The International Union of the Guides and Scouts of Europe - Federation of Scouts of Europe (Union Internationale des Guides et Scouts d’Europe, UIGSE; also known as ''Union Internationale des Guides et Scouts d'Europe – Fédération du Scoutisme Européen'', UISGE-FSE, or simply as ''Fédération du Scoutisme Européen'', FSE) is a traditional faith-based

Scouting Scouting or the Scout Movement is a youth social movement, movement which became popularly established in the first decade of the twentieth century. It follows the Scout method of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activi ...

organization with 73 member associations in 17

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an countries and also in the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

, serving roughly 73,000 members. The organization, headquartered in France, was founded in 1956 by a group of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

and French

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Scoutmasters as a faith-based Scouting movement, in order to reconcile the European peoples in the aftermath of the Second World War.

History

The Catholic Scouting tradition was started by Father Jacques Sevin, Count Mario di Carpegna, professor Jean Corbisier and others. The Federation of Scouts of Europe (FSE) was founded in Europe in 1956 as a European Catholic Scouting organization in Cologne, Germany. From 1962 to 1968 under the direction of Perig and Lizig Géraud-Keraod, the FSE revised the association's constitution, drafted the Charter of the Natural and Christian Principles of European Scouting and drafted a new federal statute. The statute adopted its current name and acknowledged its "belonging to the Catholic Church". In 2003, the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

's Pontifical Council for the Laity granted the organization five year recognition status as a Private International Association of Faithful of Pontifical Right, and, in 2008, it granted the organization a Decree of recognition. In 1978, the

Confederation of European Scouts The Confederation of European Scouts, called in French language, French and abbreviated as CES, was formed in Brussels, Belgium, on 12 November 1978 and is still based in Belgium. CES stresses the European dimension of the Scouting programme and ...

(CES) split from the UIGSE. It left after controversies about the importance of religious elements in the national associations' programs and

co-education Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

Governance

The UIGSE governing organization include a federal council, a federal bureau and a federal commission. The federal council is made up of member associations representatives and meets yearly to make changes in the programs and the guidelines, determining addition or expulsion of member associations, adopt the organization budget and appointment of federal bureau members and other committees or working groups. The federal bureau consists of the president, the vice president, and the secretary of the federal council plus the federal commissioner. Consultative voting members of the bureau are the spiritual advisor (ecclesiastical assistant) and the deputy commissioners. General management is handled by the bureau. The commission is the day-to-day management of the organization headed by the federal commissioner. The organization publishes ''Nouvelles de notre Fraternité'', a quarterly newsletter and ''Lettre aux Commissaires généraux'', a quarterly liaison newsletter.

Member organizations

Member organizations are required to be Roman Catholic, but may accept Scouts and Guides from different Christian backgrounds. Associations of other churches or ecclesial communities may be accepted by the UIGSE-FSE council as associate members. Both boys and girls can be members of the local gropups, but are strictly separated in all age groups, with some exceptions. (Source
UIGSE-FSE
8 January 2025)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Non-aligned Scouting organizations International Scouting organizations Youth organizations established in 1956 Catholic youth organizations Youth organizations based in Europe 1956 establishments in France Seine-et-Marne Child-related organizations in France International associations of the faithful

History

Governance

Member organizations

See also

References

External links