Introduction

[RWSmith]

First of all, here's a thank-you to the individuals behind Meritbadge.net for adding the Religious Awards category to Meritbadge.net. This addition is a result of a conversation as to how the forum can facilitate the efforts of religious emblems counselors to develop meaningful programs for their Cubs and Scouts. I've found a number of websites that describe the requirements for a given program, but there's scant information on the "how to" for individuals serving as religious medals counselors. The idea here is to provide a forum for those of us who have undertaken the work of fostering the final point of the Scout Law, "A Scout is Reverent", through the religious emblem programs of our respective faiths. I think we can learn a lot from each other and I hope the dialogue is useful to individuals as they develop and improve their respective programs.

Jim Cervantes
Woodbadge WE3-23-08
ASM, Troop 277
Pleasant Hill, CA

[mt_goodrich]

I would also like to offer up my thanks as well. A Scout is Reverent and this addition will help Scouts of any religion.

[smtroop168]

Our local Catholic Committee on Scouting provides training to Religious program coordinators at our annual Catholic Camporee. Within our unit, we reinvigorated our program and 11 of 23 troop members have completed their Ad Altare Dei medals in the past 2 years. We will have our 1st Pope Pius scouts working on that medal this year. Our Pastor "assigned" one of the Priests to help us out and his involvement has been outstanding including taking the boys to a seminary and coming out to Summer Camp to meet with our guys as well.

We also have earned the unit award and are shooting for the regional award this year as well.