Asociación Española Guías y Scouts de Europa

OBJECTIVES

The objective of the International Union of European Guides and Scouts - Federation of European Scouting - is clearly expressed in paragraph 1.2. of its Federal Statutes, which says that IUEGS-FES "wants to gather in a same community of faith, prayer and action the various national associations of European Guides and Scouts, to educate youth through the practice of Baden Powell's traditional scouting method, and on the basis of the Christian faith, the foundation to our European civilisation".

IUEGS-FES wants to contribute to youth's religious, moral and civic education through practising the scouting method as founded by Lord Baden Powell, and in the tradition of Catholic scouting as launched by Father Sevin, Lord di Carpegna and Professor Corbisier.

Religious references

The Federation thinks of scouting as a means of apostolate within the Church; nevertheless, it does not consider the use of the scouting method as an end in itself, but as a tool to educate true men and women, on a supernatural route to make real the Gospel's values at the service of this world.

IUEGS-FES gathers Catholic scouting associations. It sets all its actions and decisions according to the rules of this faith. However, in a spirit of oecumenical openmindedness, IUEGS-FES also welcomes other Christian associations according to the conditions defined by the Religious Directory. The intangible rule is not to gather into same units boys or girls of different religions.

In this oecumenical perspective, the use of F.E.S. rather than I.U.E.G.S. or IUEGS-FES was preferred by various associations because it was perceived as having a broader meaning for the Protestant and Orthodox member communities of the Federation.

Teaching references

All federated associations of IUEGS-FES practise traditional scouting as established by Baden Powell and interpreted in a Christian way. They fully welcome the heritage of the Catholic scouting founders: Father Jacques Sevin, Lord Mario di Carpegna, Professor Jean Corbisier. The Law, Promise, Principles, Protocol belong to this heritage.

The Charter of the natural and Christian principles of European Scouting, the Religious Directory, the Federal Statutes, define the basic ideas of the scouting method practised by the IUEGS-FES associations.

So IUEGS-FES is an educational organisation to educate youth as good Christians and good citizens, emphasizing:
· Christian education
· education of character and personality
· sense of real things and manual skills
· physical development thanks to moderation and life in the open
· sense of charity towards one another, and preparation to social and civic life

IUEGS-FES considers male scouting and female guiding as two different experiences and applications of the same educational scouting method. For reasons of educational sensitivity and in order to respect everyone's call, the associations of Guides and Scouts of Europe welcome boys and girls in distinct units, with separate activities for each gender group, even if there are common activities from time to time. So European Guides and Scouts exclude any mixing in units and, while hating artificial separations, they consider that education for boys and girls must be addressed in distinct structures. At the association level, on the contrary, they form a single organisation in spirit and management.

IUEGS-FES wishes to maintain appropriate and brotherly relationships with other scouting associations, federations or organisations, be they Catholic or not, in order to work and build together a fairer and more brotherly society according to Baden Powell's spirit, while respecting one another's unique educational project.