Hungarian Catholic Mission

Scouts

The Hungarian Scouting program was founded in 1910. Over the next 38 years, the Hungarian Scouts had branch offices throughout Hungary. Unfortunately in 1948, this program was abolished by the communists. After World War II, Hungarian Scouting began operating in Displaced Persons (DP) camps in Germany and Austria as the Paul Teleki Scout Association. In 1948 the organization was renamed Hungarian Scout Association. Hungarians in the West kept the prohibited youth move-ment alive and active. In 1950, the first troops were founded in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Caracas, Venezuela. Over the next decade, additional Hungarian Scouting programs were established in the United States, Canada, and Australia. The Hungarian Scouting Program grew from about 1,000 members in the early 1950's to over 6,000 members in the late seventies. Today, over 4,500 Hungarian scouts are active in 70 troops in Western Europe, Australia, South and North America.

In the United States, there are Boys and Girl Scout troops in most cities with substantial Hungarian populations. They are closely affiliated with Hungarian weekend schools. The Association maintains an excellent leader-training program for patrol leaders, assistant scoutmasters and scoutmasters for girl guides, boy scouts and cub scouts. The work of the Hungarian scouts is based on their obligation to God, their adopted countries, their fellowmen and the Hungarian Nation.

In 1989, after the fall of the iron curtain, Hungarian Scouting was again legalized in Hungary. The Association’s original seal was returned to the newly formed Hungarian Scout Association. The Hungarian Scout Association abroad has close ties with the Hungarian Scout Associations in Hungary. Since the advent of democracy (1988), the Association abroad has trained almost 500 scoutmasters and assistant scoutmasters for these brother associations. Over $350,000 was raised to support the operations of the training camps in the United States, Austria and several countries in the Carpathian Basin. Funding also provided electronic equipment and funds to purchase land and equipment for scout leader training camps in other countries with active Hungarian Scout Troops.

The Hungarian Scouting Association in the San Francisco Bay area was founded in 1969 by the Hungarian House of San Francisco. They established the number 77 Béri Balogh Ádám (boys) and the N.43 Lósárdy Zsuzsánna (girls) troops. Initially, the boys and girls scouts met at the Hungarian House or Pannonia Club in San Francisco. In 1972, the Scout troops organized the Hungarian school. Through the help of Father József Jankovszky, the Scouts received permission to held scout meetings at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park. The Hungarian Scouts Program was so successful that it organized the first Hungarian Scouts Ball in the Mira Vista Country Club. Since then, the annually repeated Scouts Ball is a popular social event in the San Francisco Bay area. The Scout team’s main objectives from the beginning were to keep the Hungarian Scouting traditions alive, which remains to this day.

In 1984 the two scouts groups celebrated 15 years of existence. On this year, thanks to Benedictine Fathers, the troops moved to the Woodside Priory and held all their meeting and activities since. In 1990, a decision was made to move scout meetings from Saturday to Sunday. This served a great purpose, to bring the Scouts and Parents together and attend Sunday’s Mass, immediately followed by the Hungarian School and Scouts gathering. For more formation about the Hungarian Scouts, please visit sfcserkesz.com.




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