I hear this from military retirees all the time… They keep asking me, “Why are there so few people attending Mass on Base? We used to have multiple Masses every weekend, and they were all packed!” Just like a typical parish, an on-base military community faces similar issues of trying to serve and encourage people to live a life of discipleship. Nonetheless, military life has its unique set of challenges that a civilian parish does not have to deal with daily. Even though I still do not have a perfect answer on how to empower people and get them to be more involved and committed to their life of faith, I have learned some things along the way that I would like to share in this reflection.
First, let us admit that I think this is a complex, multi-layered issue (in a pluralistic environment with a low number of priests) that requires an intentional, creative, and pastoral response. It does get demanding and challenging because we have so many things that are asked of us to fulfill as chaplains AND priests. However, I have observed and learned something:
- Low(er) worship attendance is not particular to Catholics — on base or off base. The pandemic did not help those who developed other priorities and habits. They have not returned. Therefore, do not be only focused on quantifiable numbers but on the qualitative formation of the people. It is better to build a better quality community than those who come and go.
- Care for Catholics has to go beyond the sacraments. If people only come for the Mass and the sacraments, they will soon find closer parishes that can provide better options and responses to their sacramental needs. Of course, we have limited resources and volunteers in comparison to typical civilian parishes, but priests have to learn to care for their people beyond the typical sacramental aspects of worship.
- Pastoral care of people is important, especially for military personnel and their families, because they share a different way of life, set of challenges, perspective, and culture than their civilian counterparts. Military priests will have to try to care for their people as pastors — not just as sacramental ministers. Of course, we will never be able to do everything and see everyone; however, we need to at least try, or else people will find others who can care for them.
- Community, catechesis, and service have to be intentional and high priorities so people can see one another outside of Mass and the sacraments, instilling in them a sense of belonging and purpose, inviting them to give back to the greater community, and forming them in a better understanding of their faith.
- Effective communication and empowerment of community leaders with personal and communal vision and mission are important so they can understand, collaborate, invite, and empower others toward a life of discipleship and stewardship. This is crucial in consideration of the constant changes and transitions in military life.
Of course, this is just my personal approach as a former parish priest and a current military chaplain. I do not have a perfect answer and struggle to retain, encourage, and empower my people at the Base to build community, be engaged, and desire to serve others. I know that our professional and military demands often get the best out of us because we are called to serve the units that we are assigned to care for, too, and there is only so much time in a day and so many days in a week. Some priests have learned to adapt to the military way of life to become officers and chaplains at the cost of being pastors and priests for their people. I am not saying that they should choose an either/or approach, but it is indeed a delicate balance in how to care for others as their chaplains and Catholics as their priests.
It gets hard at times, especially being pulled all over the place, trying to be both a chaplain with unit engagement and care while making time to be a priest to our Catholic faithful, too. However, it is important that we never give up and do our best to sow the seeds of the Gospel and allow the Lord of the harvest to bring things to completion according to His own time. If we do our best to build foundations and set up pillars for the future, others can continue to build upon them and bring their own gifts to enrich the Kingdom. Therefore, let us not lose heart but do our best to care, engage, and serve as brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.
By casting the net, planting the seeds, and pastoring the flock, priests are called to teach, encourage, empower, and assist their community to live the life of discipleship in both personal and communal ways. We are one family of faith with many different members from different walks of life. However, we are called to a deeper sense of communion, to truly care, serve, and pray for one another, even if it means to will to love each other when times get tough and challenging. True Christian friendship is possible and nurtured by our communal faith as the Church because it is drawn, nourished, and sought by those who want to embrace some quality of holiness or virtue with and for one another. As friends, brothers, and sisters in Christ, we are called to go through life, encouraging each other in holiness, fraternally correcting in love, and respecting one another’s company.
We are called to live not in a nostalgic past of what the Church used to be or should be, treating her like an institutional part of life but with no real connection to her mission or purpose. We need to be intentional missionaries and witnesses by embracing the Church‘s call to conversion, invigorating and believing more in the need for communion and care for one another. We can no longer choose to just let ourselves be drifted away from the faith, even if we have never been a part of the local church’s mission and life, yet wanting our childhood parishes and local faith communities to stay open at all costs. Faith requires real action and commitment from each and every one of us!
We are the Church that has both a mission and identity. That means we are not just a gathering place or a social, bureaucratic institution. We are called to be disciples, receiving what has been handed on to us and discerning how to evangelize and make known the Gospel message here and how. We do this through a committed and deepened habit of prayer and adoration, honoring the struggles of those who have gone before us to help us have the freedom of worship here and now, avoiding entitlement and privilege, and truly embrace the personal love of the truth and holiness. We are strong when we are focused and trust in one another; we lose sight of our true mission and communion with one another, hence divided and weak because we are too worried about our particular likings or agendas. We are the Church because we have been saved and redeemed by Jesus Christ, called together to love and help one another achieve holiness by loving another and the Lord through acts of genuine, reciprocal sacrifice and service.
When we reach out to care for, embrace, and serve one another, we in turn receive and encounter the Lord who is present in each encounter. Charity has the power to open the gates to heaven because it is a living act of faith! What we have received at the Eucharistic altar is shared and given in everyday, intentional, and willing acts of service. This is what makes us the Church, the sacramental living of faith, so that what we have received at Mass and the sacraments is shared and enlivened. Despite our differences, the challenges of this world, our flaws and failures, our friendship and care for one another sanctify our imperfections and give us the foretaste of heaven by learning how to embrace each other in Christ-centered peace.
We change the world by making our Church and families, especially our relationships and communion with one another, counter-cultural through the intentional acts of self-giving love and sacrificial willingness to embrace the good of the others. In the midst of many things that try to pull us apart and lock each and every one of us within our own self-centered worries and reservations, the Church is present to us as a family of faith. She is a reminder that we are not alone, and we are called to walk with one another in this mysterious (but grace-filled) journey of faith together. Therefore, let us will and desire to give ourselves in being the Church to be one of intentional discipleship, as well as faith-centered, community-oriented, and service-motivated love, so that we can truly be called His disciples in loving Him through our care of one another.