A reader writes:
Please give me some information about the Girl Scouts and their affiliation with Planned Parenthood and about their teaching on lesbianism and sex education. If anyone has anything from the Girl Scouts web site please send it.
I Googled the girl scout’s website (www.girlscouts.org) and didn’t turn up anything on Planned Parenthood.
However what looks to be the most informative thing on the subject is a study that was done by the American Life League in 2004 that turned up a significant number of links between the two organizations, though not a blanket endorsement of PP by each individual GS chapter.
Here’s a summary:
In 2004, American Life League’s STOPP International conducted a study of Girl Scout councils throughout the United States in an effort to identify which councils have a relationship with Planned Parenthood. Our study was opposed by the national office of the Girl Scouts of the USA, the leader of which publicly stated that GSUSA has no problem if its councils or troops use Planned Parenthood to impart information to the girls. After several months, we were able to get data on over half the Girl Scout Councils in the country and found that about 20% had some type of relationship with Planned Parenthood.
We have now completed this project. Based on the information we uncovered in our study, we strongly advise parents to thoroughly check your local Girl Scout troop and council before allowing your girls to participate. In addition, we strongly urge you to use the same cautious approach to other youth organizations as well. We also suggest you check out the alternatives to the Girl Scouts that may be available in your area.
(Cowboy hat tip to the reader for patience and diligence above and beyond the call of duty regarding this query!)
Gotta be real careful with the Girl Scouts. I have allowed my oldest daughter to belong to a troop sponsored by a nearby parish for the last few years and have been watching everything closely. Thankfully, the lady running the troop is fully aware of the problems with the Girl Scout organization. Therefore she picks and chooses activities for the troop very carefully, and doesn’t sign us up for very many activities with other troops or through the council. It can be a good program in the right hands, but as I said, you must be careful.
A lady in our homeschool group bought a copy of one of the Girl Scout manuals that had a chapter on alternatives to intercourse. It discussed mutual masturbation! I was stunned to say the least. We will not be involved with Girl Scouts.
Too bad it’s not more like Boy Scouts. *sigh*
I called and ask my local council if they worked with PP and they were happy to say yes. In the booklet they handed out it listed classes that girls could take given by PP. Fortunately our local Catholic Hospital also offers “growing up” classes for the girls through our girl scout council. If it makes you feel better these classes are not for badges and never required. I resolved my concern by talking to my priest and also looking on the National Council of Catholic Bishops website. Girl Scouting is OK with them and they even offer a badge that girls can earn if they learn about the faith under the supervision of a preist or deacon. If it’s OK with bishops I decided it would OK for my daughter to be a girl scout. Hope this helps.
There is a Catholic alternative to the Girl Scouts: The Little Flowers. And an alternative to the Boy Scouts, too: The Blue Knights.
My wife is the coordinater for the local service unit and this topic came up. This had the makings of a pretty good row between us but after some reasearch I found out that Suffolk Co. chapter of GS is not affilitated in any way
with Planned un-Parenthood, much to my relief.
It’s a shame you have to even look into the affiliations of your local GS chapter but it’s not a centralized organization and chapters have much dexterity with whom they deal with.
It is neccesarry to do some research on youy local chapter as they reflect the attitudes of the people running the show locally.
Caveat Emptor
Even though the Girl Scouts Councils are legally autonomous, they still have to pay dues to the national office. The national office definitely supports a relationship between the councils and Planned Parenthood. The website lightoftruth.info has more information on the relationship between the two organizations. It is shocking that this information isn’t more widely known among Catholics.
There is a very good alternative to the Girl Scouts and it is imperative for any thinking person to consider any alternative. The Girls Scouts have changed drasticly. The American Heritage Girls operates in 33 states and offers all the Catholic Religious Awards that GS has. They are a God centered Christian organization. Thanks!
Articles to consider when judging the Girl Scouts:
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/9/132005g.asp
http://www.cwfa.org/articledisplay.asp?id=8808&department=CFI&categoryid=papers
No Catholic parish in the world should have ANYTHING to do with the GSUSA.
The Girl Scout Council you belong to may not directly have programs associated with Planned Parenthood. All councils do invite girls, through the Girl Scout handbooks and newsletters sent to girls, to go to the website for GSUSA. At the site for girls 11-17 yrs, called Studio 2B, they have an interest project called On Your Own that had a “helpful link” to Planned Parenthood through Dec. 4th. This link was just removed on Dec. 5th. I have no idea how long it was present. They still have links to the Global Fund for Women and another to learn more about Eve Ensler, the playwrite for The Vagina Monologues. These are through “helpful links” for the Global Girls Interest Projects. The GS handbook also invites girls to go to the World Association for Girl Guides and Girl Scouts website. It is amazing what you find there, also. If you want your daughters to be Girl Scouts and not be exposed to anything against their faith, you would have to daily “watchdog” their exposure to Girl Scout materials. I would recommend you read every page of the handbooks for girls 4th grade and up and read the newsletters that come in the mail.
I believe that Girl Scouts, as with most things in life, are what you make of them. I am the leader of a large (25) very CATHOLIC girl scout troop. We do very little with the local council. We have only one handbook, and I adjust the try-its to fit into our faith. Our troop recently went camping (on Girl Scout property)among our many activities, we made rosaries, praying each and every bead. The girls in our troop are 1st & 2nd graders. We had them blessed, and donated to our school christmas bizarre. We sell minimal cookies each year, and use the cookies as a service project, we collect cookie donations for the troops in Iraq, that we accompanied by letters from home. Also we donate the proceeds we earn from the cookie sale to charity. For those unaware, girl scouts also have the opportunity to complete a program, to receive a series of four rosary patches, as well as a series of religious medals and awards. Perhaps we should focus on the good here, and not let the evil taint our hearts and minds.. It might help to let others know that these programs are available to “Catholic” girl scouts..
The Girl Scout Program is an honorable one and I suggest you be honest when posting about it. I have visited the sights mentioned and find nothing that would influence the girls. The Global Fund for Women website is quite general and enphasizes prevention of war and violence against women as its major concerns. As for the references to the agpe and cwa websites, they are one sided. These speakers were for the adult volunteers and never spoke about the controversial issues discusssed in these articles. By the way another speaker at the mentioned convention was Ann Curry, an NBC newscaster, mother and Catholic.
“I suggest you be honest.” And who wasn’t honest? Were you honest?
“I have visited the sights mentioned and find nothing that would influence the girls.” Did you click on the “LEARN MORE” link, to the American Life League website? Did you read the article that appeared in the Washington Dispatch, documenting the links between the Girls Scouts and Planned Parenthood? If you didn’t go to the ALL website, then you weren’t honest. If you did go to the ALL website and don’t find anything objectionable with the links between the Girl Scouts and Planned Parenthood, then you do not share the Catholic values of most of the readiers of this blog.
Well said, bill912.
The national leadership of the GSUSA went off track a long time ago, selling out to the feminist/liberal agenda, though local troops can be good or bad (depending on the leaders, of course).
I speak as the proud father of a Girl Scout, and proud husband of a girl scout leader. My pride, though, is in my family and not in the Girl Scouts as an organization.
At least the Boy Scouts are hanging tough, thank God.
Instead of visiting other websites with their own slanted viewpoints and agendas I went to the source which is the girlscouts.org and studio2b.org websites. Just because something is printed on another website doesn’t make it true. I am very Catholic and have volunteered with the local GS council for 20 years. I’ve led 3 troops to their teens and have never had to compromise my strong Catholic values. Each troop sets its own program and we were never prevented from including religious awards, retreats and attending Mass as a troop. When it comes to sexuality, our council asks that we leave that to the parents. Oh, by the way, not that I need to justify myself to you but I have volunteered for our local pro-life movement for years.
You also ignored all my questions.
Camping World Open Roads Forum: Search
Your search for posts made by ‘Pull-Tab’ found 371 matches. … to save a mark then to edit it touch “edit/review favorits” next touch “location to edit” . …
You want honesty and you want it from the direct source Girl Scouts USA, girlscouts.org, and their site for 11-17 yr olds, studio2b.org. Here you are… At the Studio 2B site, the interest project called On Your Own had a “helpful link” to Planned Parenthood through Dec. 4, 2005 so girls could get family planning and abortion information. This link was just removed on Dec. 5, 2005 after being reported to the Catholic Committee on Scouting who are under the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry. If you don’t believe that this was there contact them. This is the page in the site where the link was located- it was just above the March of Dimes link. (March of Dimes is no good either from the Pro-life standpoint.) http://www.studio2b.org/lounge/gs_stuff/ip_on_your_own.asp
Studio 2B still has a direct link to the Global Fund for Women to help earn the Global Girls interest project. The Global Fund for Women is headed by a woman who is an abortion rights activist. Here is the Girl Scout link and links to know more about the Global Fund for Women. Check out who they grant money to and who supports them.
http://www.studio2b.org/lounge/gs_stuff/ip_global_girls.asp
http://www.globalfundforwomen.org/resources/links/grantees.html
http://www.globalfundforwomen.org/resources/links/human-rights.html
Here is also a link to a pro-choice newsletter from the Global Fund for Women’s CEO, Kavita Ramdas. (This CEO was a speaker at the GSUSA National Convention in Oct. 2005!). Yes, Ann Curry from NBC was also a speaker at the 2005 Girl Scout convention, but she is a news personality, not a reproductive rights activist. It doesn’t matter that Kavita Ramdas didn’t speak on the topic of abortion, etc. GSUSA put her in a position as a woman to look up to by having her speak. Check out her newsletter…
http://www.globalfundforwomen.org/newsletter/2003-03/president-letter.html
Another helpful link for earning the Global Girls interest project at Studio 2B is the Girl Scouts of Santa Clara County. Here you can earn a badge by learning more about Eve Ensler, the playwrite for the Vagina Monologues!
http://www.studio2b.org/lounge/gs_stuff/ip_global_girls.asp
http://www.gssccpatches.org/binfo.asp
http://www.gssccpatches.org/resources_topic_action.asp?page=topic
At the GSUSA site there is proof that Juliette Low World Friendship Fund money goes to the World Thinking Day Fund. Check out their 7 key messages…
http://www.girlscouts.org/who_we_are/global/juliette_low_fund.asp
http://www.wagggs.org/en/issues/adolescent_health
http://www.wagggsworld.org/en/issues/adolescent_health/issue_sex
Girl Scout handbooks invite girls to go the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts site, wagggs.org., so it doesn’t matter if GSUSA doesn’t focus on the same key messages as the world association. The world association also has an AIDS badge that Girl Scouts can earn. I want my daughter to know this info, but not from them and not without me knowing.
http://www.wagggsworld.org/en/resources/documents/31
When it comes to sexuality issues, it doesn’t matter what the council says you should or shouldn’t say, the handbooks have info for the girls…The Junior Girl Scout Handbook (copywrite 2001) has this activity for girls to “Test Yourself” on page 93… “1. You wake up in the night when someone you know is sitting on your bed and touching you in places that make you feel uncomfortable. 2. One of the older boys in the neighborhood asks if you want to play “special grown-up games” with him. He says you have to promise not to tell”
I was also a leader of 22 all Catholic girls at our parish. Our girls would never have been exposed to any of this under my leadership. I couldn’t stand the thought that someday they could find out about all these connections and think that since I continued to lead them as a Girl Scout that I must have thought it was OK. We have switched to become a Catholic girls club.
I love the ideas Monica posted for Catholic activities. I have to point out that the rosary patches and religious awards are allowed by Girl Scouts but are not a Girl Scout program. They come from the Catholic Committee on Scouting under the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry and are available for Girl Scouts, Camp Fire Boys and Girls, and other youth groups or religious education classes.
GSUSA is also getting into social work and would be happy to have your 5-17 year old daughter’s questions answered by their online psychologist, Dr. M, at the “Studio 2B” and “Girls Only” portion of the GSUSA website …
http://www.studio2b.org/life/advice/dating/dating_01.asp
http://www.gogirlsonly.org/
This comes from a non Girl Scout website, but is a transcript of an interview with Kathy Cloninger, GSUSA CEO, on the Today Show proving an allowed relationship with Planned Parenthood if councils desire. http://www.lightoftruth.info/
MP3 download, Music CD, Online music
Download the sheet music for your current favorites and explore our … Download sheet music for Grammy®-winning and related titles, composers, and artists…
Do girlscout cookie sales go directly to the troop or to the national headquarters? I am in conflict about purchasing girl scout cookies from family members. They will be insulted if I don’t. But if I do, am I supporting the national headquarters or just the troop? I don’t want to support the people who have non Catholic values.
I’m not Catholic, but am Christian. I have the same concerns about GSA as most of you. I have 3 daughters, and I don’t think any will become Girl Scouts. Why would we join an organization dabbles so closely with such loose morals?
Planned Parenthood values aren’t anti-Catholic, they are anti-Christian values. PP profits from these girls becoming sexually interested and eventually sexually active.
I just don’t see what the GSA or local councils get out of it, except that sometimes they are run by people that value sex as a gift exclusively for man and wife.
As director of Parish Resource for Catholics Respect Life in Fort Worth Texas. I have had to answer the question of Girls Scouts and Planned Parenthood many times. The net of what I have found is this: Yes there are many local troop leaders who are very Catholic and diligent and I applaud them. However no one can deny the connection and conspiracy with Planned Parenthood. PP seeds the state councils with abortion minded executives to influence the GS actions. Local dues go to the National level which supports PP abortion and immoral behavior. Some quote the great christian and even Catholic patches and awards the girls can get and to that I quote a marquis on a church in Fort Wayne Indiana. “THE DEVIL WILL FLOAT HIS GREATEST LIE AMONGST A THOUSAND TRUTHS”. Think about it. While in front of your eyes he will paint a picture of young womanhood formation, behind you he wispers his subliminal sin. You loyal girls scout troop leaders are searching for the treasure you had in your youth however it is gone. You claim pride in your diligence to watch over your young women and filter their activities and yet you support the organization who in another troop, not so diligent coorupts our future leaders. You have the power to help restore the treasure. I believe you must send a message to the Girl Scouts and PP by decreasing their membership. Cut from the GS charter and do the same thing you are doing for your girls teach them to stand up and be informed. I pray for the boycott of all organizations who even hint of support of the demon called Planned Parenthood. To quote an old phrase “What would Jesus do?”. Please help us fight for the babies. Abort Girl Scouts not babies. When they return to the truth we can return our young women to the Girl Scouts.
Good site! I’ll stay reading! Keep improving!
I think that as a Catholic, it is time we infiltrate all organizations to help others understand our religion and to ‘BE NOT AFRAID’, according to our Lord and our dear Pope JPII. If we say we are Catholics, and understand our faith, then the time is now to start working our way out into the world, protecting our children as we guide them into, through and with Jesus as each situation arise. If you do not know your Catholic Faith, then I would stay close to other Catholic organizations as you study up on our great faith.
Don’t hide your children, protect and guide, like our dear Blessed Mother did. 🙂
Karen
Karen, you are missing the point, we cannot as catholics affiliate ourselves with organizations that promote and fund immoral acts. These are our children and we are here to protect and guide them to be independant adults that can think, act and influence others to be like Christ.
I am not going “join” the demacratic party so I can influence them that abortion is wrong, instead I am going to follow the leader I feel can preserve our right to live, which, let’s face it, if we don’t have that right, does anything else matter?
We should be promoting other orgainzation that are christian based, with good moral values such as American Hetitage Girls.
“Be not afraid” to go out and show the world that children have a choice of organization to belong to and that they can do simular activities in an environment that you don’t have to constantly be at their side to correct what they are being taugh.
How can we teach our children to be independant if we have to constantly “watchdog” the events they are attending, we should be able to trust that the influences that we allow them around are true and good.
am I right that we are just against teh girl scouts cos they do not support catholic beliefs? I myself am agains abortion I amnot catholic (not that matters in this instance) I am just curious that everyone seems to have something to say about teh catholic faith and girl scouts and PP
In addition to the above issues with the Girl Scouts, my major issue is that they (I mean the leader and the chair of the Council) are not even showing the morals and ethics that their promise teaches. They all say the promise and then turn around to lie, change records and hurt little girls.
I have email conversations with the council chair where I complained about a troop and few leaders. In response, they deleted my and my daughters registration to show we are not and were never members so whatever they did was right.
I don’t have personal problem with them but HIPPOCRACY, I have problems with.
Okay, you can think that, but listen to this: Since we have been in GS for the last five months, I have potentially made two families, who are not practicing Catholics, reconsider coming back to our beautiful faith. I have made other non-catholic families there understand our faith, and I have made them reconsider their unwarranted prejudices against our faith.
What have you done to make a difference in the GS community?
I have other ladies that I have been talking with too, and they all know that I am a devout Catholic, and because of that I try to live my life carefully, prayerfully and wisely while in their presence and of course always.
I believe we DO need to involve ourselves in other non-catholic groups and MAKE A DIFFERENCE! I am trying to follow what PJPII said and I am doing what St. Francis did. You can’t bury yourself into Catholic groups only, if you truly want to change the world and make a difference….it’s called evangelizing!
God bless.
Karen
Does anyone have recent info on whether the connection between GSUSA and PP still continues in August 2008? Thanks.