Which makes it just plain insane!
BREMERTON, Wash. — On the heels of a historic decision by the Boy Scouts of America, a local priest is making history of his own. He’s among the first in the country to cut all ties to the scouts, now that the organization has agreed to allow openly gay members.
Father Derek Lappe is the priest at Our Lady Star of the Sea in Bremerton.
For years, the church has served as the chartering organization for BSA Troop 1501 in Kitsap County.
“We do things like scout Sunday at mass, the boys are just very much a part of our parish and the life of our parish,” he said.
It’s a partnership he’s now ending, because of the Boy Scout’s latest policy change.
“It was a very difficult decision, it’s a very sad thing, with the long legacy we have of scouting in this parish,” he said.
Ultimately, Lappe says the new scouting policy just doesn’t align with the values and teachings of the Catholic Church.
Was there anyone who did not expect this sort of thing to happen after the Boy Scout ruling? Surprisingly the Mormon’s have embraced the change. There must be lots of gay Mormon’s who are still closeted but hold some power within the Mormon Church. The Catholic Church is beyond redemption.
Wow! Who would have thought the benefits of equal rights would be so plentiful. Not only do the Scouts allow equal rights for gay Scouts (but not gay Scout Leaders, sadly), but they are being weaned off of religious institutions as well. That’s freakin’ fantastic! The lack of logic to the move by the church is apparent to anyone with a brain, and I leave it as an exercise for the reader but….big hint: “if the church thinks that being associted with the church is beneficial”–and that’s the hint.
We do not expect sanity from an organization that embraces pedophilia and speaks out against equal rights. Consenting adults in a loving relationship? Bad bad bad. Raping small boys? A-ok..!!
Further to the irony, Bremerton is a Navy town. The submarines go down with 200 men and come up six weeks later with 100 couples.
Note that this is one parish. I’m active in scouting in my area, and so far have not had any churches, Catholic or not, decline to renew their charter. Although rechartering typically comes at the end of the year, so there’s plenty of time for that to happen.
Scouting does a lot of good for boys. And in most countries in the world scouting is coed (Scouts Canada, for example). I think for most of the boys all this fuss over sexuality is misplaced, because it’s not an issue for them one way or another.
Naturally, the adult leadership in a troop sets the tone. And I imagine that some troops are very different than the ones I’ve been involved with.