PATERSON Bishop Serratelli presided over the annual combined Boy Scout and Girl Scout Sunday Mass Feb. 24 in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist here. At the Mass, he presented Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts with religious awards and special Boy Scout and Girl Scout recognition for adult leaders.
Bishop Serratelli presented the following religious awards to the Girl Scouts: Family of God, I Live My Faith and the Mary, the First Apostle award. The Boy Scouts received: the Ad Altare Dei (“To the Altar of God”) medal, the Pope Pius XII medal and the Pillars of Faith medal. He also gave out the Bronze Pelican awards to adult Boy Scout leaders and Region 3 Leader Recognition to adult Girl Scout leaders and mentors.
The Family of God program is the official religious recognition program of the Catholic Church in the U.S., offered to girls, ages 7 to 9 enrolled in Girl Scouting. Recipients were: Kaylan Bartolozzi, Eva Denoia-Crosby, Julia Holzi, Olivia Keenan, Samantha Simon, Anna Torres and Isabella Tyminski.
The I Live My Faith program is the official religious recognition program of the Catholic Church in the U.S. for girls, ages 9 to 11, enrolled in Girl Scouting. The purpose of the program is to help girls learn to appreciate more deeply the place God and religion occupies in their everyday lives and stresses the importance of helping others. Recipients were: Kendall Bell, Caroline Budesheim, Amber Dericks, Zoe Mitros, Samantha Seeber and Asha Winn.
The Mary, the First Apostle program is the official religious recognition program of the Catholic Church in the U.S. for Cadette level Girl Scouts. The purpose of the program is to complement the religious education carried out in the Catholic schools and religious education classes. This recognition serves as a reminder of commitment of faith through prayer, service and responsible community participation. Recipients were: Nikki Ditta and Bethany Sepaul.
Girls also will be presented with awards at the parish level — Angel on My Shoulder and Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha — that help them continue their faith formation and keep them involved in Scouting.
Angel on My Shoulder is a diocesan religious program that gives girls in kindergarten and Grade 1 an understanding of angels, the purpose of angels and angels in the Bible. Recipients were: Olivia DeFreitas, Danielle Hickey, Rebecca Nunez, Ryleigh Maysilles, Donatella Mennella, McKenna Simm and Julia Spasevski.
The purpose of the St. Kateri Tekakwitha program is to help girls, Grades 4 and 5, explore the life and faith of the saint. The recipients were Elizabeth Budesheim and Olivia Keenan.
The Ad Altare Dei emblem is given to Catholic Scouts who have been registered in Boy Scouts for at least six months, have completed the sixth grade and fulfilled the requirements in the workbook based on the seven Sacraments.
The Ad Altare Dei recipients were: Matthew Pasko, Troop 8, St. Patrick, Chatham; Andrew Mathews, Troop 23, St. Andrew, Clifton; Justin Dougherty, Troop 159, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Flanders; Daniel Smith, Troop 312, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Flanders; James Dwyer, Troop 8, Holy Family, Florham Park; Nicholas West, Troop 8, Our Lady of Peace, Hewitt, West Milford; Tyler Crowley and Steven George, Troop 88, St. Jude, Hopatcong; Kurt DeChiaro, Troop 236, Our Lady of the Mountain, Long Valley; Ryan Arrambide, Troop 236, St. Mark, Long Valley; Alex Dias, Liam Doherty and Christopher Gieda, Troop 36, Our Lady of the Mountain, Long Valley; Sean Krentz, Troop 36, St. Luke, Long Valley; Cameron Cortez, Troop 34, Assumption, Morristown; Jacob Mosher, Troop 88, St. Michael, Netcong; Edward Flynn, Troop 85, St. Joseph, Newton; Thomas Bubniak, Troop 49, St. Thomas the Apostle, Oak Ridge; Vincenzo Lapilusa, Troop 85, St. Kateri Tekakwitha, Sparta; Sean Masino, Troop 187, St. John Vianney, Stockholm; Thomas Joyce and Dominic Nicotra, Troop 88, St. Therese, Succasunna; Andrew Barbera, Alex Ferreira, Enrique Melgarejo, Dauzed Melgarejo and Joseph Scuralli, Troop 108, Our Lady of the Valley, Wayne; and Steven Braen, Troop 159, St. Joseph, West Milford.
The Pope Pius XII emblem is given to Scouts of high-school age who are members of a Scout troop or Venture Crew and have completed the five-step unit program. Recipients were: Timothy Butcher, Troop 159, Our Lady Queen of Peace, Hewitt, West Milford; Thomas Bloodgood, Troop 86, Our Lady of the Magnificat, Kinnelon; William Clarkin, Patrick Herbert and Brian Kelly, Troop 34, Assumption, Morristown; James Mirabella, Troop 86, St. Mary, Pompton Lakes; and David Braen, Troop 159, St. Joseph, West Milford.
The Pillars of Faith Award is given to Scouts, who have completed all four religious emblems in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts: Light of Christ, Parvuli Dei, Ad Altare Dei and Pope Pius XII.
The Pillars of Faith Award recipients were Timothy Butcher, Troop 159, Our Lady Queen of Peace, Hewitt, West Milford and Patrick Herbert, Troop 154, Our Lady Queen of Peace, West Milford.
Two Cub Scout awards were presented in the local parishes. One was The Light of Christ award, which helps Tiger and Wolf Cubs, grades 1 and 2, develop a personal relationship with Jesus. With the parent’s active assistance and participation in this program, it is hoped that the Cub will come to see Jesus as his friend.
Light of Christ recipients were: Alexander Goodell, Pack 69, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Boonton; Anthony Biago, Robert Clark, Scott Miniter and Joseph Mondino, Pack 201, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Boonton; Johnathan Pellington, Pack 101, St. Anthony of Padua, Butler; Robert Krimmel and Jack Vales, Pack 40, Notre Dame of Mount Carmel, Cedar Knolls; Samuel DeDios, Giovani Esposito, Noah Jarkowsky and Ryan Mejia, Pack 21, St. Philip the Apostle, Clifton; Steven Aponte, Pack 23, St. Philip the Apostle, Clifton; Angelo Cicero and Colin Reilly, Pack 23, St. Andrew, Clifton; Nicolas Cabrera and John Huber, Pack 47, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Flanders; Logan Wagner, Pack 165, St. Simon, Green Pond; Aiden Young, Pack 88, St. Jude, Hopatcong; Joseph Caravano and Liam Shaw, Pack 133, St. Joseph, Mendham; Joseph Cappuccino, Anthony Cirelli, Michael Corbett, Gregory Ferrante, Brendan Frade, Charles Rojas, Neal Spickert-Fulton and Spencer Tizzoni, Pack 142, St. Christopher, Parsippany; John Brost, Pack 31, St. Bonaventure, Paterson; Lucas DaSilva, Pack 49, St. Mary, Pompton Lakes; Ronald Hacket, Pack 140, St. Catherine of Bologna, Ringwood; and Daniel Ventura, Pack 40, Our Lady of Mercy, Whippany.
The other award presented at parishes was the Parvuli Dei emblem, which helps Cub Scouts registered in the Bear and Webelos program, grades 3 to 5, explore a wide range of activities to discover the presence of God in their daily lives as members of their families and parishes and to develop a good, positive self-image through the contributions they can make to the group or community.
Parvuli Dei recipients were: Tobias Pilger, Pack 180, St. Thomas the Apostle, Branchville; Michael Buono and Nicholas Shatynski, Pack 40, Notre Dame of Mount Carmel, Cedar Knolls; Alexander Jakimowicz, Wyatt Meyer, John Sagui and Riley Siedlecki, Pack 21, St. Philip the Apostle, Clifton; John Muniz and Aiden Reilly, Pack 23, St. Andrew the Apostle, Clifton; Michael Pizzimenti, Pack 228, St. Thomas More, Convent Station; Patrick Andersen, Nicholas Muawski, Ryan Stadelmann and Riley Thompson, Pack 99, St. Mary, Denville; Nicolas Cabrera, Pack 47, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Flanders; Quinn Holey, Michael Kanaley and Collin Young, Pack 88, St. Jude, Hopatcong; Matthew Bondarowicz and David Bondarowicz, Pack 215, St. Peter the Apostle, Parsippany; Gabriel Kachler and John Kachler, Pack 51, Our Lady of Fatima, Pequannock; Alexander DaSilva, Pack 49, St. Mary, Pompton Lakes; Nicholas Loewrighkeit, Pack 192, Our Lady of the Valley, Wayne; and Nicholas DeAngelis, Matteo Iellimo, Colin Rodgers, Shane Rodgers and Daniel Winters, Pack 40, Our Lady of Mercy, Whippany.
For the Girl Scouts, the Region 3 Leader Recognition is given to leaders and mentors, who have been involved in the Catholic Girl Scout recognitions for at least three years. Recipients were: Amy Dericks, Roxanne Ditta, Katia Seeber, Melissa Keenan and Nicole Sepaul.
For the Boy Scouts, the Bronze Pelican Award was presented to two adults for consistent service to Catholic Scouting: Robert McDevitt, a district committee chair in the Ramapo Valley District of the Northern New Jersey Council, and Father Christopher Barkhausen, administrator of St. Francis de Sales Parish, McAfee in Vernon, who became chaplain of the Paterson Diocese Catholic Committee on Scouting in 2015.
A Scout in his youth, McDevitt became an adult Scout leader in 1975. He served in many positions in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts in Wayne, including as the chartered organization representative for Our Lady of Consolation Parish for 30 years. He urged the creation of a religious committee position to encourage duty to God throughout district activities.
An Eagle Scout of class of 2005 from Troop 54 in Succasunna, Father Barkhausen was ordained to the priesthood in the Diocese on May 24, 2014. He has been a supporter of the Catholic Committee on Scouting, encouraging Scouts to work on their religious awards, planning and attending the annual retreat and always being there for the committee and Scouts.