NEW YORK — For the Boy Scouts of America — recently renamed Scouting America — the past 12 years have been arduous. Opening its programs to gay people and later to girls sparked dismay in some quarters. Its 2020 bankruptcy declaration led to prolonged wrangling over compensation for thousands of men claiming they were sexually abused as scouts.
Yet the 115-year-old organization — though serving far fewer youths than at its peak decades ago — seems to be stabilizing, with a slight uptick in membership last year. A key factor is the abiding loyalty of major religious denominations that still view scouting’s mission as uniquely in tune with their own.
“I tell parents this is the best time to be involved with Scouting America, and the best time to be involved through a Catholic unit,” said Bill Guglielmi, who chairs the National Catholic Committee on Scouting. “There is a hunger out there now for finding a values-based organization.”
Mr. Guglielmi and others who are engaged in faith-based scouting praise the manner in which time-honored scouting programs — such as camping and expeditions — have been blended with newfangled activities such as indoor skydiving and an artificial-intelligence merit badge. But foremost, they value the organization’s continued commitment to communal prayer.
“Worship is a big deal here,” said Bill McCalister, who served more than 40 years as scoutmaster of Troop 285 in San Antonio under sponsorship of a United Methodist church.
“Every campout, we have a formal worship service. Sometimes we serve Communion,” Mr. McCalister said. “Many scouts come to me and say, ‘Mr. Mac, this is my church.’”
According to Scouting America’s latest data, faith-based organizations account for 42% of the nearly 40,000 units operated by chartered organizations. The Catholic Church and its affiliates are No. 1 — overseeing 3,514 units serving more than 87,100 of the roughly 1 million boys and girls now active in scouting.
Other major sponsors include the United Methodists, the Episcopal Church and various Lutheran and Presbyterian denominations. Nearly 250 units, serving more than 6,500 scouts, are sponsored by Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist organizations.
Roger Krone, Scouting America’s president and CEO, took the post in 2023 as the organization emerged from bankruptcy proceedings. He appreciates scouting’s religious diversity.
“It really speaks to the alignment of the mission, vision and values that our organization has and what those organizations have,” Mr. Krone told The Associated Press. “It’s character development, it’s spiritual growth, it’s community service.”
The Boy Scouts lifted a ban on openly gay youth members in 2013 and began accepting girls in 2018 — steps Mr. Krone depicted as a message of welcome to any family considering scouting.
One step the organization will not take, Krone said, is abandoning the religious credo at the core of its mission. The famed Scout Oath begins, “On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God,” while the Scout Law’s concluding message is: “Be reverent toward God. Be faithful in your religious duties. Respect the belief of others.”
“There are some places today where you’re not encouraged to talk about spiritual growth and what may be going on outside your little bubble,” Mr. Krone said. “In our organization, it’s been core to our principles for years and years and will continue to be core.”
Mr. Krone acknowledges that some nonreligious families, while admiring aspects of scouting, might be uncomfortable with the “Duty to God” pledge. He encourages them to try scouting nonetheless.
“You are all welcome in our organization,” he said. “But I want people to know when you come to scouting, there’s this concept of reverence and spiritual growth and saying prayers and being thoughtful.”
“The parent can come and be a volunteer and go through a couple meetings and a couple of campouts and watch what we do, see what effect the way we deal with duty to God and reverence has on the youth of your child’s age, and then make a decision,” Mr. Krone said. “Don’t dismiss us out of hand.”
That welcoming approach is fully practiced by Troop 228, chartered by St. Kateri Tekakwitha Catholic Church in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Clarita, according to one of its adult leaders, Christine Tezai.
She estimates that less than half the troop’s 40-plus scouts are Catholic, yet all participate in occasional religion-themed events, including an annual Mass at which religious awards are presented.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re Catholic,” Ms. Tezai said. “A scout is reverent — it doesn’t matter how you’re reverent. You don’t have to say prayers. … You know what we do by showing kindness and being helpful.”
Her 17-year-old son, Mykhail Tezai, entered Cub Scouts in the first grade. Now, as a high school senior, he’s on track to become an Eagle Scout.
He said several fellow scouts don’t identify with a specific faith but feel comfortable in a church-chartered troop.
“They’re very curious about my religion and being Catholic,” Mykhail said. “They want to know how it works.”
After the 2013 decision to admit gay youth, some disgruntled conservatives formed a new group, Trail Life USA, which created its own ranks, badges and uniforms. It now claims 65,000 youth members, participating in church-run units aligned with “biblical Christian principles.”
The biggest blow came at the start of 2020, when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — then the Boy Scouts’ largest faith-based partner — withdrew more than 400,000 scouts in favor of new programs of its own.
Mr. Krone said many Latter-day Saints families remain fond of Boy Scout programming and now place their children in units unaffiliated with their church.
“We would love to have more Mormon youth in our program,” Mr. Krone said. “They can have their own program … but also maybe embrace Scouting America more than they have the last couple of years to gain the benefits of the program we’ve developed.”
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