November 23, 2007

QUEENS, New York – Nearly 100 scouts, their leaders and parents, spent the day hiking for different churches in the South Richmond Hill and South Ozone Park communities of Queens today. They were on the eighth annual Ten Commandments Hike sponsored by the Queens Federation of Churches and its Committee on Scouting and Youth Ministry. The participants represented more than a dozen different scout troops and packs in Queens.

Churches of different denominations and nationalities each opened their doors on this day after Thanksgiving while their clergy spent time telling the scouts about one of the Commandments which form the basis of the world moral code. They also responded to questions about the Commandment and about their particular church and its traditions.

The congregations which participated this year included

• Agape Seventh-day Adventist Church

• All Filipino Church

• Church of the Nazarene

• First South Asian Church

• Our Lady of Perpetual Help Roman Catholic Church

• Roca del los Siglos

• St. Benedict Joseph Labre Roman Catholic Church

• St. James-St. Matthew's Evan. Lutheran Church

• United Methodist Church of Richmond Hill

This year's Ten Commandments Hike was co-chaired by Herb Brown and Bill Goirn.

The Queens Federation of Churches is the ecumenical council of Christian churches in Queens. Over 390 congregations participate in its ministry which begin in 1931.

The Federation's Committee on Scouting and Youth Ministry annually recognizes adult leaders in Scouting with the Shepherd Emblem award and the Interfaith Leadership Award. It promotes religious programs in Scouting and recognizes youth who have earned religious awards and merit badges at an annual luncheon each Spring.

The Ten Commandments Hike began in Queens in 1999 and has moved to a different set of neighborhoods each year.

Queens Federation of Churches