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