PLEASE NOTE PROCESS CHANGE: The Diocese of Arlington's Catholic Committee on Scouting no longer sells the Religious Emblems workbooks and medals as a package. NCCS workbooks can be purchased through a number of sources (www.nccs-bsa.org, www.scoutstuff.org, www.praypub.org, and your local BSA Scout store). NFCYM workbooks can be purchased through a number of sources (www.praypub.org and www.nfcym.org). Catholic Religious Emblems must still be purchased from the Diocesan Catholic Committee. The cost of each medal will remain at $10. Please allow approximately 3 weeks for processing (more time will be required around Christmas so if you need materials for the first week of February please submit before Christmas).

Religious Emblems and Activities Offered in the Diocese

Youth may take advantage of a wide variety of curriculum resources and activities offered through the Diocesan Catholic Committee on Scouting. For an overview of the emblems programs which use resources developed by the National Catholic Committee on Scouting and the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry, click here.

Most of the programs and activities done in a group setting require a volunteer from the parish to be the coordinator/counselor/moderator/facilitator/mentor. The Diocesan Catholic Committee on Scouting requires those working with the religious emblems programs to obtain the pastor's approval prior to working with the program and youth. Prior to starting a program, each year the coordinator/counselor/moderator/facilitator/mentor should complete the Notice of Intent found here. This assists in program oversight and ensuring ample emblems/medals are available.

Workbooks and other resources for these programs can be found in various places (workbooks can no longer be ordered through the Committee):

  • Family of God, I Live My Faith, Mary the First Disciple, Spirit Alive, and Missio workbooks are available through the online store at the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry (http://www.nfcym.org/patches/)
  • Light of Christ, Parvuli Dei, Ad Altare Dei, and Pope Pius XII workbooks are available either through your local scout store or www.nccs-bsa.org (as well as other online suppliers).

Please note that while the workbooks should now be obtained from one of these other resources, the emblems/medals themselves can only be supplied by the Committee. 

  • To download the Guardian Angel booklet, click here.
  • Completed applications for medals for Guardian Angel, Family of God, I Live My Faith, Light of Christ, and Parvuli Dei should be submitted by the certified emblems counselor using this order form once the program has been completed. Include payment with the order form as well as the original signed application form found in the program workbook.
  • Please allow approximately 3 weeks for typical processing.  There are two times during the year where processing times will be longer than the typical 3 weeks.  If you need materials for the first week of February, please submit before Christmas.  If you need materials in early May, please submit by April 1st.  
  • The Ad Altare Dei, Pope Pius XII, Mary the First Disciple, and Spirit Alive programs require the successful completion of a Board of Review as the last step of the program. Boards of Review will be conducted at least twice each year (typically the first weekend in May and the first weekend in December). More information regarding the time and location of the Boards will be posted to this website at least a month prior to the Boards. An order form to be submitted at the Board of Review will be available on this site prior to the Boards.

Check out the resource links below for more in-depth information about the programs. After reviewing the information and the order form above, if you have further questions, please email scouting@arlingtondiocese.org.