The Girl Scout troops will need to get permission from the parish priest and will need to sign a facility use agreement.
“Girl Scouts is a secular organization, and as such, they do not share all of our views,” said Robert Casey, archbishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, in a statement. “As the Catholic Church, we are called to uphold the Gospel and teach young people the Truth (sic) of the Catholic faith. Despite these differences, we have reached a mutual understanding that allows us to fulfill our mission as Church in the faithful formation of young girls while also accessing all that is best about Girl Scouting.”
The Girl Scouts of Western Ohio president and CEO, Aimée Sproles, said the longstanding relationship helps Catholic Girl Scouts to leverage the support of their families and Catholic communities as they grow.
“At Girl Scouts, we believe that a part of girls’ healthy development is encouraging girls in their spiritual journey, through partnerships with their individual faith communities,” Sproles said.
Casey was appointed as archbishop of Cincinnati in April. The decision to cut ties with the Girl Scouts was made last October under previous archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr, who said the Girl Scouts’ ideology was “false and harmful.”
Schnurr has since retired.
“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,” Schnurr said last October in a letter to the area’s Catholics.
Schnurr did not specify in the letter which of the Girl Scouts badges and activities were at issue. Following a 2012 U.S. bishop investigation into the Girl Scouts, the local archdiocese was told to reach individual understandings with local Girl Scout chapters.
At least a handful of Girl Scout troops in the Dayton region operate out of Catholic churches. Those groups faced a decision to move where they met, disband entirely or transfer to an American Heritage girls’ troop, a form of scouting that is broadly associated with Christianity.
The deadline for that change was the end of 2025.
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