“The Requirements for Rover’s Departure listed below sum up the qualities, skills, habits and acquired reflexes which a young man needs to gain official approval as” a worthy example of the “Scout Brand Product”, of which the green, yellow and red scalps constitute the outward sign.
We insist : even the most splendid young man must not be allowed to do his Rover’s Departure just because he is splendid, nor a man with the most superb qualities just because of these superb qualities, nor even a saint just because he is a saint : that’s got nothing to do with it. What is needed is scout qualities, and that’s all.
St Benoît Labre, who was known for never washing, would not have been considered suitable for Rover’s Departure, for a Rover does wash. À great scholar who is unable to run 200 metres or jump 60 centimetres would not have been allowed to do his Rover’s Departure either, even if he had won the Nobel Prize. Note, however, that this does not prevent Benoît Labre from being a saint or Mr X from being a Nobel Prize winner – and that is, of course, still something very special! But from the point of view of Rover’s Departure, they are not scouts fit to do it.
We are a bit like monks : we accept a Rule in order to gain certain qualities. No one will make it to Profession if he does not follow the Rule and has not acquired the qualities which are characteristic and significant for us.
Does anyone know a Jesuit who hates discipline? À Franciscan who wants to get rich? À Carthusian who does not want to live alone, or who is not prepared to get up in the night to chant the Office?
Anyone who has embarked on the Way accepts its Rule and works on acquiring the qualities that will make a Rover of him. In fact, all his efforts should basically be directed towards gaining these qualities. These qualities – which we call, quite simply, the Requirements for Rover’s Departure – are described in this little guide, in a simple and easily understandable fashion. And these criteria have not changed in the last fifteen years : they sum up the type of man that scouting wants to produce, in the way in which our Leaders, from Père Sevin and the Old Wolf to Père Forestier and the General Commissariat, have always described it. ”
Hasty remarks from some quarters might indicate that the Rover scout training provided by the French scout movement (“Scouts de France”) had hardly any method or structure whatsoever. This is however to ignore the very considerable work done, even during the war, by the national Rover Scout organization (“Equipe National Route”). The Commissioner at the time, Jean Foillard, sent a number of documents to the country’s crew leaders, concerning the” Quest” or Service Task, Companion training, and Rover’s Departure.
We, the Catholic Scouts of France, are committed to the revival of most of the criteria which the earlier great generations of Rover Scouts lived by. This heritage is especially precious to us since Jean Foillard warranted it, as it were, with his own life when he was shot during the bloody resistance fighting in the Vercors mountains during the summer of 1944. (The well-known French song-writer César Geoffray dedicated one of his songs to him : “Sur les chemins de France” (in english “On the Roads of France”).
Ultimately, a Rover Crew’s activities all aim at a specific goal : the Rover’s Departure, and a Rover normally spends at least three years in the Crew preparing for this event. The Crew is essential for providing the right environment for his progress, and he must share in a certain number of activities in order to learn the skills he needs to know, while also developing his reflexes and forming his character.
The end product of this specific training, then, is an adult scout of a specific type, whose habits and life style can be summed up as a “Rover Scout” , or simply “RS” for short, as on the badge that goes with this distinction.
These qualities, summed up in the “Requirements for Rover’s Departure” , thus distinguish a type of man essentially synonymous with scouting itself as it was always described by our Founders, Canon Cornette, Père Sevin, and Eduard de Macedo.
The list of requirements for Rovers Departure should not be taken as limitative in any way, and still less as just revelling in sonourous phrases. It provides a general framework which allows his Rover’s “Godfather” , Crew Leader and Chaplain to follow the Rover in his progress with constant reference to the guiding principles for his formation. It is not, however, meant to be a catalogue of forbidding examinations! It is not a question of sticking, as it were, to the the most minute details of the tiniest of questions. It should rather be considered as an essential guide to the general standard to be attained. À general standard, to be sure, but nevertheless absolutely essential!
Many Rovers may well feel absolutely terrified faced by such a list of things to learn. But many of these qualities are normally acquired already in the scout troop. The Rover who shares properly in the activities of the Crew will reach the required level if he takes full advantage of all the help his “Godfather” ( “Godfather” ) can give him, provided, of course, that the Crew activities are properly associated with scouting! (And therefore shame on any Crews where they smoke, play cards, and just sleep through Church services!)
The requirements of Rover’s Departure can be split up in groups according to the Five Aims of Scouting :
Growth in moral and intellectual strength and character
Growth in moral and intellectual strength and character
“And if you cannot find any way to God, then open one up.” (Rover Scout’s Departure)
To sum up : to acquire the qualities needed to reach his Rover’s Departure, the Rover must :
- work closely with his “Godfather” ( “Godfather” ), Crew Leader and Chaplain. This may be obvious, but it is hardly possible to lay down any absolute rules how this should be achieved.
- make sure that he leads his life according to a “Rover pattern” .
- take part in the Rover Crew’s various activities : meetings, training camps, national congresses, pilgrimages etc.
Happy Journey, brother! Go with God!
Rover Scout Departure
text of the ceremonial
Rovers Crew "Général de Sonis"
for men aged 17 and over
How to talk about the Scout Order?
Explanation of this analogical term
