{"id":11262,"date":"2015-08-06T23:10:00","date_gmt":"2015-08-06T23:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/why-the-boy-scouts-new-policy-led-a-catholic-bishop-to-cut-ties-36480\/"},"modified":"2015-08-06T23:10:00","modified_gmt":"2015-08-06T23:10:00","slug":"why-the-boy-scouts-new-policy-led-a-catholic-bishop-to-cut-ties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/08\/why-the-boy-scouts-new-policy-led-a-catholic-bishop-to-cut-ties\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the Boy Scouts’ new policy led a Catholic bishop to cut ties"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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Bismarck, N.D., Aug 6, 2015 \/ 05:10 pm (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Bishop David Kagan of Bismarck, himself a former boy scout, has reluctantly told his North Dakota diocese to disaffiliate from the Boy Scouts of America due to the legal risks and the moral confusion its new leadership policy could cause for Catholics.
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\n\t\u201cI\u2019m very disappointed with this whole turn of events. I just can\u2019t express that adequately enough,\u201d Bishop Kagan told CNA Aug. 6.<\/p>\n

\tHe said the Boy Scouts\u2019 new policy risks lawsuits for church-sponsored troops that attempt to hold their leaders and volunteers to moral standards.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI can\u2019t say it\u2019s a probability, but it\u2019s a distinct possibility. It\u2019s a reality we have to face,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\tTroops sponsored by a parish or a parish school would have to expect Catholic moral standards of leaders and volunteers. Those who disagree with those standards might object.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThen we\u2019ll be embroiled again in something else,\u201d the bishop said.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI had to ask myself \u2018do I want to put our pastors, our parishes, our schools or diocese through something like that?\u2019 I don\u2019t think anyone wants that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tIn July the Boy Scouts of America announced that it would adopt a non-discrimination policy allowing homosexuals to be scout leaders and volunteers. While the latest decision promised that churches with objections to homosexual behavior could set their own standards for affiliated organizations, the future of the organization is not clear.<\/p>\n

\tBishop Kagan announced the disaffiliation in an Aug. 3 letter<\/a> to the Catholics of the Diocese of Bismarck. He said that while the Boy Scouts of America appears to have a religious exemption that each local troop could invoke, in his view that will provide \u201cno protection\u201d for any of the diocese\u2019s parishes and schools that sponsor troops.<\/p>\n

\tHe said the diocese, its parishes, schools and other institutions are now formally disaffiliated from the Boy Scouts of America.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI regret my decision but, in conscience as the chief shepherd of the Diocese of Bismarck, I cannot permit our Catholic institutions to accept and participate directly or indirectly in any organization, which has policies and methods, which contradict the authoritative moral teachings of the Catholic Church.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tBishop Kagan said he understood why the Boy Scouts of America made its decision.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cKnowing how our judicial system is tracking these days, the Boy Scouts of America would have no chance defending their legitimate protocols in a civil court,\u201d he told CNA.<\/p>\n

\tAt the same time, he also lamented the goals of some who advocated the policy change.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIt\u2019s about a particular ideological movement,\u201d he said. In a certain sense, the bishop continued, this movement\u2019s advocates \u201cwant to redefine what is acceptable and unacceptable in society, and impose their version of acceptability on the rest of society. That\u2019s never worked.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tHe said the Church is clear to distinguish sexual orientation from the immorality of acting on that orientation. However given national trends in the courts against religious liberty, it is not clear to him whether the Boy Scouts of America or outside groups will continue to respect that distinction.<\/p>\n

\tHe said the scouts\u2019 new policy will \u201cat the least cause more confusion among Catholic people,\u201d and among non-Catholics who regard the Church highly.<\/p>\n

\tFrom the Catholic perspective, \u201cit places before the Church an unnecessary and an unwelcome and an unwanted problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI resent having to be put in this position, because I myself, as a young boy, was both a cub scout and a boy scout until I went to seminary. I found it to be very good and very useful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tBishop Robert Guglielmone of Charleston, a leading member of the National Catholic Committee on Scouting, had recommended \u201ccautious optimism\u201d<\/a> towards the policy change.<\/p>\n

\tHowever, Bishop Kagan said he started to be cautious about the future of the Boy Scouts after its leadership in 2013 decided to allow openly homosexual scout members.<\/p>\n

\tBishop Kagan could not find a reason for himself, personally, to be optimistic: \u201cRealistically, looking to the future, what would give me reason to continue, to at least be guardedly optimistic? Personally, I couldn\u2019t come up with something.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe bishop emphasized that his decision did not say Catholic boys can\u2019t be boy scouts, or that adults can\u2019t continue to be scout leaders.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cHaving been a scout myself, I think it\u2019s very good to help young boys, young men, learn to socialize appropriately with others. You have some very devoted, very exemplary Catholic men as leaders who provide good role models. It makes a contribution.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe legal implications of the policy have not been tested.<\/p>\n

\tThe Boy Scouts of America have said religious freedom protections will hold up in court for church-sponsored troops with moral objections to sexual immorality. That position drew criticism from Richard John Matthews, a former Boy Scouts of America general counsel who is now general counsel for a competing scouting group Trail Life USA. In a July 22 legal memorandum, he said the policy change creates \u201cnumerous legal ramifications\u201d for both the national scouting organization and for religious organizations that charter local troops.<\/p>\n

\tLGBT activist groups have objected that the new policy does not go far enough. Scouts for Equality, which pushed for changes in the policy, has voiced concern about individual units \u201cdiscriminating.\u201d On its website\u2019s \u201cNext Step\u201d section, the group solicits members who want to help make scouting \u201cmore inclusive\u201d because \u201cLGBT adults can still be discriminated against at the troop level.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tBishop Kagan recommended alternatives to the Boy Scouts, enumerating the Federation of North American Explorers, the Columbian Squires, and Trail Life USA. He also recommended alternatives to the Girl Scouts, listing American Heritage Girls, Little Flowers\u2019 Girls Clubs, and the Federation of North American Explorers.<\/p>\n

\tHis letter connected the Boy Scouts\u2019 decision to the June Supreme Court decision which required that same-sex couples be granted civil marriages. The decision, the bishop said, is having \u201creal and unwelcome consequences in many areas of our daily lives and I expect that it will only get worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

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Bismarck, N.D., Aug 6, 2015 \/ 05:10 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Bishop David Kagan of Bismarck, himself a former boy scout, has reluctantly told his North Dakota diocese to disaffiliate from the Boy Scouts of America due to the legal risks and the moral confu…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy the Boy Scouts' new policy led a Catholic bishop to cut ties<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bismarck, N.D., Aug 6, 2015 \/ 05:10 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Bishop David Kagan of Bismarck, himself a former boy scout, has reluctantly told his North Dakota diocese to disaffiliate from the Boy Scouts of America due to the legal risks and the moral confu...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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