is the most vulnerable to experiment with sex and are the most vulnerable for ssa. Anyone else have more details on this?

3 posted on 05/26/2013 1:58:39 PM PDT by NYer ( "Run from places of sin as from the plague."--St John Climacus)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer

I’d say the Catholic church has stopped following their own rules for a long time.


4 posted on 05/26/2013 1:58:39 PM PDT by shelterguy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer

5 posted on 05/26/2013 2:00:31 PM PDT by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Travis McGee

This is a real shame.

My son became an Eagle Scout this year. I’d hate to be in his shoes.

Shame!


6 posted on 05/26/2013 2:01:53 PM PDT by sauropod (Fat Bottomed Girl: "What difference, at this point, does it make?")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: NYer

“But, that same-sex attraction itself (which is the only factor addressed by the policy), should bar membership (which is the only application of the policy) in a secular organization seems difficult to argue; to propose further that maintaining such a bar is a litmus test for Catholic sponsorship of an organization seems even less tenable. Consider: same-sex attraction, standing alone, does not prohibit one from being a fully initiated Catholic. To argue, therefore, that, say, a Catholic parish must hold a sponsored organization to a higher membership standard than it holds itself to is at best anomalous.”

This is where the error lies. The Church can and does often impose a requirement higher than simple Catholicity to participate in certain parish activities. For example. There is a requirement on the choir to have an in-tune singing voice - to be able to since along with the head of the choir. There’s the requirement for the priests himself that are well above the membership. For Catholic teachers - the Church doesn’t require that the students be Catholic - but it does require them to abide by the teachings of the Church, and requires that the teachers teach a curricula that is compatible with the Catholic church. A student who is openly gay is considered to be in defiance of this principle, and our school, as well as other schools, can ask them to leave.

The key point here - is ‘openly gay’. A boy scout who is openly gay and practicing, cannot be admitted to a Catholic Boy Scout group for the same reason that the Catholic school asks that the students, if not Catholic - respect the teachings of the Church. Why?

The responsibility is on the Catholic church to protect the students in their charge - many of whom are Catholic themselves, from scandal.

What happens if one of these gay boys do sodomize another, younger boy in the full view of the Catholic parish? Are we really going to get away with saying that the requirements of Catholicity permitted us to admit another child who was in open defiance to the teachings of the Catholic church? Does it absolve us of our fiduciary responsibility to all the children to protect them from abuse? No, no, it does not. We have the numbers and we have the facts. Letting openly gay boys in will result in the sodomizing of these boys. Knowing what we know now and then proceeding to put these children in harms way isn’t going to be a justification against wilfull negligence.


7 posted on 05/26/2013 2:06:36 PM PDT by JCBreckenridge (Texas is a state of mind - Steinbeck)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: shelterguy
I’d say the Catholic church has stopped following their own rules for a long time.

You mean some sinful Catholics have stopped following the rules of the church (the rules haven't changed)? Why phrase the question in such a vituperative manner? Perhaps you know of a church in which the membership does not sin?

8 posted on 05/26/2013 2:10:09 PM PDT by steve86 (Acerbic by Nature, not Nurture™)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: NYer

So, boys who are attracted to other boys should participate in overnights with them?
.
Exactly how low an IQ must one have not to see the problem?


9 posted on 05/26/2013 2:10:10 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (People are idiots.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer

The new policy allows OPENLY GAY AND PROFESSING GAY boys into the scouts. They cannot be excluded.

It follows that scout leaders will not be allowed to “discriminate” against gay scouts—which means that they will not be permitted to tell ANY Boy Scouts that gay sex is wrong. And other Scouts will not be allowed to express their feelings about gay behavior, because that would be “bullying.”

In other words, the new policy requires everyone connected with scouting to express their approval of being gay.

So, this argument is demonstrably unsupportable. You cannot in good conscience remain a Catholic and support or belong to the Boy Scouts.


10 posted on 05/26/2013 2:13:13 PM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer
THIS is the demise of America.

Invent a law or condition or problem that is REALLY self excplanatory left alone ... but .. noooooooo ...

Then, pick the damned thing apart and end up with a violation of what the condition of society was in the first place.

e.g.;

The sky is hereby green
No it's not .. just a shade of aqua
the sky is not green, but also not blue

Henceforth the sky is more greeen than blue ... thus ... the sky is green..

11 posted on 05/26/2013 2:16:04 PM PDT by knarf (uals-two logic)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Cicero
You cannot in good conscience remain a Catholic and support or belong to the Boy Scouts.

BTTT!

12 posted on 05/26/2013 2:21:43 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: NYer

This is typical lawyer language. Or may I call it Bull Excrement.

The Church will soon find that legally the BSA can no longer deny leadership to adult active Homosexuals. The Law Suits are already being filed and the BSA will once again spend MILLLIONS of DOLLARS to defend their new membership rules, but this time they will lose, because you can not distinguish between an 18 year old by one day and a seventeen year old with one day till his 18th birthday.

It was always all or nothing with the Homo Lobby and they pushed over and over to allow for their degenerate lifestyle to be acceptable. They are relentless and when given an inch they take a mile.

First it was the idea that they where not mentally ill, just the opposite side of the same phychologicaly correct coin. Then it was the dropping of sodomy and laws against public immorality. Now it is the forcing of not acceptance, but praising of their degeneracy through marital status and monetary benefits. It will soon be the elimination of consent laws to allow them unfettered access to prey upon the teen age and pre teen youth of society.

I believe that this is a losing rear guard action (No pun intended) by the BSA. One they are destined to lose because they where moral cowards at the time it was most important for them to hold to their principals to be morally straight.

This Cannon Lawyer is wrong in his analysis.


13 posted on 05/26/2013 2:22:00 PM PDT by Jim from C-Town (The government is rarely benevolent, often malevolent and never benign!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer

You don’t breed homosexuals....you pursue youths and trap them...fill them with guilt and there’s no way out....and voila...chalk up another homo


14 posted on 05/26/2013 2:22:12 PM PDT by Sacajaweau
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Cicero

Like Christ says, “if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.”

Same with the Boy Scouts.


15 posted on 05/26/2013 2:23:31 PM PDT by JCBreckenridge (Texas is a state of mind - Steinbeck)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: shelterguy
I’d say the Catholic church has stopped following their own rules for a long time.

No Catholic will ever defend the indefensible. Most of the sex abuse that took place dates back to the 50's and earlier, long before JPII. I would ask you, however, what is being done in non-Catholic communities to stop predatory sex abuse of children? This is not limited to the Catholic Church.

Sex Abuse of Children by Protestant Clergy.

The Catholic Church here, through its bishops in the USCCB, have implemented a program to prevent future occurrences. This includes all members of the community who come in contact with children, from janitors in the schools to volunteers who teach children at the parish level. We all are subjected to fingerprinting and a police background check. We are also required to attend classes on how to identify sexual predators and what actions to take. This is possible because of the centralized nature of the Catholic Church. It is also the reason why the media have been able to focus a laser beam on us. This is not possible in the non-Catholic denominations where there is no one to take responsibility.

Report: Protestant Church Insurers Handle 260 Sex Abuse Cases a Year

Awareness Center

Worse still, is the sex abuse of children in the education system.

WHEN BOYS ARE MOLESTED BY TEACHERS AND OTHERS IN POSITIONS OF AUTHORITY

And then there are the camp counselors, Big Brothers of America and the list goes on and on. There is plenty of guilt to go around. Even BSA has sex abuse lawsuits pending.

16 posted on 05/26/2013 2:27:35 PM PDT by NYer ( "Run from places of sin as from the plague."--St John Climacus)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: NYer

Unfortunately, this is a very shallow analysis from someone professing to be a canon lawyer.

He fails to consider the consequences of allowing opnely homosexual boys in the scouts, namely:

a) courts ruling that the BSA cannot force members out when they turn 18, barring them from being leaders,
b) increased chance of homosexual members preying or recruiting younger boys,
c) scouts having to be taught that the homosexual lifestlye is acceptable and to be tolerated so that they don’t practice discrimination (and be open to lawsuits), etc.

Worthless.


17 posted on 05/26/2013 2:28:41 PM PDT by BlessedBeGod
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer

I don’t like the way he parses sexual orientation as somehow separable from a person’s actions. . We cannot know whether a boy is homosexual unless he tell us by word or action that he is. The Church is is putting itself into an impossible position by linking it with the word discrimination. The Scouts have now made themselves an ally of the Homosexual lobby. The ban on adults will soon be overthrown because the camel has got its nose under the tent. My guess is that the Church is itself in much the same boat because we do have so many homosexual priests, so many we really wonder what to do about them.


18 posted on 05/26/2013 2:32:34 PM PDT by RobbyS
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: steve86

“””I’d say the Catholic church has stopped following their own rules for a long time.

You mean some sinful Catholics have stopped following the rules of the church (the rules haven’t changed)? Why phrase the question in such a vituperative manner? Perhaps you know of a church in which the membership does not sin? “”””””””

It is not the sinners I am referring to, it is the church itself. Do you see the church raising hell with all the liberal politicians that are pro abortion? I don’t. Do you see the church going postal about gay marriage? Not me.


19 posted on 05/26/2013 2:39:39 PM PDT by shelterguy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: NYer

There are practical reasons for excluding openly gay scouts. Scouting in practice is based on the “buddy system” where an often older scout is paired with a younger one. Are we going to pair up two kids, one of which is openly gay, with a younger child? Do you pair two gay boys together in the same tent? Anyone see the problems here?


20 posted on 05/26/2013 2:40:20 PM PDT by Sparticus (Tar and feathers for the next dumb@ss Republican that uses the word bipartisanship.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-57 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson