Apparently the Boy Scouts of America may soon revise their long-standing ban on allowing gay people — as either scouts or volunteer leaders — into the organization. (See today’s story in the Washington Post.) The revision may be that local organizations that sponsor troops — typically civic or religious groups — will be able to make their own call on this matter.

If that comes about, I pray that there will be one Catholic parish somewhere in these United States that will have the faith, the courage, and the decency to do the right thing.  I pray that there will be one courageous pastor who will lead his parish in making a decision that puts them “on the right side of history,” and allows the scout troop under their auspices to accept openly gay scouts and leaders.

Today’s story in the Washington Post includes this comment:

“Said Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, “The bishops hope the Boy Scouts will continue to work under the Judeo-Christian principles upon which they were founded and under which they have served youth well.”

Hopefully Sister Mary Ann and the bishops for whom she works will one day learn that exclusion of people because of who they are as God made them to be is not really a “Judeo-Christian principle.”