NARROWSBURG, N.Y. — Once a scout, always a scout.

The memory of the late Rev. Bartholomew “Barry” Frazzitta — who served in the Diocese of Brooklyn for nearly 50 years and was a chaplain to the Boy Scouts of America — will live on for years to come, thanks to the Ten Mile River Scout Camps Museum.

Individuals, groups, and organizations — including many associated with the Catholic Committee on Scouting — are typically recognized at the facility for their contributions to the Ten Mile River Scout Camps and New York City scouting. 

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Museum staff, current scouts, and camp alumni honor such commitments to the Scout oath and law with dedicated engraved plaques installed outside the museum.

This year, six plaques — including one of Father Frazzitta — will be unveiled during the annual Wall of Fame induction ceremony at the 2021 TMR alumni reunion on August 7.

Father Frazzitta, who passed away at age 71 in 2006, was a lifelong Boy Scout and was ordained a priest when he was 21 years old. The Brooklyn native earned numerous awards and badges throughout his lifetime including the Silver Beaver Award for service within his council, the St. George Emblem in 1983 for significant and outstanding contributions to the spiritual development of Catholic youth in scouting, and the Bronze Pelican Award for giving “unselfish service” to Catholic scouting for at least three years.

He served as the Boy Scouts’ activities chairman for Queens, associate lodge adviser for Suanhacky Lodge at Ten Mile River Camp, and was the first chaplain of Cub World. Father Frazzitta also served as a reservation chaplain at Ten Mile River from 1979 to 1995 — the last Catholic priest to serve in that capacity.

In the Diocese of Brooklyn, Father Frazzitta served at St. Margaret’s in Middle Village from 1959 to 1961, St. Frances de Chantal in Borough Park from 1961 to 1966, St. Martin of Tours in Bushwick from 1966 to 1967, Our Lady of the Angelus in Rego Park from 1967 to 1969, and St. Blaise in East Flatbush, from 1969 to 1972.

From 1975 to 1996, he served as a hospital chaplain at Brooklyn Hospital and with Catholic Charities’ Pastoral Care for the Sick. He later ministered at Our Lady of Grace in Gravesend, Our Lady of Solace in Coney Island, and St. Joan of Arc in Jackson Heights between 1996 and 2006, the year he retired.

David Malatzky, co-director of the Ten Mile River Scout Museum, knew of Father Frazzitta and believes the late priest “deserves a great deal of credit” 15 years after his passing.

“He was highly respected within New York City scouting,” Malatzky said. “He took on, what I would characterize as, more civilian responsibilities in local Queens scouting while he served as a full-fledged priest.”

“I think that’s huge,” he continued, “and I think that’s what’s unusual about him.”

Ira Nagel, the other museum co-director who has worked at the Ten Mile River Scout Camps for the last 45 years, had a great friendship with Father Frazzitta. He recalled speaking to the priest a week before his passing.

“We worked together at Camp Kunatah at the Ten Mile River Scout Reservation for many summers,” Nagel said. “We used to have lunch and dinner together, and he was very positive and very friendly.”

“There was always continuity between the scouts and the leaders [through] him,” Nagel added. “I miss him greatly.”