Missouri Catholics in cookie crisis as archbishop questions Girl Scout values

St Louis religious leader Robert Carlson pens letter raising concern over group’s
support for contraception, abortion and role models like Gloria Steinem

Ed Pilkington in New York
Tuesday 23 February 2016 11.00 GMT

Spare a thought for the Catholics of St Louis, Missouri, weighed down as they are with ponderous spiritual matters. On top of such weighty issues as the pope’s recent call for an end to the death penalty – a popular pastime in Missouri – they must now wrestle with a new moral conundrum: Girl Scout cookies.

The ethical dilemma is put pithily on the website of the archdiocese of St Louis under the headline: “Can I still buy Girl Scout cookies?” The equally punchy answer states: “Each person must act in accord with their conscience.”

The spiritual crisis over the selling of Thin Mints, Trefoils and Do-si-dos on Catholic premises has been triggered by the archbishop of St Louis, Robert Carlson. In a letter circulated to the region’s priests and scout leaders, he questions whether the Girl Scout movement is spiritually in line with the teachings of the Catholic church.

In the letter, he questions whether Girl Scouts USA, the nationwide network with more than two million young female members, and its parent body, the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, should be entrusted with the spiritual formation of its charges given the groups’ support for contraception and abortion. He also accuses them of promoting inappropriate role models such as the feminist writers Gloria Steinem and the late Betty Friedan, and of forging partnerships with human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Oxfam that advocate reproductive rights.

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