The Braves, Kateries, Cadets and Guides make up four branches of the same Scouting Group hosted through St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Kansas City, MO. This program is dedicated to fostering leadership, community and personal development while teaching teamwork, responsibility and life skills.

Offering the best Scouting method for our traditional Catholic families today with enriching experiences for the children and a real method of education to support and complement what is practiced in the family as well as at school.

 

Braves and Kateries

     Braves (boys) and Kateries (girls) are a four year program for 8 - 12 year olds. Under the patronage of the North American Martyrs and of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, the boys and girls meet separately for three hours every other week during the school year. Prayer, activities, games and talks with a priest and supervisors fill in the meeting. Each child has a Progression Trail sheet with the skills and good habits he/she has to acquire in order to progress and be promoted to the upper rank.
   All educators participate in the signing off on Progression Trails as the skills cover the whole life of the child, at home, at school and in the group. Also, the children are invited to work on projects to acquire pins that they can wear on their uniform when all the requisites are done. Once a year during the summer, a 5 to 7 day camp offers the children space to reinforce the skills with outdoor activities, games and overnight camping.

 

Cadets and Guides
    The Cadets (boys) and Guides (girls) are a four year program from 13 - 17 years of age. The key moment of any Cadet or Guides life is the Promise they make in front of the staff and their peers. They promise to serve, and this personal engagement becomes the main leverage for the efforts demanded and an incredible help to consent to sacrifices against their own natural selfishness through the teenage years. Scouting aims to build character, virtues and leadership. It is a unique chance to offer teenagers good friends and activities where they can safely learn how to exercise their freedom, the care of younger ones, and the practice of leadership. It comes as no surprise that in Europe, most of the vocations come from the scouting movement.
   Divided by patrols, they compete with each other in the practice of skills such as camping, packing, cooking, navigation, observation, communications, and other sports. Leadership is taught as the teens are occupied in activities with one to two daily leadership meetings to correct and report on improvement and difficulties. The year program aims toward the summer camp where acquired skills are put in practice in a two to three week camp outdoors.
   Meetings are held once a month by the Patrol Leaders in order to prepare the monthly outing from Friday night to Sunday morning with camping. Both the Guides and Cadets learn these skills, but are set aside from other scouts because they aim to foster Catholic life and Catholic virtues in the youth.