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Ask the Chairman - What BSA membership is necessary for OA membership?

        Ask the Chairman

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Q. Ray,
As the membership record keeper of my lodge I have been asked what BSA registration is necessary to maintain membership in the OA. In conversations with advisers from other lodges, one of them had the opinion that OA membership required an actual PAID membership in the BSA, and as such being a merit badge counselor would not count because they don't charge you to be a merit badge counselor. The Guide for Officers and Advisers is entirely ambiguous on this matter:

The membership records section states:

"All lodge members must be registered members of the Boy Scouts of America."

The membership requirements section states:

"All members of, or candidates for membership in, the Order of the Arrow who are 21 years of age or older and who are registered members of the Boy Scouts of America shall be considered adult members or candidates for adult membership."

A literal reading of that would imply that merit badge counselors qualify, as they are actually registered, but it doesn't explicitly spell it out. Might you be able to sort this out for us?

Thanks,
Dave

A. Dave,
Thank you for bringing this question to my attention. If the answer has you all perplexed, certainly others, too wonder how best to address these kinds of situations.

Since you have asked for an “official” answer, here goes: The official answer is that members of a lodge must have a currently paid BSA membership. Merit badge counselors are not considered to be members of the BSA. The only thing the distinction means is that they are a registered merit badge counselor and have completed a background check.

We will endeavor to tighten up the language in the Guide to Officers and Advisers next time we publish it to be sure we address this issue squarely.

Ray