BRISBANE-based military chaplain Deacon Gary Stone has urged all parishes to remember Australian soldiers on active duty during their Prayers of the Faithful at Mass.
Deacon Stone, who presided over and gave a homily on Friday (September 3) at the funeral at St Peter Chanel Church, The Gap, for Brisbane father of two, Private Grant Kirby, said this was one way in which Catholics could show their solidarity with these soldiers and their families.
“This is particularly the case for those families whose men are on active duty in Afghanistan,” Deacon Stone said. “Given most of these soldiers and their families live within about a 10-kilometre radius of the Enoggera army base (in Brisbane), they will be part of quite a few parishes in the archdiocese.
“Parishes with clusters of military personnel include Grovely, The Gap, Ashgrove, Dorrington as well as Bulimba, Bray Park and Bracken Ridge.”
Private Kirby’s funeral had added significance as the soldier’s wife Edwina had once gone to school with Deacon Stone’s children.
“Grant and his wife are the same age as my own children – they were St Peter Chanel parishioners and married long before he joined the army.
“Their children now go to school with my grandchild at The Gap.”
Private Kirby, 35, from the 6th Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment, was killed in action on August 20 when an Improvised Explosive Device detonated while he was conducting an overwatch task in the Baluchi Valley, Afghanistan.
Another Brisbane soldier Private Tomas Dale, 21, was killed in the same incident.
The bodies of the men were met at RAAF Base Amberley in a ceremony on August 27.
The incident came a week after SAS Trooper Jason Brown was killed in a gun battle in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province.
Deacon Stone said he would be supporting the Kirby family as they came to terms with their great loss.
“I’ll be fulfilling the classic role of deacon in giving this support,” he said. “It will be a long-term ministry to help them with the ongoing effects of what is a crisis death.”
The Communion hymn at Private Kirby’s funeral We Are Companions on the Journey captured the nature of this ministry, Deacon Stone said.
The archdiocese’s ministry team to the military has three deacons – Gary Stone, Graeme Ramsden and Peter Devenish-Meares – and airforce chaplain Fr Pat Woods, who is located at RAAF Base Amberley.
Deacon Stone ministers as a part-time army chaplain so is fully aware of the stresses military families are facing as the war in Afghanistan enters a challenging phase.
A total of 21 Australian soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001 and 147 soldiers wounded as a result of combat.
“Despite these latest soldiers’ deaths, the troops and their families have to soldier on,” the deacon said.
“Large numbers of Brisbane soldiers are fighting in Afghanistan.
“The families know the Taliban are actively trying to kill our men, so there’s a high level of anxiety and anticipation around the safety of those soldiers as they continue their mission.”
Deacon Stone has personal experience of such anxiety with both of his sons on active service.
Also as an army chaplain, he’s intimately involved in the preparation of soldiers to go on operations in Afghanistan and East Timor.
He is preparing several hundred Bris-bane army reservists to leave for Timor in October as part of a stabilisation force there.
Among these men will be his son Lieutenant Paul Stone who will work as a liaison officer.
His other son Major Michael Stone works as military advisor to East Timor-ese President Jose Ramos Horta as part of Australia’s peace mission there.
Deacon Stone said, despite the concerns for the wellbeing of the troops abroad, soldiers returning from Afghanistan spoke to him of the importance of their mission.
“Without exception these men have said they are convinced they are helping to bring peace and security to the ordinary people of Afghanistan.”
He said sometimes people also need to be reminded “these men are only in these often dangerous situations because their government has sent them”.
“Bi-partisan government support for the Afghanistan mission also shows a strong belief in the operation’s importance,” he said. “I’m also absolutely delighted that the Government and defence force have gone to so much trouble to honour these men who have lost their lives.
“It is so important for the people of Australia to also acknowledge the courage Grant and others have shown in giving their lives for others.
“That’s why I’m inviting all parishes in the archdiocese to keep the soldiers from Brisbane in their prayers over the next few weeks.
“To have this as an intention in the Prayers of the Faithful would be great.”
