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Light is Life Religious Emblem
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Eligibility
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- A member of an Eastern Catholic church
- A registered member of the Boy Scouts of America,
active in your troop for at lease six
months, and completed sixth grade before
beginning the program
- Designed for the 12-13 year old.
Other Scouts, older or younger may use the
program.
- This program is to be used as an alternate
to the Ad Altare Dei program. It is
not appropriate to work on both programs.
- Complete the program before your 18th
birthday to receive the recognition.
For Scouts who are mentally or physically
handicapped, the program may be made more
flexible.
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Purpose |
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The "Light is
Life" is a program developed by the
National Catholic Committee on Scouting
(NCCS) for Boy Scouts of the Eastern
Catholic churches. Light is Life
respects the cultural and ritual differences
among the various Eastern Catholic Churches.
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The overall goal of the
Light is Life religious emblem program is to
bring about in the Scout, through his
Eastern Christian Scouting experience, a
deeper awareness of his share in
faith-life. Then going forth, he will
witness this life through maturity in
communal worship and in Christian formation
of his world.
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Methodology
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- The method of presentation of each step is
the learning concept basic to all Scouting
learning experience. Each step has a
'guided discovery' through reading and
questions; its 'teacher-learner' situation
through discussion with the counselor; its
'application' through the projects; and its
'evaluation' by the Scout and his counselor
and the Scout's discussion with his
Scoutmaster of his progress.
- The most important aspect of the program
is that the Scout grows in his spiritual
experience of his relationship to God and
the church. All else is secondary.
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Instructions |
- Ask your Scoutmaster, pastor, parish
administrator, director of religious
education, or any member of the troop
committee if there is a Light is Life
counselor in your parish or area. If
there is a Light is Life counselor
available, ask him/her to help you with the
Light is Life program. Otherwise, ask
your local AAS counselor, priest, religious
or catechist to help you. (Resource
material is contained in the Light is Life
Counselor's Guides in the God With Us series
of the Eastern Christian Formation
Program.) Inform your Scoutmaster who
will be assisting you in this program.
While doing this program, share your
progress with your Scoutmaster at your
regular or special Scoutmaster's conference.
- After you have selected your counselor,
you must complete the application to begin
working on the Light is Life Emblem.
You should first get the signature of your parents
stating that they approve of your
involvement in the program. You should
then have the counselor sign that he/she is
willing to work with you on the
program. The Scoutmaster should then
sign certifying that you have met all the
requirements to start the program, and that
he/she is aware of your involvement in the
program. Lastly, you should get the
approval of your pastor for you to work on
and receive the emblem.
Do not tear the "Application"
page out of the manual until the Board of Review
at the end of the program.
- Standards for this program have been
prepared by the Committee on Eastern
Catholic churches of the National Catholic
Committee on Scouting. All steps in
the book must be completed before the Scout
presents himself to the Religious Emblems
Review Board and emblem presentation.
No Changes are permitted.
Additional requirements my not be added.
Scouts with special needs can easily
complete the program, since the counselor has
enough flexibility to present the program
adapted to those needs.
- All Journal entries, reports, and written
work should be legible and neat. The
book is to be examined by the counselor as
the Scout proceeds through each step of the
program. It is to serve as partial
evidence of the completion of the Scout's
learning objectives. It will also be a
tool to help the Scout at the Board of
Review or when submitting the application to
the eparchial Scout chaplain, if there is no
Board of Review available. It
will also help explain the Scout's spiritual
growth to others.
- The use of a Catholic Bible is required
for this program. You will need to
have one you can use.
- There are three parts to each step.
When all parts of a step are completed,
review study with the counselor.
He/she will sign and date the certification
of completion for the step. Spiritual
growth should be evident when progressing
from step to step.
- When all steps have been completed,
the counselor should contact the eparchial
Scout Chaplain or the Catholic Committee on
Scouting for further direction concerning a
Board of Review and presentation
instructions. If the eparchial
chaplain does not know, contact the
eparchial chancery office to obtain the
information or contact the Committee in
Eastern Catholic Churches, NCCS, BSA, 1325
W. Walnut Hill Ln., P.O. Box 152079, Irving,
TX 75015-2079.
- Eparchial and BSA Youth Protection
policies must be
followed.
NOTE: Counselors for the Light is Life
emblem should be approved in advance by their
pastors and the eparchial Scout Chaplain or
Catholic Committee on Scouting. The Light
is Life Counselor's Guide is an integral
part of this program and contains the necessary
resources for anyone, including those unfamiliar
with Eastern Christianity. Scouter
Development and counselor training are also
recommended and may be required for counselors
in your eparchy.
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Suggested Time Requirements |
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Steps |
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Step A - Introduction
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Creation Reveals God's
Presence
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Signs and symbols
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Icons
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Liturgy is Life
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