The Boy Scouts, And Why I Support Their Decision

Given all the talk in the Catholic blogosphere, especially here, at Rorate Caeli, about the latest decisions made by the Boy Scouts, I thought it might be instructive to actually read the decision, rather than giving a gut-reaction to all the media speculation. Here is the text with my commentary in bold.

WHEREAS, it is the mission of the Boy Scouts of America to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Scout Law:

Scout Oath		Scout Law
On my honor I will do my best To do my duty to God and my country And to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, Mentally awake, and morally straight. (Does not mean straight in sexual orientation.)		A Scout is: Trustworthy Loyal Helpful Friendly Courteous Kind	Obedient Cheerful Thrifty Brave Clean Reverent

AND WHEREAS, duty to God, duty to country, duty to others, and duty to oneself are each a core value and immutable tenet of the Boy Scouts of America; and

WHEREAS, the Scout Oath begins with duty to God and the Scout Law ends with a Scout's obligation to be reverent, and that will always remain a core value of the Boy Scouts of America, and the values set forth in the Scout Oath and Law are fundamental to the BSA and central to teaching young people to make better choices over their lifetimes; and

WHEREAS, the vision of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare every eligible youth in America to become a responsible, participating citizen and leader who is guided by the Scout Oath and Scout Law; and

WHEREAS, for more than 103 years, programs of the Boy Scouts of America have been delivered to youth members through cooperation with chartered organizations that select adult leaders who meet the organization's standards as well as the leadership standards of the Boy Scouts of America; and

WHEREAS, numerous independent experts have recognized that the programs protecting Scouts today, which include effective screening, education and training, and clear policies to protect youth and provide for their privacy, are among the best in the youth-serving community; and

WHEREAS, the current adult leadership standard of the Boy Scouts of America states:

The applicant must possess the moral, educational, and emotional qualities that the Boy Scouts of America deems necessary to afford positive leadership to youth. The applicant must also be the correct age, subscribe to the precepts of the Declaration of Religious Principle (duty to God), and abide by the Scout Oath and the Scout Law.

While the BSA does not proactively inquire about sexual orientation of employees, volunteers, or members, we do not grant membership to individuals who are open or avowed homosexuals or who engage in behavior that would become a distraction to the mission of the BSA.

AND WHEREAS, Scouting is a youth program, and any sexual conduct, whether homosexual or heterosexual, by youth of Scouting age is contrary to the virtues of Scouting; and (This means that chastity is an essential characteristic of a good scout.)

WHEREAS, the Boy Scouts of America does not have an agenda on the matter of sexual orientation, and resolving this complex issue is not the role of the organization, nor may any member use Scouting to promote or advance any social or political position or agenda; and (Basically, the Scouts are saying, "Look, we aren't scientists or psychologists or clergy. How children work out their identity in the context of their faith has to do with people a lot more important than us. Scouts want out of this mess, but we want to do so in a moral way.")

WHEREAS, youth are still developing, learning about themselves and who they are, developing their sense of right and wrong, and understanding their duty to God to live a moral life; and (The language that we use to describe ourselves, particularly while we are young, is something fluid and incremental, and depends on family situations. For example, while a child from a practicing Catholic family might not describe themselves as "gay" but as "struggling with chastity issues" or "struggling to find his vocation", a child from a Methodist family might come right out and identify himself with the cultural term, "gay" or "bi" or whatnot. As an organization, the Scouts are more concerned with helping students to do what is ACTUALLY morally upright and to help them become good people. They aren't really concerned about the labels that students from different backgrounds and faiths use to describe themselves. After all, they're kids, and that will probably change later anyway.)

WHEREAS, America needs Scouting, and the organization's policies must be based on what is in the best interest of its young people, and the organization will work to stay focused on that which unites us, and

WHEREAS, the Boy Scouts of America will maintain the current membership policy for all adult leaders of the Boy Scouts of America, and (The Boy Scouts basically are saying that they agree with the Catholic position that having openly and avowedly gay men in charge of groups of pubescent and post-pubescent boys is probably a bad idea. To use an example, I teach at a Catholic school, but as a man, I am generally not asked to take charge of the Junior High girls on a permanent basis. If we were running a boarding school, it wouldn't be ideal to have a fairly young man in charge of the junior high girls' dormitory, whatever our estimation of his moral character might be. It just makes sense.)

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT:

The following membership standard for youth members of the Boy Scouts of America is hereby adopted and approved, effective Jan. 1, 2014:

Youth membership in the Boy Scouts of America is open to all youth who meet the specific membership requirements to join the Cub Scout, Boy Scout, Varsity Scout, Sea Scout, and Venturing programs. Membership in any program of the Boy Scouts of America requires the youth member to (a) subscribe to and abide by the values expressed in the Scout Oath and Scout Law, (b) subscribe to and abide by the precepts of the Declaration of Religious Principle (duty to God), and (c) demonstrate behavior that exemplifies the highest level of good conduct and respect for others and is consistent at all times with the values expressed in the Scout Oath and Scout Law. No youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone. (The key word here is "alone". Look, if I had a son who sexually oriented to men, or to both genders, would I want him, from adolescence, to be excluded from activities that are a normal part of growing up, such as scouting, or youth sports, or swim team, just because he might get a crush on the other boys? No. It's not cancer. It won't kill him. It won't even cause him to sin unless he wants it to. That's my personal take. Here's what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says about it....)

CCC 2358: The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition. 

CCC 2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.

Let's look at the Boy Scouts' decision in light of the two quotes above. However, first, a slight prefatory note. The Catechism states that the "inclination" is "objectively disordered". However, I think it is important to point out that the Catechism does not claim to be a psychology textbook. It is not saying that homosexual persons have any sort of genetic, psychological, or medical 'syndrome' or that they are somehow 'defective' by scientific standards. The Catechism looks at it from a moral perspective. The desire to have sex with people of the same gender is a desire which is not ordered to a moral end. End of story, from the Catholic point of view. Likewise, persistent, deep-seated desires to have sex with women other than one's wife, or to use pornography, or to engage in masturbation, are all objectively disordered. They also happen to people who are perfectly healthy, capable human beings. Being homosexual is not the same as being a leper or having PTSD. But, then again, even if homosexuality were some sort of disease like leprosy (as I do NOT believe it is), how did Jesus teach lepers? St. Damien of Molokai, anyone?

Moving on to some of the key ways that these two texts encounter the BSA resolution, I would like to note a clause that is often left out in these discussions. Right after the "objectively disordered" bombshell, which usually leaves everyone--conservatives and progressives alike--foaming at the mouth, there is a little sentence that is absolutely essential to a right understanding of Catholic doctrine. "Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided." Not just the discrimination itself, folks, but even the "sign" of it, which would include actions or words that merely hint at unjust discrimination. For example, even if the exclusion of gay boys from locker rooms might be a 'just discrimination' (I'm not sure), the effects of such a decision might be to (a) expose the boy to additional bullying at school, (b) prevent the boy from participating in school sports equally--which would surely be unjust, (c) lead him to develop an unhealthy separation from good male influences which could help him to adjust to his situation, (d) represent an attitude that homosexuals are somehow 'diseased' or 'unclean', which would be fundamentally un-Christian. I would argue that excluding homosexual boys from activities such as Boy Scouts could have largely the same effects as these, and is therefore unjustified and unjust. 

Second, we note that the part of the resolution which deals with chastity could very well have been lifted straight out of CCC 2359. Boy Scouts ought to be chaste. Period. If they aren't, then they will be kicked out anyway, and as anyone who has actually worked with youth can tell you, there is no way based on a child's declaration of sexual orientation or preference, to tell exactly what their sexual behavior will be in a given situation. I was in a Southern Baptist youth group growing up with  two homosexuals and two bisexuals. Youth are unpredictable on chastity issues. 

Finally, we might note the ways in which a Boy Scout troop sponsored by the Catholic Church, with its carefully nuanced perspective on homosexuality, might well be exactly what a young boy needs who is struggling with homosexual feelings. Within such a loving group of boys his own age, he might well find the acceptance and support he needs to make good decisions about chastity and prayer, and therefore approach the "Christian perfection" talked about in the Catechism. I am not saying that if you just take the boy camping and fishing enough you will get him to become more "manly" and less "effeminate", nor am I saying that a Catholic Boy Scout group could help a gay child "pray the gay away". Rather, I am suggesting that being around boys who loved him, not as a potential sexual partner or someone 'different', but as a fellow Boy Scout and friend might just help him to find healthy relationships that could maintain the standards of Catholic chastity. That's to say nothing about what it might teach the straight boys in the troop about the need for sensitivity to the struggles of others....

And so, with all that being said, recognizing that my view will probably make neither conservatives nor progressives very happy, I say that, if I were to have a son with deep-seated homosexual tendencies, or just a son who wasn't particularly picky, I would be very happy for him to join the Boy Scouts, sell popcorn, and go camping....as long as I didn't have to go.

Prayer/Poem of the Week- All Are Welcome (a parody of the song by Marty Haugen)

Let us build a house where all can dwell,
And no one feels left out,
Where preachers never preach on hell
And folk are free to doubt.
Full of councils and committees
To see each smiling face;
Smaller governments have governed cities,
All are welcome! All are welcome! All are welcome in this place!

Let us build a house where hands will clap,
At every choral song;
And give us jokes that make us laugh
And make no sermon long.
Every day it's Marty Haugen,
Sung by Sister Margaret Grace,
Hey that Entrance Song is really rockin',
All are welcome! All are welcome! All are welcome in this place!

What is a teacher? What is the point in learning Latin?

I was asked these questions a couple years back by a colleague in grad school. I recently dug up my response, which I thought might serve as an interesting discussion-starter.


So, you posted this a while ago. Back then, I felt like writing a reponse, but didn't. Now, I don't feel like writing a response but will anyway.

A teacher is, simply put, an extension of the parent. Basically, it takes a LOT to raise up a human and halfway-decent child, and most parents don't have what it takes. Among the skills that most parents don't have, usually, education tops the list. Some parents are excellent teachers, but most aren't, so they ask other people to give 'em a hand. 

Now, there are higher, deeper meanings for the word 'teacher.' A teacher in the truest sense is someone who has ideas of their own and wants to share them with others. But most of us aren't that, and if we were when we started at UMASS, it is likely that the reality of the job quickly crushed any such idealistic notions. And, basically, it's an impossible ideal, because there's only one fellow who ever came up with something truly new, and we aren't Him. 

Now, let's get back to the other half of your question. "What is the point of learning Latin?" The fact is, in my humble opinion, there ISN'T a point for most people to learn Latin. The point of learning Latin, in its most limited academic sense, to gain an in-depth understanding of the Romans and subsequent Latin-speaking cultures. That limits the academic need for Latin to a few archaeology geeks and a few anthropology majors. 

But there is a wider, non-academic need to learn Latin. Latin is the language of a culture (actually, multiple cultures) which continues to have significance for SOME of the world's population today. Connection with that tradition allows those people to root themselves and develop a deeper sense of self-identity ("autochthony" in Heideggerian terms). For some people, e.g. Roman Catholics, that cultural heritage is so significant that the language remains in active use even to the present day.

To me, however, that makes teaching Latin in most public schools (I would except those in Europe) the equivalent of forcing students in Antarctica to take lessons in water skiing. Learning an ancient language is simply too difficult to be justified, when such brain power could be used on something more applicable or local, such as regional languages. 

As for the notion that learning Latin helps with a plethora of other skills, the evidence is too questionable. I am comforted everyday by knowing that the students to whom I teach the "Lingua Latina" also use it everyday, or at least have the opportunity to do so, in the context of the traditional Roman Liturgy.

No big post this week....

Other than the prayer/poem of the week, I am afraid I will have to disappoint you all and refrain from writing a long blog post today. We are in the thick of the last two weeks of classes. I have a May Crowning to plan for tomorrow and more grading than is humanly possible. Say a prayer for my sanity! It is possible that I will put up a post sometime before the end of the week.

I salute all of your guardian angels and ask them to show you my special love.

In the meanwhile...

Prayer/Poem of the Week- Prayer to Mary at Night, in the spirit of St. Louis de Montfort

Holy Mary, as I examine my interior practice of the consecration I made to you, I see that there is an undeniable correspondence between those times in which I put aside your sovereignty and those in which I was most exposed to the ravages of sin. Was I not, at those times, also attempting to attain salvation by climbing the arduous path of self-perfection, rather than by seeking the easy way of submission to your Son through You? You know that I was. On the other hand, when I have surrendered everything to you, I have not only been aided by the grace of God to avoid sin, but have even seen my temptations transformed into so many steps upward to union with Christ my Lord. Hear then, O Mother of my soul, Queen of my heart, hear this plea that I, though an unworthy servant, may constantly renew in heart and mind my consecration to you. May love of self and attachment to sin never disrupt the childlike confidence which I place in you this day, knowing that you will present your beloved ones, as you did at the Wedding Feast in Cana, to Christ your Son, who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.
Behold, Mary, I am thine and all that I have is thine! (3x)
Then ask your favorite saints to pray for you as well.


God Alone

Prayer/Poem of the Week- Splendid Star (Stella Splendens)

This coming Saturday, April 27, is in some places the feast of Our Lady of Montserrat, which is a shrine in Spain. It has been an ancient place of pilgrimage for many centuries. Among the various manuscripts which have come down to us in relation to the pilgrimage through the centuries, one of the most fascinating is a book called the Llibre Vermell, a collection of songs, chants, and even dances which were sung during the ascent to the mountain-top shrine.

Probably the most famous of these texts is the dance, "Stella Splendens". My church choir has performed it several times over the years and it has always been one of my favorites to hear and sing.

In any case, I decided a year or so ago that I wanted to be able to sing it with the children I teach at St. John Bosco Academy. The thing is, although I knew that they would like the tune well enough, I wanted them to enjoy it in the same way as I enjoyed it, as an exuberant tune matched with an equally exuberant set of lyrics. My students study Latin, of course, but they aren't quite good enough at it to be able to express themselves with it in rhythmic music.

So, I made a rough paraphrase of the lyrics, condensing them into three verses, which they could sing.

Refrain:
Splendid Star of Montserrat,
Shining like summer's golden ray,
Full of miracles and light,
Hear us, thy people, as we pray.

Verse 1:
We join the joyful chorus
Which passes on this way,
To look and see the wonders
Which crown the Queen of May.
Join us all be rich or poor,
Children, or those of higher state;
Come with us and then return,
Freed from your sins and full of grace.

Verse 2:
The rulers of the nations,
Though proud in pow'r and name,
Will here at Mary's altar
Kneel down and bow for shame.
Crying out they strike their hearts,
Sighing they will confess their sin.
Then with voices full of joy,
Rising, they go, made free again.

Verse 3:
All people now entreat her,
The Queen of every race,
That on this holy mountain,
We all might see her face.
Let us now with song and dance
Climb to the heights and see her shrine,
Begging her, our Mother blest,
Favor with Christ, her Child Divine.

Here's the tune:

Earth Day: The Green Pope

This Monday is Earth Day. Despite the fact that it is not, as far as I can tell, a very favored holiday in my community, Earth Day brings back fond memories for me. At Hope College, Earth Day was the first day of the year that you could really count on to be Spring, and we used to enjoy it by sitting out on the lawn, enjoying fair-trade coffee brought by Lemonjello's, the local hipster coffee shop, and listening to outdoor performances from local bands.

In any case, as a traditionalist Catholic I have always been fascinated by the relationship between the traditionalist movement as a movement committed to "conserving" the liturgy and the movement to "conserve" natural resources and beauty. These movements seem to me to be perfectly harmonious with one another, since both have their source in the same essential virtue: gratitude. A traditionalist looks at the liturgy that he has received, realizes that what he has received is so beautiful and so multi-layered in meaning and possible applications, and responds with gratitude. He does not seek to manipulate it to his own purposes. To use Heideggerian language, he does not treat the liturgy as a "standing reserve" which needs to be "enframed" into modern applicability (vid. Question Concerning Technology). Rather he treats it rather like the environmentalist treats the earth, as something in essence mysterious.

It seems to me like no coincidence that Pope Benedict XVI, the same pope who gave wider permission for the traditional liturgy, was also one of the most outspoken religious leaders in environmental issues. In his various works, he points out that it is the failure of humanity to depend on God for its subsistence that makes us instrumentalize, and thus destroy, the earth and its resources (Jesus of Nazareth, vol. 1, ch. 9--I think). I apologize that I don't have the book with me at the moment to give the exact quote.

Likewise, in Caritas in Veritate, Pope Benedict spends several pages explaining a rather developed theology of ecological action on the part of Catholics. He treats it as an example of "inter-generational justice", whereby  Catholics owe to their children a beautiful and bountiful natural world such as they have received. He also points out, however, that a love for the environment helps to develop just between persons. In one of his more moving quotes from the encyclical he says,

"Every violation of solidarity and civic friendship harms the environment, just as environmental deterioration in turn upsets relations in society. Nature, especially in our time is so integrated into the dynamics of society and culture that by now it hardly constitutes an independent variable."

At the same time he ties it to traditional Catholic morality. I don't imagine many Greens would agree with him when he says,

"If there is a lack of respect for the right to life and to a natural death, if human conception, gestation, and birth are made artificial, if human embryos are sacrificed to research, the conscience of society ends up losing the concept of human ecology and, along with it, that of environmental ecology....The book of nature is one and indivisible: it takes in not only the environment but also life, sexuality, marriage, the family, social relations: in a word, integral human development."

So much for Benedict as being out of touch with the modern world. The truth is, as he points out, that modernity, with its lust for consumption and the manipulation of the human person, is out of touch with the world itself.

How does this come back to liturgy? In his book, The Spirit of the Liturgy, Benedict situates man's worship of God within the traditional Platonic concepts of reditus and exitus. The exitus of creation, that is, God's "going out", is completed by the reditus of man's worship, the worship of God by a free being. I think it is not too far a leap, even though Benedict never quite comes out and says it, to acknowledge that the liturgy, conceived of as the public worship of God, is therefore the end and purpose of Creation, it is the locus in which man achieves his ultimate purpose, and therefore Creation achieves its ultimate purpose.

Now, if this is the case, it seems to me that liturgy and creation become analogous concepts. Just as we behave towards the earth, as a matter of justice, because the earth is God's natural revelation of himself towards man, we ought to behave towards the liturgy and towards the Holy Scriptures, as God's supernatural revelation of himself through Tradition and Holy Writ. Is the reverse also true? I'm not sure I can exactly put my reasoning into words, but it would seem to me that if we accept that God slowly and mysteriously unfolds to us the full knowledge of himself in supernatural revelation, we ought to expect that he does so in the natural world as well, and that if knowledge of Him is our ultimate goal, we must respect the mysterious nature of this unfolding and not seek merely to exploit it to our own purposes. In other words, we must seek to uncover the beauty of the liturgy and the beauty of the earth, not merely to make it more useful to our purposes, which our fallen nature corrupts. We must seek to understand its essence, not "enframe" it.

Well, this is just my initial foray into this line of thought. Perhaps others who have spent more time researching these topics would be able to find even better references and respond to some of my intuitions on the subject.