In years past, Scouting was an active and “highly visible part” of diocesan youth ministry. Eventually, however, the diocesan committee on Scouting “disbanded due to a lack of participation,” wrote Liz Tingquist, diocesan director of youth ministry in a March 23, 2006, letter.
 Scouting resources Click here |
Since then, Tingquist and a group of Catholic Scouting professionals and volunteers from both the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts have formed a new diocesan Committee on Catholic Scouting to try to revive interest in Scouting in parishes throughout the Diocese of Little Rock.
Committee member Joe Farrell is a professional Boy Scout. He works full-time as a scout executive for the Ouachita Area Council of Boy Scouts in Hot Springs and is a member of St. John Church.
Previously, he worked for Boy Scout councils in Kansas, California and Louisiana. In each of these states, he said, the diocese had large, viable Scouting committees and he would like to see that happen in Arkansas.
Farrell said he would like to see parishes and Catholic organizations, such as the Knights of Columbus, sponsor Scouting groups, which would meet in facilities provided by the churches.
“When Catholic boys and girls are in troops, packs, dens, crews that are meeting at other churches, we are missing the opportunity to have our children on church grounds for programs other than Mass on Sunday,” he said.
Farrell said he also wants to see programs to train adults to train youth to take leadership in the church community. Once adults are trained in how to run a meeting, set agendas and motivate others to set goals and accomplish them, then they and the youths they train can become parish leaders.
Parents Denise Steinhaus, Pam Dwyer and Larry Archer take an active interest in the activities of their children. Their sons are the nucleus of a new Venture Crew in Hot Springs. A Venture Crew is a high school-age Scouting program that is open to girls and boys.
This year, their sons, Patrick Steinhaus, Hayden Dwyer and Evan Archer, will begin working toward obtaining the level of Eagle Scout, the highest rank for a Boy Scout.
The boys, students at Lakeside High School, have all been involved in Scouting for nine years or more. Farrell leads the Venture Crew in order to give his son, Connor, the chance to associate with high school youth who share a love of Scouting. Farrell and all the boys in the group also share the Catholic faith.
Committee member Rosanne Sampson has been involved with the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts for more than 10 years. She and her husband, Phil, have been members of Christ the King Church in Little Rock for 18 years. Presently she is representing all of the Scouting programs at her parish. She also is a trainer for new leaders at the Ouachita Girl Scout Council in Little Rock.
Sampson said she feels “parish troops need to be involved with Scouts at other parishes so that they have a broader understanding of Church family. All of us serving on the committee have the desire to reach our youth through Scouting.”
“I see the committee reaching out to all Catholic Scouts in the diocese by offering the national religious recognition programs and retreats,” she said. “When the Scout leaders around the diocese get to know each other, the leaders can be a great source of ideas, information and support for each other.”
Currently Sampson is leading a troop of girls that includes her twin daughters, Molly and Melissa. They are working on “Live My Faith,” the religious recognition program for girls ages 9-11. This program suggests activities to help girls appreciate more deeply the place God and their religion plays in their daily lives.
Tingquist said she and the Scouting committee have already met some of their goals.
“We are actively promoting the religious emblem programs of both BSA and GSA through out the diocese; letters have been sent by our GSA and BSA representatives to the various troops throughout Arkansas. We have collected information on the contacts for GSA and BSA units/troops in our diocese,” she said.
“This is obviously a fluid list that requires constant updating. We are hoping to have a Catholic Adult Scouts Retreat, possibly in the spring,” Tingquist said.
When asked what led her to reactivate the Scouting committee, Tingquist said, “My motivation to rekindle the diocesan committee came from the fact that I believe that Scouting is a true form of youth ministry.”
“Unfortunately, not every kid participates in their parish youth activities, so this is an opportunity to meet the kids where they are,” she said. “The religious emblem programs are all about spiritual formation and supporting the parish catechesis that is taking place in the (parish religious education) or parochial school classrooms.”
For more information about the diocesan Committee on Catholic Scouting, call Tingquist at (501) 664-0940 or e-mail ltingquist@dolr.org.
Scouting Resources
For information on Boy Scout religious awards, visit the National Committee on Catholic Scouting Web site: www.nccs-bsa.org.
To learn about Catholic religious recognition programs for Girl Scouts and Camp Fire participants, contact the national Catholic Committee for Girl Scouts and Camp Fire at the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry. Visit the Web site www.nfcym.org/gscf.
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