Our Lady of Sorrows

The Parish and the Scouts

The Parish of Bognor Regis and Slindon is an active community with around 1400 people at Mass every Sunday, along with those Catholics in our area who do not worship with us regularly. It is a very mixed community covering a wide area from high on the beautiful South Downs National Park in the North to the busy seaside resort of Bognor Regis on the South Coast with many surrounding villages in between.

Our vision is to be a community who follow Jesus who are on fire with his love, and who go out to share that love with each other and the world.

We have had links to the sea scouts for over 100 years. In more recent times we have been delighted to supply the use of the Parish Hall and the Boathouse. We are looking forward to the renovation project coming up for the boathouse.

If you are able to donate to our running cost that will be greatly appreciated.

What is the Kiro Symbol?

This symbol that can be found on the back of our scarfs at the apex and has a meaning…but do you know what it is?

We wear this symbol as a group to show we are sponsored by Our Lady of Sorrows Church…but what does it mean…

The Kiro is a symbol and not a thing.

The KIRO is made up of two characters overlaid on each other. These two characters are the Greek letters X and P.

• X is written ‘ch’ and pronounced ‘ki’
• P is written ‘rho’ and pronounced ‘row’

These two Greek letters are the first two letters of a word important to Christians. They are the first two letters of the word Prestos, which translates to the English word Christ.

History

The Kiro became a recognised symbol of Christianity in the early days of the church when Christians were persecuted by the authorities and other religions who resented this new faith.
Living in fear for their lives, the early Christians were secretive about their faith. Acts of worship would be conducted in absolute secrecy. Ownership of books and artefacts of faith would bring destruction upon their owners.

However, there was a need for Christians to be able to identify themselves to other Christians as well as recognise hidden places and religious sites. From this need developed a series of signs and symbols.

Amongst the most well-known signs is the Fish. Christ likened himself to a ‘Fisher of Men’ so it was a natural choice of symbol. Also, the Greek word Ixthus was used as a symbol as it stood for the phrase, Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour.

It was then that we find the first use of the Kiro symbol.

Development of the Kiro Symbol in Scouting

The Kiro was first introduced into scouting in 1950 and was worn by members of Catholic sponsored Scout Groups. In 1951 a badge was extended for use by overseas branches of the Scout Association.

During the 1950s the Catholic Scout Advisory Council (CSAC) in agreement with the Scout Association introduced the Kiro Training Scheme initially for the Scout section only. The Kiro scheme could run independently of or in conjunction with the then Scout Association Progressive Training Scheme.

The standard Kiro Badge worn by all Scout sections was gold on green

There were three stages to the Kiro scheme with a different coloured Kiro Badge for each stage of the programme.

• Stage 1 was gold on white
• Stage 2, gold on dark blue
• Stage 3, gold on red

Later the Kiro scheme was extended to the Wolf Cub section with single stage. green on yellow. Kiro Badge.

The original Kiro Badges were rectangular in shape, but in 1967 they changed to a diamond shape and an additional Kiro Badge, gold on brown was introduced for Venture Scouts.

In 1991 with the introduction of the new Scout Progressive Training Scheme the Kiro scheme came to an end. However, a great deal of the Kiro scheme material was used for the new Faith Badges in consultation with our late National Catholic Scout Chaplain Fr. John Seddon (RIP).

The gold on green Kiro Badge is still worn by Catholic Scouts of all ages to proclaim their Christianity and Christ’s continued presence in the world today and in recognition of our Scout Promise of Duty to God.

In line with the 2007 changes to the Scout Association policy the CASC became the National Catholic Scout Fellowship (NCSF) and further changes in 2011 saw the introduction of Scout Active Support Units (SASU) with all of the other National Faith Groups being allowed to maintain the title Fellowship.