Supporting
the Families of Armed Forces Personnel Supporting
the Families of Armed Forces Personnel
Suggestions
for Parishes
from the
US National Association of Catholic Family Life Ministers
Last month NACFLM asked for ideas on ministry with deployed military personnel and their families. This is what has been collected so far. If you have any new ideas to offer, please contact us. Some of these ideas will need adjusting for UK circumstances. Our thanks go to Bishop Tom Burns for his help in amending some of the text. See also the SSAFA website.
·
Conduct a weekly prayer service to pray for
peace and to pray for deployed members of the parish.
·
Maintain a book of special intentions for
military personnel and their families. Include
these names in the General Intercessions at Daily and Sunday Mass.
·
Maintain a parish master list of addresses
for military personnel stationed overseas as well as an updated list of families
here at home. Designate a parish
staff person or volunteer to drop regular notes of support from the parish to
the person who is away and maintain regular phone or person-to-person contact
with the family.
·
Have children (or adults) from the parish put
together Care packages for parishioners serving overseas.
They should be sent to the individual’s military address here in the UK
prefaced with "OP TELIC", so long as the sender knows they are
involved with the Iraq situation.
It is wise to keep such packages a reasonable size and certainly no more than 2kg
in weight.
·
Form support groups for
family members of military personnel. To
assist with this ministry, recruit parishioners who have been in similar
situations (Desert Storm, the Falklands) and are willing to be available to listen
and talk to anyone who needs support or conversation.
Announce in the bulletin – and from the pulpit – that the support
group will be available on a specific evening of the week and make sure someone
is available at that time.
·
Organize potluck gatherings of families so
that they can spend time together getting to know one another.
·
Allow children to gather together in the
school, religious education or another supervised parish setting to discuss
their concerns and worries for the deployed parent. Educational personnel should be watchful for any particular
signs of stress among these children and youth.
·
Organize a baby-sitting system for parents so
that they can have time to shop, go to the movies or just spend some quiet time.
·
Be aware that families may be experiencing
financial or other difficulties while their family member is deployed.
Can the parish connect these families with additional resources that they
might need during this time?
· Develop a team to reach out to families now that hostilities have begun in Iraq. Similarly, put together a “Crisis team” of individuals to visit families if a family member is reported as missing-in-action, wounded or killed.
·
Children and adults of the parish could also
be pen pals for military personnel stationed overseas.
The
more letters sent the better – they will be shared!
· Schedule special rosaries for peace and for the safety of military personnel.