By Father Garrett Braun
From Fields Afar
Many times, I’ve heard priests striving to awaken greater ownership among the faithful in their parishes with the explanation: “Priests, we come and go … this isn’t my parish, it’s your parish!” In fact, I’ve said these lines myself, and in most respects, I do find them to be a helpful distinction about parish life. This sentiment may be not only an eye-opener for the laity, but also serves as a good reminder for priests that the parish was up and running before we got there and will continue to go on without us. This idea — that the parish belongs to the faithful while priests rotate in and out — all seemed nice and neat, but my current circumstances are making me wonder if a new perspective is in order.
I am currently assigned as the Catholic Chaplain at Aviano Air Base for another two or three years. Either way, this will be even shorter than my one and only previous assignment in the diocese — four years as associate pastor at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Vincennes and St. Philip Neri Parish in Bicknell. Despite the brevity of time as pastor of the Aviano base parish, however, the community will be just as in flux as their priest. With assignments that typically last from 2-4 years, we estimate a 30 percent parishioner turnover rate every year! Although many of these moves take place in the summer, some folks PCS (permanent change of station) throughout the year. Additionally, there is a constant flow of service members deployed, on TDY (temporary duty), or simply taking leave. Ironically, an ever-changing community is one of the only constants a military base chapel parish can count on. This constant turnover of both priest and faithful begs the question: Whose parish is it anyway?
At a higher level, we find even more claims to ownership of the Church. We describe Mary as the Mother of the Church, whom, thanks to Pope Francis, we always celebrate the Monday after Pentecost. Several times St. Paul describes the Church as both the Body of Christ (Colossians 1:24, Ephesians 1:22-23, Romans 12:4-5) but also as the Bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:32, 2 Corinthians 11:2) — implying Christ’s bodily and spousal authority over the Church, respectively. At the same time, Jesus is always obedient to his Mom (John 2:1-12), and yet everything he has was handed over to him by the Father (Matthew 11:27). All to say that the Church, and each of our parishes, is always in good hands. The whole world is in his hands! Mary Mother of the Church … pray for us!
Father Garrett Braun is currently on a temporary release to the Archdiocese for the Military Services to fulfill his five-year minimum commitment as an active duty chaplain in the United States Air Force. He will share monthly reflections through this column. He can be reached at gbraun@evdio.org.