Past Recipients of the Msgr. James E. Dolan Award

This award was established to honor Msgr. James E. Dolan from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The Msgr. James E. Dolan Award honors Catholic Scouters on the Archdiocese Committee for their service as an officer and/or in committee assignments.

For most of his 49 years as a priest, Msgr. Dolan was actively involved in youth ministry. In 1928, he started the first Catholic summer camp in the diocese. Eight years later he became archdiocesan director of the Catholic Youth Organization, and for 37 years was archdiocesan director of the St. Vincent de Paul Society.

Msgr. Dolan also developed the first religious award, the "AD ALTARE DEI", a phrase from the Forty-Third Psalm, "With Joy I come to the altar of God." The first such award was presented to Boy Scout Edward Thurin on February 7, 1926. A key requirement of this program developed by Monsignor Dolan required that a Catholic First-Class Scout had to have served 100 hours as an altar boy during his tenure in Scouting. Monsignor Dolan shared his program and its accompanying award with the National Catholic Committee on Scouting and in 1939 they approved and adopted it as the Catholic Scout's religious award. This was a historic event and shortly thereafter the National Religious Relationships Committee of the Boy Scouts of America approved of the wearing of the award on a Catholic Boy Scout's uniform.