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Many troops are planning their first SSG campouts for September. Below is a section from the Saint George Field Manual providing norms and customs during camp outs. I want to create a fun, adventurous, but reverent culture for our campouts.
This section from the Saint George Field Manual is not finished or final so please leave comments and suggestions.
A young Pope Benedict XVI saying Mass in the mountians.
SSG Customs for Camping
- Saint George Officers and Scouts will wear their Class A Uniforms to and from the campout. Until we have Class A Uniforms, don’t worry too much about this. Class A Uniforms are our formal uniforms with collared shirts and pants.
- Gentlemen do not use curse words, nor do they take the Lord’s name in vain. An officer or scout who explicitly blasphemes will be asked to leave the troop. Don Juan of Austria ordered the death penalty to any of his soldiers who blasphemed before or during the Battle of Lepanto. We won’t kill you, but we will ask you to leave.
- Officers and scouts must not belittle or discourage one another. Instead, uplift and edify each other. Challenge one another along the way, but do not cut each other down. Instead, build each other up. You’re brothers in Christ! Captains should correct scouts when they hear them dogging each other.
- I am asking that Fridays be meatless on campouts (as is the Catholic customs in other nations) and that this Friday sacrifice be offered by us for the prayers and intentions of our bishops and the Pope. We need to pray for and support our bishops and Holy Father. If you’re hungry on Friday, catch a fish! Captains and Chaplains should work together on how this can be best accomplished. This is a request from the founder, but not a mandate or iron precept. I highly suggest it. Our sons need a measure of sacrifice in their lives.
- If you have a scout who can bugle, he should play Reveille in the morning to wake everyone up! He need not play taps in the evening. Instead we have Rosary and Salve Regina (see below).
- Saturday morning and Sunday morning, the boys will assemble before breakfast to pray before the troop crucifix and banner or statue of Our Lady. The officers and scouts should pray in unison: the Morning Offering, Our Father, Angelus, Glory be, Angel of God, and Saint Michael prayer. Printed cards should be made by the Captains for boys who don’t know the prayers. Troops can add their own prayers and create their own local customs.
- “Saint George pray for us” should be said at the end of group prayers and often.
- Lunch and dinner begin with the Angelus and then the “Bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts…” Since we are a global movement, please learn these prayers in Latin so that we can demonstrate solidarity with one another across the world.
- Meals end with the prayer “We give Thee thanks for all Thy benefits, O Almighty God, Who livest and reignest forever. And may the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.”Every camp evening should end with the Holy Rosary and the singing of the Salve Regina (in Latin). After singing the Salve Regina, it’s silence and lights out. (Here’s what the Salve Regina in Latin sounds like - click here.)
- Latrines should be dug properly outside the camp if restrooms are not available.
- Each patrol is responsible for cooking and cleaning duties. Duties should be distributed equally and fairly during the camp out. Older scouts should teach younger scouts how to cook and clean properly. All pots, pans, utensils and plates should be properly cleaned with soap and stored away for the next meal or camp out. Be healthy and clean.
- If camping in a region with bears or other dangerous animals, proper precautions should be made for the storage of food and garbage.
- A camp site should look cleaner than when you arrived. Police the area for trash, even the smallest gum wrapper and clean it up before you leave. The Senior Patrol Leader must inspect the grounds before the scouts leave an area.
- If allowed by the owner of the property (and when not on public or prohibited land), the scouts should make little shrines, devotional altars, and erect icons in the woods and along hiking paths as places of devotion. These places can be revisited, freshened with flowers, and repaired over time.
Liturgical Matters During Camp Outs
- The priest, not the captain, is in charge of all things liturgical. That being said, here are the norms and customs for the Troops of Saint George when camping.
- If Holy Mass is celebrated at a camp out, we want the liturgy to be reverent and beautiful. This is the true sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. No sloppy kumbaya liturgies just because we’re outdoors and dirty.
- The altar boys should be attired in cassock and surplice or Class A uniforms, which means you’ll have to pack accordingly.
- Only true lectors should read the lessons in cassock and surplice or Class A uniforms.
- When Holy Mass is celebrated at a camp out, the altar must be arrayed with white linen, flowers from the region placed in two vases, and two or six candlesticks should be on the altar.
- Ideally, a Byzantine antimins or antimension (in which is sown the relics of a saint) could be used on a campout. The antimins functions as a substitute altar. If not an antimins, perhaps the priest or chaplain can bring a relic to signify our devotion to the saints and martyrs of Christ. Scouts should have a special devotion to the saints, but especially to the martyrs.
- All liturgical appointments,vestments, and music should be of high quality. We owe God our best in the Holy Sacrifice, even when we are roughing it.
- Hearty, masculine singing of old hymns (“Faith of Our Fathers”) and Latin hymns must be part of our camping culture.
- If a priest hears confessions on a camp out, a place should be designated and set apart outside the camp where privacy and quiet can be preserved.
- Chaplains and priests should be given due honor and reverence in accord. Troops may want to raise funds to purchase a nice “chaplains tent” or other camping items (eg, a nice camp chair) to make priests feel welcome and comfortable.
Okay, please free to offer more suggestions and comments. I want to hear your ideas.
Godspeed,
Taylor Marshall
Founder of SSG, author of the Saint George Field Manual
Taylor Marshall
Founder of SSG, author of the Saint George Field Manual
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