HELP KEEP THE FAITH

For a variety of reasons, the number of Catholic Chaplains in the Australian Defence Force is diminishing alarmingly. By contrast the number of members of the ADF who self-declare themselves to be Catholic has increased. In simple terms we have more sheep but fewer shepherds.

While this is not a unique experience in the Church in Australia, the special circumstances of life in the ADF demand a spiritual care that requires, in the words of the Second Vatican Council, “extraordinary consideration”. Constant effort continues to be made to identify, attract and gain suitably qualified priests from the Bishops of Australia, but the number of Catholic Chaplains has now reached the level where we may be defined as being in severe crisis.

One response is clearly to ‘home grow’ our own clergy (priests and deacons). We have had some success in doing that—we have already four Permanent Deacons who have served as full-time Catholic Chaplains. Time and age waits for noone and of those four only one is serving in a fulltime capacity. We have another Deacon who is completing his pastoral formation this year. We have another candidate for diaconate who is midway through his academic formation. We have a priest—the first one ordained for our Diocese— who is completing his pastoral formation this year. We have a seminarian who began his studies for the priesthood this year. The fact is that, while these are signs of great blessing for us, these numbers do not compensate for those who will have to age retire or whose term of loan from other Dioceses expires. By itself then, this response is not enough.

Another response is to provide opportunities for formation for the members of our Diocese. In this way they can be energised and encouraged to fulfil their Baptismal calling to be witnesses to Jesus in their own environment. Deacon Gary Stone has been conducting a pilot programme which will academically and spiritually prepare volunteers to a degree where they can be confident about their Catholic faith and be able to be a point of contact and a focus of spiritual life in the units where they are posted.

Yet another response is to give serious consideration and study to a proposal that may see the introduction of Pastoral Associates as Catholic Chaplains.

 Our ‘Help Keep the Faith in the Forces’ appeal is absolutely vital to our efforts in these areas. The campaign has two fronts that are inseparable— one is a concerted effort at daily prayer deliberately focussed on our need for vocations and the other is to raise the necessary financial means to support the training of priests and deacons and to resource the lay formation programme. That is why every appeal ‘pack’ contains the prayer card and the donation request. In establishing the appeal the Diocesan Finance Council proposed that it would be an ongoing activity with invitations to contribute marked by the celebration of our Patronal Feast—Mary, Help of Christians—on 24th May each year.

Clearly the prayer aspect of the appeal is working as is evidenced by the entry of a candidate for the priesthood to the seminary this year and by the growing interest and participation in the lay formation programme.

The financial aspect is also working as since the appeal was launched on All Saints Day last year it has raised about $40,000. All gifts are deeply treasured—we have received amounts ranging from $5:00 to $10,000:00. Most are fromindividuals and some have come in from groups including the Knights of the Southern Cross and the Catenian Association.