The Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas, is parting ways with Girl Scouts USA, saying the group is “no longer a compatible partner” in promoting the Catholic lifestyle.
“With the promotion by Girl Scouts USA of programs and materials reflective of many of the troubling trends in our secular culture, they are no longer a compatible partner in helping us form young women with the virtues and values of the Gospel,” Naumann wrote.
Girl Scout troops are often hosted by and affiliated with area churches. According to Naumann’s statement, parishes were given the option of phasing out troop meetings on their premises “quickly,” or allowing Scout members to “graduate” over time and not replacing the flock.
The decision is not a surprise: The Kansas City Archdiocese in particular has voiced concerns for years that the Girl Scouts has in one way or another supported voices and organizations that run afoul of traditional Catholic sensibilities. In January, the Archdiocese announced it would forbid Girl Scout cookie sales on Catholic school and parish properties following the 2016-2017 school year.
Naumann cites the membership Girl Scouts USA has within the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, arguing the umbrella organization has ties to International Planned Parenthood. He also cites feminists Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem as examples of counter-Catholic “role models” that the Girl Scouts promotes among its members.
As for its relationship with the world association, the organization Naumann sites as being affiliated with International Planned Parenthood, the Girl Scouts has this to say:
“The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) comprises 145 member organizations that promote mutual understanding and cross-cultural opportunities for girls around the world. Girl Scouts of the USA is one of the 145 member organizations… GSUSA does not always take the same positions or endorse the same programs as WAGGGS.”
The Girl Scouts also calls itself a “secular organization” that openly supports the “case-by-case” inclusion of transgender members and celebrates non-Christian faiths.
When Juliette Gordon Low started the Girl Scouts in 1912, women didn't have the right to vote. From Low's initial gathering of 18 girls in Savannah, Georgia, there are now 2 million girls and 800,000 adult Girl Scout members. As part of the launch of Digital Cookie 2.0, the Girl Scouts agreed to share rarely-seen photos from the group's archives. Click through the gallery to see pictures from every decade of its existence.
Photos: Girl Scouts over time
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1910s: Juliette Gordon Low hoped to create an organization "that would prepare girls to meet their world with courage, confidence and character." Dorothy Fath, left, Capt. Rhonda Piggot, middle, and Viola Oates from Cleveland Pansy Troop No. 1, shown here around 1919, were some of the first girls to benefit from Low's lofty mission.
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1920s: A troop of Girl Scout Brownies is shown wearing the first official Brownie uniform in 1926. Today's Brownies are second and third graders who start learning new skills through earning badges and doing projects to help their community.
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1930s: Girl Scout Jeanne Moy of Chicago is shown around 1930. The Girl Scout troops tended to reflect the waves of immigration to the United States, even printing Girl Scout information in other languages, including Polish, Yiddish and Italian.
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1940s: A Girl Scout Brownie from Lake Erie Girl Scout Council in Cleveland, circa 1941, is shown here. (The first African-American troops were established as early as 1917, while one of the first Latina troops was formed in 1922.)
Photos: Girl Scouts over time
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1950s: An integrated group of Girl Scout Brownies learned farming firsthand, circa 1950. It wasn't just a fluke. In 1956, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. called the Girl Scouts a "force for desegregation." Today, that principle extends to transgender girls.
Photos: Girl Scouts over time
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1960s: In this picture from the 1960s, the four Brownie, Junior, Cadette, Senior and Adult age levels are all represented. There are now six levels for Girl Scouts, starting with Daisies in kindergarten and grade 1, and going up to Ambassadors for grades 10-12.
Photos: Girl Scouts over time
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1970s: During the 1970s, the Girl Scouts elected Gloria D. Scott, their first African-American national board president.
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1980s: A Girl Scout Junior helps Girl Scout Brownies with cookie deliveries, circa 1984. "Cookies are so much more than a fundraiser," says psychologist Andrea Bastiani Archibald, the Girl Scouts' chief girls expert. "When someone buys a box of cookies, they're helping girls develop their financial literacy skills, their social skills ... and their business ethics. Girls can carry these skills into the rest of their lives."
Photos: Girl Scouts over time
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1990s: Girl Scouts introduced the technology badge in the 1980s, signaling the importance of girls' participation in STEM (science, technolgoy, engineering and math) programs.
Photos: Girl Scouts over time
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2000s: Girl Scouts who participate in Girl Scout STEM programs show more interest in studying STEM subjects, according to a survey by the Scouts, and most will recommend the Girl Scout STEM program to their friends.
Photos: Girl Scouts over time
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2010s: Nearly 90% of parents surveyed by the Girl Scouts reported their daughters get a greater variety of experiences from their troops than from other extracurricular activities. These Girl Scouts from 2014 would probably agree. Some 78% of Girl Scouts surveyed report having leadership experiences, compared to a national sample of 55% of girls and 61% of boys.
An alternative Scout group
In his latest letter, Naumann suggests the American Heritage Girls as an alternative to the Girl Scouts that is a “much better fit” with the values of the Archdiocese. The Heritage Girls defines itself as “the premier national character development organization for girls 5-18 that embraces Christian values and encourages family involvement.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, the Girl Scouts has not responded to the Archdiocese’s decision.
