Community Corner

Scout Leader Livid After Pastor Severs Ties Due to Gay Membership Policy

The Rev. Brian Grady said the Boy Scouts of America are condoning homosexuality by allowing openly gay members.

Charlie and Michelle Payseur started Boy Scout Troop 550 in Crystal Lake five years ago on behalf of their two children, friends and any other boys wanting to join the scouting experience.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church, the Catholic Church located at 1023 McHenry Ave., not far from the Crystal Lake family's home, agreed to serve as the pack's charter.

All was going well, and the group even expanded to add Cub Scout Pack 550 to accommodate younger members. The church and the scouts had a good relationship, said Charlie Payseur, Scoutmaster for the older scouts.

Every year, the scouts volunteered to help set up for the church's massive Lenten Fish Fry, held on consecutive Friday nights leading up to Easter. The scouts helped out in the church's garden, Michelle Payseur said, and this year Cub Scout Pack 550 donated $200 from its popcorn sale fundraiser to the church.

In return, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton provided the scouts with meeting space.

It was quite a shock for the family when they were informed St. Elizabeth Ann Seton's pastor was severing ties and discontinuing the charter agreement.

The Rev. Brian Grady, who serves as executive officer for Troop 550, wrote a letter to the Boy Scouts of America-Blackhawk Area Council stating Cub Scout Pack and Boy Scout Troop 550 would have to find a new charter.

Grady cited the Boy Scouts of America's recent decision to allow admission to openly gay members (not leaders) as reason for the split.

"The teachings of the Catholic Church are quite clear regarding the open practice of homosexuality," Grady wrote in the letter dated June 1. "With this change in policy by the BSA, this is clearly a condoning of the practice of a particular way of life which is detrimental to the spiritual well being of the individual."

Grady said allowing gay boys to participate in the scouting activities could make other members feel uncomfortable.

"For a young boy to (be) placed in a situation where he has to share a tent or be exposed to other boys that are openly homosexual is not only unjust, but immoral. As a former Boy Scout, I know how uncomfortable it would have been to have to be in close proximity with boys that would perhaps be looking at me as more than just a friend."

Grady added if the Boy Scouts of America reverses its May decision allowing gay scouts, the church would be happy to welcome Cub Scout Pack and Boy Scout Troop 550 to the parish.

Charlie Payseur said he is "livid" with the pastor, not only for his decision, but for not informing the group's founders prior to mailing the letter. Grady did mail a short letter, also dated June 1, to Cubmaster Kurt Grochowski.

"I am fuming," Charlie Payseur said. "We've been affiliated with that church for over five years, and to not even tell the people who founded the pack? It would have been common courtesy (for Grady) to tell us himself."

Payseur said, despite media reports about the first known Catholic church to dismiss its boy scout affiliate, he has still not heard from Grady. Last Sunday's church bulletin stated Grady would be on vacation from June 1 to 7.

"I'm livid about the comments he made, and took offense to the comments he made about the Scout Law and Scout Oath in being 'reverent and morally straight.'"

Payseur and his sons on Sunday had just returned from a troop camp-out at Camp Lowden in Oregon, Ill., where just under 200 scouts and troop masters had gathered. He said many of the leaders were concerned about their charters, as well.

Seventy percent of Cub Scout Packs and Boy Scout Troops are chartered through churches, he said.

Scout leaders from St. Thomas the Apostle Church, a Catholic parish on the north side of Crystal Lake, were concerned, as well, he said. However, their scouting group is chartered through the church's Knights of Columbus.

"Nobody knows how this is going to impact their charters," Charlie Payseur said.

"We talked to our boys and decided we will find another charter, but we're not going to charter with a church," Charlie Payseur said. "I've already received three offers from area churches, but we're not going to do that again."




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