From the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry:
Dear Pastor,
We are writing this letter to offer some clarification on chartering with Scouts BSA.
First, we want to affirm that individual parishes may choose to charter a scouting entity with Scouts BSA. Within the parish structure, Scouting should be treated as the other ministries of your parish. Unlike those other ministries, however, which are solely under the control of the parish, the scouting entity is run by volunteers who are not parish volunteers or employees. That means that a parish that charters a scouting entity takes on the full and sole responsibility for any uninsured liabilities arising out of the scouting activity, without any financial assistance from the diocese.
In order to try to maximize the parish’s coverage for any such exposure, if you are chartering a Scouts BSA unit in your parish a certificate of insurance should be obtained from your local Scouting Council stating that both the parish and the Roman Catholic Bishop of Sacramento are additionally insured. This certificate should be in place before any activity in the chartered unit takes place on the parish premises. We also want to encourage the following best practices relative to scouting units.
- Scouting should be connected to the faith formation and youth ministry programs of the parish and seen as part of those ministries. Steps should be taken to ensure that there is good collaboration and connection between the two and that the mission and goals are in alignment.
- The scouting budget should be run through the parish account, or in a separate account that is reviewed annually by the parish finance council.
- Adult volunteers for the scouting unit must follow the same safe environment and supervision guidelines as youth ministry and faith formation. This is in addition to any requirements required by Scouts BSA, NOT in lieu of these requirements.
Should you have any questions please contact Jennifer Campbell at jcampbell@scd.org.
Yours in Christ,
Deacon Kevin Staszkow
Director Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry