Figure 1.--Chiro members wear a Scout-like uniform of light-colored shirt, and brown short pants.

Chiro is a youth group that is not well known outsise of Belgium. It is a youth organization with strong Catholic religious orientations. It has units with branches all over Flanders. It is now an increasingly coed group, although many activities are still single gener activities. Originally boys' and girls' units were completely separate and some groups ran their activities like camps with only one or the other at any given time.

Chiro and Scouting

Chiro is such a poorly known youth organization outside of Belgium that most observers assume that they are a Belgian Scout group. The question arises as to just how different Chiro is from Scouting. Both movement are gender-segregated to a very large extent. There are, however, substantial differences.
Chiro: Chiro is organized on a parochial basis, controlled by the Church, working class and lower middle-class in social terms. There is not a single Chiro group that’s linked to a school.
Scouts: Scouts are either based in a parish or in a school (one of these combinations of primary and secondary schools that the Belgians call "colleges" if it is denominational and "athenaeum" of ‘lyceum’ if it is not.)

Catholic Orientation

A reader writes, "You do probably already know that when you make the statement that Chiro and Scouts are one of a kind, you wouldn't get an 'indeed' from most Belgian Scouts nor from Chiro-members. Although, me and others sometimes have to ask ourselves what makes the big difference." The essential difference of course is religion. There is a clear Roman Catholic element Chiro, and Christ the King day is the big day of their year, when they have a big event in a church. Nevertheless, it does not appear to be actually run by the Church. A Belgian reader begs to disagree. Every group has a priest who is very much in charge and has a much larger say in affairs than with the VVKSM scouts. Unlike the Scout movement, Chiro has been founded within the bosom of the Church and for every single group chances are that a priest has initiated it to begin with.

Organization

Chiro is one of the largest youth movements Flanders. There are in 1999, about 1,095 local groups. Chiro counts around 100,000 members. In almost every Flemish community, Chiro is active in one or even several parishes.

Leadership

Local Chiro groups are autonomus and are guided by the youth members themselvess (17 years and older), who form the leadership team. Every Sunday afternoon the five sections (peer groups) meet in their rooms.

Diversity

The diversity of Chiro and Scout groups in part epends on the area or the school were they are based.

Religion

Religion can be a very contentious issue in many European countries. A HBC reader reports, "As a Protestant boy in a Catholic VVKSM-group I have never felt out of place nor did I feel discriminated against, on the contrary. One of our chaplains, who was also my Greek teacher, went to great lengths coaching me at home when I was ill for 6 months. The other one, being my teacher of philosophy, made it quite clear that he would require me to master the subject matter as taught according to the Catholic tradition but that he would enjoy discussing any different opinion that I would have. And at finals he examined me about subjects that we could all agree upon, then closed his book and became a sparring partner in a flashing discussion that we both enjoyed very much. So I cannot possibly think of Catholic Scouting in Belgium as "priest-ridden". In parishes were Chiro and Scouts coexist the difference is a social one. The doctor’s boy will almost invariably be a Scout. And I have heard parents say about their boy that Scouting is nothing for him "for we are working class people". I think that these differences have decreased over the past decades but they were very much in evidence even in the 1970s.

Activities

We have a limited amount of information on Chiro. We see a lot of Scout activities, but there camping and outdoor activies do not seem to be central to Ciro as they are for Scouting. Some traditional Scout activities like camping are not nearly as important to Chiro as in traditional Scouting. Because of its base in Flanders, there is a special interest in Flemish issues. We have a limited amount of information on Chiro. We see a lot of Scout activities, but there camping and outdoor activies do not seem to be central to Ciro as they are for Scouting. Some traditional Scout activities like camping are not nearly as important to Chiro as in traditional Scouting. Because of its base in Flanders, there is a special interest in Flemish issues. Chiro often participates in a variety of public social and national activities as well as religious activities. Hopefully Chiro memembers will tell us more about their activities. Chiro often participates in a variety of public social and national activities as well as religious activities. Chiro seems to come with a lot less historical or ideological "baggage" than either the Catholic or the non-Church-run Boy Scouts. Chiro boys do not always camp in tents. They sometimes stay in abandoned military barracks and even in youth hostels. There is plenty of rhetoric in their songs and in the chaplain’s sermon, and it has a distinct medieval flavour.

Orientation

The group is clearly serious, longstanding and widely-supported. Chiro web sites have a lot of information about training sessions and vetting for leaders, etc., and it is evidently all very correctly organised. Dozens of local Chiro groups have their own websites and I have only had time to look at a fraction of them.

Figure 2.--Chiro members at an outdoor event. Notice how similarly the boys wear their uniforms.

There is a reference to funding and support from the Flemish regional government, so it's obviously "politically respectable", unlike VNJ, even though the fact that it exists only in Flanders, and operates entirely in Flemish, obviously makes it somewhat Flemish-nationalist with a small N". In Belgium much funding is channeled through town councils and other local authorities, therefore much depends on who won the elections. If the Christian party are strong, both the Chiro and the VVKSM-scouts will be adequately funded. And in an area with a strong nationalist backing, even the VNJ will get their share. If the town council is socialist, neither of these groups will probably get much of a share but Chiro and possibly scouts will be able to fall back on Church funding. An HBC reaer remembers that in his group, "we were always proud of earning the money for our camps ourselves but I’ m not sure that our parents didn’t pay a large part".

A Flemish reaer believes that if you look at the charters of youth movements in Flanders each and every one will pledge its love to the Flemish Homeland and wish for the emacipation of the Flemish people. However only for VNJ and Vikingjeugd would that be the core of their business. Chiro has never put overly much stress on this issue. The VVKSM, even though they feature "Vlaams" in their very name, are even more tolerant in these matters, having within their ranks a few groups that operate in French and wear the "Walloon" uniform.

Chiro rhetoric makes a lot of the fact that it began shortly after World War II when Europe was in ruins and the Flemish identity severely battered, implying that it sees its wider role in society as being to restore heart to Flemish society by bringing diverse people together and seeking to heal earlier ideological wounds. My hunch would be that it is loosely aligned with the more progressive, less heavy-going end both of Flemish nationalism and of the Catholic church, and probably appeals to people who (or whose parents) regard the Boy Scouts as either too gender-segregated, too priest-ridden, too obsessive, too "exclusive", or too physically risky. Nevertheless, they maintain amicable relations with other youth groups and for example some of their links pages include links to local Boy Scout groups.

Nationality

HBC has only limited information on nationality at this time. Chiro appears to be primarily a Flemish youth group. Presumably Chiro was founded in Flanders. The members are drawn mostly from the Flemish Dutch speaking population of Belgium which is centered in the north of Belgium. Belgian readers point out that Chiro is not limited only to Flanders. Our Belgian reader knows of at least one Chiro-group in the German-speaking region in the East of Belgium (in a town called Eupen), and in Wallonia there are ‘les patros’ who have the same origin and spirituality as Chiro. Our Belgian reaer advises that "I wish you would not call the language spoken in Flanders "Flemish" since this only designates a number of dialects. It sounds like saying that scouting in London operates entirely in Cockney. For all practical purposes the language of Flanders is Dutch. The accent differs, but no more so than American and British English."

Historical Background

The Church in European countries Europe has been organizing youth movements very early on. In Belgium this started even before Lord Baden Powell founded Scouting in England. Parish priests formed groups which they called "patronaat" (plural: patronaten). However, late in the 19th century, some students in Flemish high schools (were teaching was compulsorily done in French only) began to be dissatisfied with the support that Church leaders lent to the State’s policy of frenchifying public life. Sympathizing teachers helped them found the first Flenish nationalist youth movements (Blauwvoeten), thus often getting themself in trouble with their superiors at the Bishopric. Many of these groups gradually lost touch with the Church altogether. They may be seen as the forerunners of present day nationalist youth movements like the VNJ. Others stayed within the framework of the Church and called themselves the Katholieke Studentenactie (KSA). They are, up to this day, the counterpart of Chiro in a limited number of denominational schools.

The Patronaten after World War II reorganized themselves and changed their name into Chiro after the Greek letters chi [X]and rho [P] that symbolize Christ. In the 1920s and 30s, a charismatic priest by name of Monsignor Jozef Cardijn founded yet another movement. He emphasized social justice for workers and called his movement KAJ or Katholieke Arbeidersjeugd (KAJ). It spilled over into Wallonia as Jeunesse Ouvrière Catholique and into the Southern provinces of Holland. The language question, that hot issue with the other groups, was more of a non-issue with the KAJ. They still exist, being called Kajotters in Holland and in Flanders. HBC does not know much about them, but I think they have never wore a uniform.

All of these movements were initiated by priests, in their function as representatives of the Church. Such was not the case with the early Scouting movement. Many of those who founded Belgian Scouting and most of its early members were Catholics, as was natural in a country that was more than 95 percent Catholic. As secularization gained momentum two Scouting movement came into being, VVKS (Catholic) later to be called VVKSM (Vlaams Verbond van Katholieke Scouts en Meisjesgidsen - Flemish League of Catholic Scouts and Girl Guides) and FOS (Federatie Open Scoutisme - the independent movement).

Summarizing Flemish Youth movements:
BNE AKIVA: religious/nationalist (zionist); single group in Antwerp
CHIRO: parochial; religious, forerunner: Patronaten
FOS: Baden Powell inspired secular Scout association; most often organize on a territorial basis;
KAJ: workers' movement, religious inspired; age shift (no cubs, boys stay on longer); forerunner: Patronaten
KSA: school-based; religious; mildly nationalist forerunner: Blauwvoeten
RODE VALKEN: socialist inspired but claim independent of Socialist and Communist Parties
VIKINGJEUGD: no link to church; heavily nationalist with racist overtones; founded ?; forerunner possibly wartime nazi movement
VNJ: territorial; no more link to church; heavily nationalist; no racial ideology; founded 1960 but ideological forerunner: Blauwvoeten
VVKSM : Baden Powell; religious; either parochial or school based; incorporating last French-speaking groups. The VVKSM is one of the two Flemish Scout grous. It was called VVKS before the Girl Guides joined.

Gender

Originally boys’ en girls’ groups were all separate. There has been a current tendency to merge them. HBC is not sure why. Presumably this is something requested by the older chilren. Perhaps obtaining funds will be easier or it may reduce overhead costs. Often groups link up under a new name but retain the old names for all practical purposes. A good example is Chiro Zwijndrecht that consists of Chiro Windekind for girls and Kristus Koning (CVhrist the King) for boys. In many groups the older boys and girls may undertake activities together, like a dance or a wine-and-cheese-party. Coed certainly is not the rule with the usual Sunday activities let alone with camping. However, being a parochial oragnization, most boys and girls know each other and many will have a brother/sister/cousin in the movement. Also, the chaplain and the parents’ committee will be the same.

Structure

Uniform

Chiro once has a very traditional uniform for its members. As the uniforms looked like a Scouting group, Chiro groups are often mistaken foe Scouts. Chiro is not, however, part of the Scouting movement.The group appears to give some attention to uniform. Notice that Chiro members wear their uniforms with considerable uniformity. The short pants are all the shorter cut and the kneesocks are all rolled down. More recently the uniform seems to have fallen out of style.

Figure 3.--Uniforms used to be an important part of European youth groups. Chirois one of the few European youth groups that still pay attention to uniforms. Most Europeans boys do not seem to like wearing uniforms.

Dark brown uniform

The traditional uniform of dark brown shirts and black shorts was common to all Chiro-boys untill some time in the 1970s. The majority changed over to a less conspicuous and in the opinion of some observers less glamourous uniform . HBU has been told that a few groups cling to the old uniform. A Belgium reader reports that he has not noticed any such groups.

Light shirt uniform

Chiro members now appaer to wear a uniform of a Scout-like kerchief, light-colored shirt, and brown short pants. The short pants are the shorter style worn before the 1970s. They weartheir socks rolled doen rather than knee length which appears to be a popular 1990s style for European youth groups with short pants uniforms.

Current uniforms

Chiro appears to have once been very serious about uniforms, but this no longer appears to be the case. On one local Chiro website I did see a (slightly desperate?) plea from the leadership for members to at least turn up in shorts of some kind, even if they didn't have the proper uniform. It was particularly stressed that the older youths acting as leaders should set a good example by wearing their uniform, and in these pictures it is often only the older ones who are wearing anything that could seriously be described as such.

There is now what they call a uniform but it is clearly not very rigidly enforced and is anyway much less elaborate than scout uniforms, consisting essentially of a red T-shirt with beige shorts--no badges, no neckerchiefs or woggles, no uniform socks or hats. The local groups seem to have their headquarters mostly at local youth clubs, and the national organisation is closely linked with a national federation of youth clubs. The activities are seen primarily as something to occupy kids on Sunday afternoon, plus going camping in tents in the country during the summer holidays - the latter, in particular, making it appear superficially similar to the scouts. Also superficially resembling scouting is the division into different age groups each with their own special names.

Although I have very little information on Chiro, there onky appears to be one single uniform. This varies from most Scout groups which tend to have different uniforms for members of different age groups. This appears to be less common in Belgium. A reader writes, "Chiro and Flemish Scouts don't have different uniforms for the various age groups. VVKSM and FOS both have one uniform, although VVKSM does have a destinctive uniform for the youngest age-group (kapoentjes). Instead of a longsleeved shirt, they wear a green sweater with the right badges on it. VVKSM-Seascouts also have a different uniforms -- a navy-blue sweater. Dutch scouts and at least one of the French associations, have different coloured uniforms for the various age-groups." [De Lobel]

Sources

De Lobel, Frederik. E-mail messages, January 9-10, 2008.