REDDING—On October 12-14, hundreds of Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts and their families from the Connecticut Yankee Council’s Pomperaug District converged on the John Sherman Hoyt Scout Reservation in Redding, CT for a weekend of fun and learning. Scouts camped & cooked in the woods, learned essential survival and safety skills, all while getting to know more about the BSA’s High Adventure destinations in the United States.
One Troop, however, believed there was a key piece missing from the weekend’s packed agenda: Catholic Mass. Troop 68 Committee Member Ben Strong resolved to provide the missing piece not just for this fall’s camporee, but also for each of the main camping events this year. The CT Yankee Council plans and organizes three camporees annually: a Fall Camporee in October, a Spring Camporee in May, and the annual favorite Klondike Derby in January.
Strong reached out to St. Patrick’s Parish in Redding to see if a priest would be available and willing to meet the scouts in the woods, where they are. What he found was a most enthusiastic reply. Father Joseph Cervero celebrated Mass on Saturday evening, with more than 35 people in attendance: Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts and their families. Dylan Dos Santos and Nick Strong of Trumbull’s Pack 468 and Sean Murphy of Trumbull’s Troop 68 provided the readings.
In his Homily on Saturday, Father Cervero reminded the scouts that the central values of our Catholic faith mirror those of the Scout Oath and Scout Law: to put God before all things and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Also in attendance, were Sean and Kevin Murphy, great-nephews of Father John Conlisk, who was Pastor of St. Patrick’s from 1977 to 1989. Prior to Father Conlisk’s service, St. Patrick’s was a mission church of St. Mary in Bethel then of Sacred Heart in Georgetown.
BSA Troop 68 is chartered by Father Brian Gannon of St. Theresa Parish in Trumbull CT. It is the only BSA Troop in Trumbull chartered by a Catholic Church, and is very proud of their Catholic association.