Today all the scout groups from our parish came together to celebrate scouting, first at Mass and then at a breakfast and awards ceremony for Religious Emblems and Rank Advancements.
Gene, our current Scout Master, was the emcee for the morning. He has been an amazing source of leadership for the troop. We are all praying that someone will step up to fill his position and maybe a quarter of his shoes.
Father Tom led us in a blessing before we ate.
Breakfast drew a big crowd and was a joint effort. The Boy Scouts prepared the meal, the Girl Scouts set up the breakfast and the Cub Scouts were responsible for clean up.
Phil was Walker’s leader for his entire stint in Cub Scouts. Now that Phil’s oldest son has joined Boy Scouts, Phil serves as our treasurer while his two youngest sons move up in the ranks.
Ted was responsible for running the awards ceremony for the Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts. Finally it was time for Mason to be recognized for completing his Parvuli Dei Religious Emblem. Parvuli Dei is Latin for Children of God.
Mason worked hard to earn the medal I pinned to his uniform.
I may insert more photos here taken by another mom who astutely realized that since Bill was working and Walker had my camera, I might want additional documentation.
Then Walker was recognized for his recent accomplishments. He has been a Boy Scout for just a year now but has taken advancement seriously. He is moving about as fast as he can through the ranks, limited primarily by requirements that stipulate he be active in the troop at that rank for a specified time and a shortage of free time due to his other extracurricular activities.
He made First Class Scout last month but was publically recognized today for both First and Second Class, the rank below. He also received his cooking merit badge.
Finally, the troop received a special patch called Journey to Excellence because they met a (long) list of requirements. The Journey to Excellence program is meant to encourage excellence in providing a quality program at all levels of the BSA. For me, it means one more patch to sew on the ol’ uniform.
Besides the significance of Mass and the recognition all of the scouts received today, it was truly a blessing to see how extensive the scouting programs are in our parish. Many, many families participate and are dedicated to the scout missions.
Did Walker grow a foot this year? I almost didn’t recognize that tall boy!
This is really dumb of me, but is Boy Scouts a religios/Catholic thing? I had no idea.