(LifeSiteNews) — Archbishop Dennis Schnurr of Cincinnati announced the end of an over century-long partnership with the Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) last week because the organization now contradicts Church teaching about the human person.
In an October 28 letter, Schnurr announced that the Archdiocese of Cincinnati (AOC) was ending its 110-year partnership due to the Girl Scouts’ promotion of gender ideology, emphasizing that several of its activities and badge requirments are contrary to Catholic teaching. The archbishop ordered that parishes and schools in the archdiocese end any partnerships with the organization by the end of 2025.
In the letter, the archbishop underscored that while scouting itself is fundamentally good and can be an efficacious part of Catholic youth ministry, the Girl Scouts have embraced and promoted a worldview contrary to the Church’s teaching on gender and sexuality.
“Through some of their activities, resources, badges, and awards, Girl Scouts – including the local chapter, Girl Scouts of Western Ohio – has contributed to normalizing a sexual and gender ideology contrary to the Catholic understanding of the human person made male and female in the image and likeness of God,” the archbishop wrote in his letter.
Schnurr added that the Church’s greatest responsibility is to the Gospel and mission of Jesus Christ, and it is essential that all diocesan youth programs affirm values consistent with that teaching.
“The Archdiocese of Cincinnati cannot partner with an organization that, from its highest level, advocates ideas which the Church considers false and harmful,” he wrote.
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Some of the objectionable activities the Archbishop of Cincinnati referred to in his letter include allowing gender-confused boys who identify as “transgender,” “non-binary,” or “gender fluid” to board with girls on overnight camping trips. The Girl Scouts also have a special “LGBTQ+ Pride Month Celebration Fun Patch” for girls to earn by making “a piece of art that celebrates how families come in all shapes, sizes, and kinds,” and attending “an LGBTQ+ Pride celebration in June with your family or troop,” among other activities. Schnurr also stressed that the archdiocese tried working with the Girl Scout’s local chapter, the Girl Scouts of Western Ohio (GSWO), for years to mitigate GSUSA’s influence over activities but could not agree on an acceptable path forward.
The “Girl Scouts” page on the archdiocese’s website breaks down the timeline of its negotiations with the Girl Scouts.
In 2014, a long USCCB investigation into GSUSA revealed that the organization regularly donates to the World Association of Girl Guides & Scouts (WAGGS), which promotes “sexual and reproductive rights” and allows local councils to work with Planned Parenthood. At the USCCB’s request, the archdiocese reached a Memorandum of Understanding with the GSWO delineating what would not be acceptable for troops in the diocese.
After the initial 2016 agreement expired in 2021, the AOC and GSUSA attempted to reach a new deal, with the archdiocese asking that the organization stop promoting activities, resources, badges, and awards contradicting Catholic teaching on gender ideology and same-sex “marriage.” However, as an agreement could not be reached, the archbishop ended the partnership.
By the end of calendar year 2025, every Girl Scout troop currently operating on any Catholic campus must: (1) convert to an American Heritage Girls troop; (2) find another location at which to meet; or (3) disband. In the meantime, no new Girl Scout troops may be established. Girl Scouts may not be featured or promoted as an official ministry or extracurricular activity of any Catholic parish or school in the archdiocese.
Schnurr ordered parishes and schools to end their relationship with GSUSA by December 2025 and stipulated that every Girl Scout troop in the archdiocese has three options: “(1) convert to an American Heritage Girls troop; (2) find another location at which to meet; or (3) disband.” In the meantime, no new Girl Scout troops may be established, and the organization can’t be promoted as a ministry or extracurricular activity in the archdiocese.
The American Heritage Girls organization is a Christian alternative to Girl Scouts that refuse to bow to the LGBT agenda and unabashedly recognizes the difference between males and females. Several dioceses nationwide, including the Archdiocese of Kansas City, have also cut ties with GSUSA and begun partnerships with the American Heritage Girls.
Several prominent Catholic clerics have spoken out against gender ideology and transgenderism, including Cardinal Raymond Burke, who, in an August commencement speech at Thomas Aquinas College, condemned it as an “attack on reason and nature.”
“[T]o say that I can change my nature: I was born a male and that I can, through the use of various chemicals and mutilation, make myself a woman – this is an attack on reason, on nature,” Burke said.
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The American cardinal’s 2019 “Declaration of Truths“ document, which was signed also by Bishop Athanasius Schneider and other bishops, states:
Concerning gender theory, the declaration reaffirms that “the male and female sexes, man and woman, are biological realities created by the wise will of God.” It, therefore, terms gender reassignment surgery a “rebellion against natural and divine law” and a “grave sin.”
LifeSite reached out to the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, but they declined to comment further.