How Catholic is American Heritage Girls Troop NC 0121?
If you are an interested parent who is not Catholic, this question is probably important to you. Let us try to give you an overall understanding of our troop within the AHG framework and invite you to ask more questions if this page does not address all of your concerns.
On a National Level, the unique beauty of American Heritage Girls comes from its identity as a Christian organization. NC0121, like all AHG troops, subscribes to the national faith statement below:
We believe that there is One Triune God – Father, Jesus Christ His one and only Son, and the Holy Spirit – Creator of the universe and eternally existent. We believe the Holy Scriptures (Old/New Testament) to be the inspired and authoritative Word of God. We believe each person is created in His image for the purpose of communing with and worshipping God. We believe in the ministry of the Holy Spirit who enables us to live a Godly life. We believe that each individual is called to love the Lord their God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength; and to love their neighbors as themselves. We believe that each individual is called to live a life of purity, service, stewardship and integrity.
Clarity is further provided to the following terms:
Purity – An AHG member is called to live a life of holiness, being pure of heart, mind, word and deed, reserving sexual activity for the sanctity of marriage; marriage being a lifelong commitment before God between a man and a woman.
Service – An AHG member is called to become a responsible member of their community and the world through selfless acts, which contribute to the welfare of others.
Stewardship – An AHG member is called to use their God given time, talents and money wisely.
Integrity – An AHG member is called to live a moral life, demonstrating the inward motivation to do what is right, regardless of the cost
All AHG troops are chartered through and owned by a Christian chartering organization or ministry partner. This ownership by the chartering organization will give a unique culture to each AHG troop.
What AHG allows on a local level:
As a Charter Organization, St. Anthony’s Catholic Church is able to use the AHG program framework for the local Troop, allowing it to:
• Color the program to model the culture of the Catholic faith.
• Embellish the local Troop with the Catholic Church’s denominational flavor. Although each Troop is unique, all AHG Troops operate within the confines of the American Heritage Girls’ principles and guidelines, upholding the AHG Oath and Creed, and staying true to the AHG Vision and Mission.
For more information, you may read AHG National's brochure In His Image.
But what about actual meetings and events?
While AHG is a Christian organization and our troop is a Catholic troop, the meetings are more similar to Boy Scout meetings than anything else as we are the sister organization to Boy Scouts of America (established with the Memorandum of Mutual Support signed between BSA & AHG in 2009). There isn’t a Catholic way of knot tying or boating, for instance.
However, you will see our Catholic faith evident throughout our program and here are some examples. Girls who participate in AHG are not required to be Christian, but all adult leadership in all AHG troops are. In NC0121, all the unit leaders and board members are required to be Catholic, as well as the publicity and the service projects coordinator. There are other positions available for non-Catholic parents who want to be active in the troop and we encourage you to be active.
One of our service projects will support our chartering organization or one of their already established projects. For 2011, we will be assisting when St. Anthony’s hosts the homeless. Your daughter’s participation is encouraged but not required.
At a typical meeting for our troop you may see our Troop Shepherd:
*Begin and end our prayers with the Sign of the Cross which is a prayer to remind us that we do all things in the name of the Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit (expressed in the words of the prayer), and that Jesus redeemed mankind by His death on the cross (shown by the hand motion).
*Pray the “Our Father” (from Mt. 6), the “Hail Mary” (from Luke 1:28) or ask for the intercession of one or more saints (whom we see as a part of the “cloud of witnesses” mentioned in Heb. 12:1) as a part of our prayers. A prayer for intercession would sound like, “Saint Agnes, patron saint of Scouting for girls, pray for us.” If your daughter is uncomfortable joining in these prayers, she will not be questioned about it. One way to explain it to your daughter would be to say that it is like when we ask our friends or family to pray for us.
*Celebrate a feast day. For example, this past year we celebrated Epiphany by having each girl bring 3 gifts: One for the troop first aid kit or the parish food pantry, one for the Pro-Life center in Carthage, and one to give during our gift exchange for the girls.
*Give a short explanation about an important saint, feast, or liturgical season like Advent or Lent.
*Pray for specific intentions brought forth by the girls
There are also numerous badges and emblems in AHG which encourage girls to understand their faith better and we support all troop members in earning them whatever their faith.
What you will not see is:
*an adult evangelizing your child
*a Sunday school style lesson, like CCD or Awana
*your daughter being forced to participate in activities which are not a part of her faith outside of respectful listening when someone is praying or an adult is speaking. If particular badgework is geared towards something specifically Catholic, we try to make other, non-Catholic materials available for girls to use. Please understand we cannot always know what may be objectionable to you as the parent, but we do try to be sensitive to this.
For instance, when we were working on the Aviation Badge last year, there was a page for their Aviation Lapbook which talked about the patron saints of flight. For our non-Catholic girls we had the poem “High Flight” available for that page, if preferred.
To conclude:
NC 0121 is a Catholic American Heritage Girls troop because it is chartered through a Catholic parish and we choose to infuse it with our faith. Our Troop Shepherd would be more than willing to answer more in-depth questions about the troop or about our Catholic faith if you have them, just use the “contact us” link above. We feel strongly that American Heritage Girls is a program to help our daughters grow up into women with strong values and steadfast faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ. Please consider joining AHG Troop NC0121 to bring your daughter closer to Christ through this ministry.
contact us at AHGNC0121@gmail.com
