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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (July 22, 2016)
FAITH Friday, July 22, 2016 East Oregonian Page 7A Boy Scouts faring well a year after easing ban on gay adults Community NEW YORK (AP) — There were dire warnings for the Boy Scouts of America a year ago when the group’s leaders, under intense pressure, voted to end a long- standing blanket ban on participation by openly gay adults. Several of the biggest sponsors of Scout units, including the Roman Catholic, Mormon and Southern Baptist churches, were openly dismayed, raising the prospect of mass defections. Remarkably, nearly 12 months after the BSA National Executive Board’s decision, the Boy Scouts seem more robust than they have in many years. Youth membership is on the verge of stabilizing after a prolonged decline, corporations which halted donations because of the ban have resumed their support, and the vast majority of units afiliated with conservative religious denominations have remained in the fold — still free to exclude gay adults if that’s in accordance with their religious doctrine. Catholic Bishop Robert Guglielmone of Charleston, South Carolina, whose duties include liaising with the National Catholic Committee on Scouting, says he knows of no instances where a Catholic unit — there are more than 7,500 — has taken on an openly gay adult leader since the policy change. Gay sex and same-sex marriage are considered violations of church teaching. The Boy Scouts’ national leadership “has been wonderfully supportive,” Guglielmone said. Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention were unhappy with the BSA’s easing of the ban on gay adults, but did not call on individual churches to disafiliate with troops that they spon- sored. A year later, the number of Southern Baptist churches that did cut ties with Scouting is “in the double digits,” far outnumbered by those who continued their sponsorships, according to Ted S. Spangenberg Jr., president of the execu- tive board of the Association of Baptists for Scouting. “We kind of like the way it looks,” Spangenberg said. “if you’re faith-based, it’s within your right to select the adult leaders who are going to uphold the tenets of your faith.” Also pleased with the developments is Richard Mason, president of the BSA’s Greater New York Councils, serving nearly 50,000 youths in the New York City area. In April 2015, the NY Councils played a key role in the BSA policy change, defying the ban by hiring an 18-year-old gay Eagle Scout to work at one of its summer camps. Mason said the aftermath of the change has been overwhelmingly posi- tive in New York. Some corporations and liberal religious groups that cut ties with the Scouts have restored them, he FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH -Presbyterian Church (USA)- 201 SW Dorion Ave. Pendleton Service of Worship - 10:00 am Children’s Sunday School - 10:20 am Fellowship - 11:00 am www.pendletonpresbyterian.com Open Hearted...Open Minded P eace L utheran C hurch 210 NW 9th, Pendleton ELCA AP Photo/Mary Altaffer said, while the Catholic archdiocese has remained fully active. Until last year, the Boy Scouts had adhered to a ban on gay adults for more than three decades, even taking a case to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2000, when it won a 5-4 decision upholding its right to have exclusionary membership policies. That ruling fueled protests against the BSA by gay-rights supporters. After internal debate, the BSA lead- ership decided in 2013 to allow partici- pation by openly gay youth. But it faced continued pressure to ease its ban on gay adults serving as paid staff or volunteers. At the urging of Robert Gates, the former defense secretary who was BSA president at the time, the Scouts’ National Executive Board voted 45-12 on July 27, 2015, to end the blanket ban on gay adult leaders while allowing church-sponsored units to maintain the exclusion for reli- gious reasons. About 73 percent of Scout units are sponsored by churches, some of them open to participation by gay adults. Like several other major youth organi- zations, the Boy Scouts have experienced a membership decline in recent decades. Current youth participation, according to the BSA, is about 2.35 million, down from 2.6 million in 2013 and more than 4 million in peak years of the past. However, Gates, in a speech in May before stepping down as BSA president, said there were encouraging trends, with the overall rate of decline slowing and an increase in the number of boys joining Cub Scouts. “We are on the threshold of a signif- icant historical event — a return to positive national growth for the irst time in decades,” Gates said. There are no oficial statistics on how BOARDMAN’S LIMEY PASTOR many gay adults have been accepted as BSA leaders since the ban was eased. “We do not inquire about the sexual orientation of our youth members, adult volunteers or employees,” said BSA spokeswoman Efie Delimarkos. Though the policy change did not trigger massive defections, there were some emphatic departures. The Catholic bishop of Bismarck, North Dakota, David Kagan, announced his diocese would end its afiliation. In addition, about 20 individual Catholic parishes around the country dropped their sponsorship of Scout troops, according to Guglielmone. In Appleton, Wisconsin, Faith Lutheran Church severed its ties with Boy Scout and Cub Scout units it had sponsored for 60 years. Pastor Dan Thews said he couldn’t accept the idea of gay adults having inluence over boys in the unit. In Utah, where most troops are spon- sored by Mormon churches, the change appears to have had modest impact. The Mormon Church, which sponsors more Scout units that any other organi- zation in the U.S., initially said it was “deeply troubled” by the policy change but later committed to sticking with the Boy Scouts. One of the groups that campaigned against the BSA’s bans on gay youths and adults — Scouts for Equality — is trying to build a national network of Scout units that publicly identify as welcoming gays. Zach Wahls, a co-founder of Scouts for Equality, said this program is now active in 31 states, with participation by more than 4,800 youths and 2,300 adults. “We still have a ways to go,” said Wahls, 24, an Eagle Scout who was raised by lesbian mothers in Iowa. BRIEFLY Toiling under the sun Missionaries to share message at Faith Center Church me, and who knows I can’t help it. whether he will be wise I’m not excited by or a fool? Yet he will our dismal politics, be master of which but I’m excited for I toiled and used my my son, about to be wisdom under the sun. married. Matthew This also is vanity.” and his wife-to-be Yet, I feel that my shall then make a son, the one who will trip back to London, Colin be my successor in my England, for their Brown ambitions, has carefully honeymoon. My Faith observed the obvious sister, Sarah, is mistakes of his father, lying in from France with her new husband and rather than copying Yvon, landing in Canada and them, is charting a path of wisdom and prudence. Our then driving down to us in Oregon for the event. There’s mistakes can be blessings to those who follow us because a lot of dinosaur juice being they outline what not to do. invested in this affair. I am very good at being an My old schoolfriend, example of that kind. Colin Vaines, is going The most important thing to meet with them in Buckinghamshire in England is that my son has an innate kindness and holiness. He and take them to see him making a movie at Pinewood is kind to his mother, and to his wife-to-be, Kylene. He Studios. Other family leapt into the breach when members are going to greet Kylene lost her brother to them and take them around a drowning accident in the London with its palaces, and Molalla River and stepped in lesser known bits of limey for her grieving parents and land. has continued to comfort and I’m performing the support them ever since. wedding ceremony in Of him, it is also said in Champoeg Park, next to the Ecclesiastes: For the one who Willamette overlooking the water from an elevated ledge. pleases him, God has given wisdom, knowledge and joy. What a wonderful symbol of I pray that my son and his marriage above the tumult wife will lourish wherever of water with a vision of they are planted. I pray also prosperity and abundance. for your heirs, dear readers, It is a wonderful thing and that your children will to be stepping into this part inherit the promise of the of their future. It feels like Living God also. a handover of sorts. I can Please feel free to come still remember when he was and visit me at church, small, so small, and I had no idea of the ine guy he would at 11 a.m. on Sunday. Summer is thinning out the become. My Old Testament reading lock temporarily and your company would be most this week, strangely enough, is from Ecclesiastes, which is welcome. ■ eerily pertinent: Colin Brown is pastor of “I hated all my toil in Boardman’s Good Shepherd which I toil under the sun. Lutheran Church on Locust Seeing that I must leave it to Road. the man who will come after PENDLETON — Jim and Masako Millard, missionaries to Japan and Asia, will present a message at the Faith Center Church, 108 S. Main St., Pendleton. The couple will share about “Reproducing Disciples, Leaders and Churches That Multiply Churches in Japan and Throughout Asia” Sunday at 10 a.m. at 108 S. Main St., Pendleton. The free event is open to the public. The couple has served in the mission ield for 25 years. In addition to gospel outreach, they have performed relief work for the Nepal earthquake and tsunami in Japan. For more information, call 541-276-9569. For more about the ministry, visit www.sunriseinternational.org. Council of Faith Lutheran Church evaluates outreach services The council of Faith Lutheran Church met Wednesday with Rev. Doug Wagley following the completion of his 90-day call, which expanded the church’s outreach to Pilot Rock and Sunridge Retirement Home in Pendleton. As a result of the discussion, the council decided to suspend the Sunday evening services held at the Pilot Rock Community Presbyterian Church and the Tuesday evening Bible study at Sunridge for the next four weeks (July 24 through Aug. 14). The group will study, reevaluate and assess the situation. During this period, Wagley has travel plans and commitments in Spokane, Colorado and Texas. Faith Lutheran Church continues to meet regularly on Sunday mornings with a 9 a.m. Bible class and 10:30 a.m. worship service in the Oregon Trail Room at the Red Lion, 304 S.E. Nye Ave., Pendleton. However, this week’s service will begin at 10 a.m., and will be led by Rev. Rod Harwood, former St. Anthony Hospital chaplain. For more information, call Bob Wright at 541-276- 6459 or 541-915-7154. Worshiping God ~Come and be at Peace ~ Loving People 108 S. Main • 276-9569 Sunday Worship 10:30 am Sr. Pastor, Ray O’Grady on 1290 KUMA noon each Sunday pendletonfaithcenter.org NEW HOPE COMMUNITY CHURCH Seventh-Day Adventist Church Join us Sundays In this June 25 photo, Cub Scouts watch a race during the Second Annual World Championship Pinewood Derby in New York’s Times Square. Nearly 12 months after the Boy Scouts of America National Executive Board’s de- cision to end a long-standing blanket ban on participation by openly gay adults, the Boy Scouts seem more robust than they have in many years. Faith Center Church 9:30 Sunday Worship 9:30 am am Sunday Worship 10:30 am Fellowship Refreshments 10:30 am 11:00 am Sunday School & Adult Class 1350 S. Highway 395, Hermiston Sunday Worship Services English- Pastor Dave Andrus 9:00 & 10:45 am Spanish- Pastor Genaro Loredo 9:00 & 10:15 am Classes for kids during all services For more information call 541-567-8441 Saturday Services Pendleton 1401 SW Goodwin Place 276-0882 Sabbath School 9:20 am Worship Service 10:45 am Community Presbyterian Church First United Methodist Church 14 Martin Drive, Umatilla, OR 922-3250 352 SE 2nd Street Pendleton, OR 541-276-2616 Worship: 10 AM Sunday School at 11:30 St. Johns Episcopal Church All People Are Welcome Scripture, Tradition and Reason Family service 9am Sunday Gladys Ave & 7th Hermiston Fr. Dan Lediard, Priest. PH: 567-6672 Sunday Worship 9am Open Hearts, Open Hands, Open Doors Facebook: www.facebook.com/ FUMCPendleton Services are broadcast every Sunday on KUMA-1290 AM @ 11am Rev. Dr. Jim Pierce, pastor Grace Baptist Church 555 SW 11th, Hermiston 567-9497 Nursery provided for all services Sunday School - 9:30 AM Worship - 10:45 AM 6:00 pm Wed Prayer & Worship - 7:00 PM “Proclaiming God’s word, growing in God’s grace” OPEN HEARTS – OPEN DOOR www.graceandmercylutheran.org Sunday Worship 9:00 a.m. Sunday School 10:00 a.m. (Nursery Provided) Fellowship, Refreshments & Sunday School Check Out our Facebook Page or Website for More Information 541-289-4535 Tom Inch, Pastor Grace and Mercy Lutheran Church, ELCA 164 E. Main St. / P.O. Box 1108 Hermiston, Oregon 97838 Redeemer Episcopal Church 585 SW Birch, Pilot Rock, OR 97868 (541) 443-2500 prbconline.blogspot.com Sunday School: 9:30 am Worship Service: 10:45 am Kids’ Club: 6:00 pm Wednesday Services: Youth Group: 7:00 pm 241 SE Second St. Pendleton (541)276-3809 www.pendletonepiscopal.org Sunday Holy Communion 9:00 a.m. Wednesday Holy Communion Noon Weekly Adults Spiritual Life Group All Are Welcome Come meet Jesus at PENDLETON BAPTIST CHURCH 3202 SW Nye Ave Pendleton, OR 541-276-7590 Sunday Morning Worship 11:00 AM Sunday Bible Classes 9:45 AM Sunday Youth Group 6:00 PM Mon. Community Women’s Study 9:30 AM & 6 PM Awana Kids Club (K-6th grade) Wed Men’s Study 6 PM MOPS meeting the 1st Thur of the Month 6 PM FAITH LUTHERAN CHURCH in Mission for Christ LCMC Bible Study.........9:00 AM Sunday Worship......10:30 AM Red Lion Hotel ( Oregon Trail Room ) www.faithpendleton.org FIRST SERVICE 8:30 AM SECOND SERVICE 10:30 AM 712 SW 27 TH ST. 541-276-1894 www.fcogpendleton.com Mormon missionaries will be called ‘volunteers’ in Russia SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Mormon missionaries in Russia will now be known as “volunteers” to comply with a new anti-terrorism law that puts restrictions on religious practices. Church spokesman Eric Hawkins said Tuesday that the change is the irst step as leaders determine how to keep several hundred missionaries there while obeying a law Russian President Vladimir Putin signed earlier this month. Hawkins says an email is being sent to parents and relatives of missionaries in Russia informing them of the change. BAHA’I FAITH “The Unity of All Mankind” Pendleton Baha’i Center at 1015 SE Court Place Devotions Sundays @ 11:00am; Everyone invited! (541) 276-9360 visit us at www.pendletonbahais.org To share your worship times call Terri Briggs 541-278-2678