Description: This program gathers young adults to reflect upon the ways that they might be in solidarity with members of the military, and their families, as they return home from serving overseas.
Get Ready
- Prep Time: A core team should begin planning several weeks to a couple months in advance. (Beginning earlier will make it easier to secure the preferred speaker.) This event can be planned in two or three two-hour meetings.
- Volunteers Needed: One volunteer is necessary to greet the speaker and serve as the emcee. Volunteers are needed to provide hospitality, set up the space, and clean up. Volunteers are also needed to facilitate discussion. The number of volunteers depends on the number of participants expected.
- Ideal Group Size: 10-40
- Ideal Time for this Event: Weekday evening
- Who is this for? All young adults, single and married, as well as veterans of all wars, who likely serve as the best listeners.
- Supplies Needed: Outline for reflection and follow-up action steps; nametags; pens; copies of any articles you might read (optional — see Recommends section for suggestions); chart paper, easel, and markers; prayer table with, minimally, a cloth, Bible, and candle.
- Reserve the Space: A meeting space set up with chairs for participants and an appropriate area for a speaker. A parish hall would work well. Be sure the sound system is adequate.
Publicize the Program
- Sample wording to use in publicity: Faith communities play a critical role in offering hope, prayer, reconciliation, and a place to listen authentically to stories shared. Join us as we begin to explore ways to be in solidarity with veterans and their families that meet their particular needs and strives to welcome them home.
Prayer for Program Planner: In the tender compassion of our Lord, The dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness And the shadow of death, And to guide our feet into the way of peace. — From the Canticle of Zechariah
Community Building: This gathering is designed to help participants realize the challenges that men and women in the military, and their families, experience as they cope with returning home from deployment, separate from the military, and attempt to reintegrate into daily life in our neighborhoods and parishes. Of particular note are those who serve or have served in the National Guard or the Reserves since their support may not be as close to those that live near active military installations. The intention is to consider ways that participants can create healthy, safe, and welcoming environments for stories to be shared and for the men and women who were activated to be welcomed back home in ways that encourage them through prayer, reconciliation, and accompaniment.
Make It Happen
- The core planning team should gather to plan and promote the “Welcoming Veterans Home” session and choose an article or two from suggestions in the Recommends section below for a focus of the session.
- This core team will prepare the gathering with reflections on these articles or seek a keynote speaker such as a VA chaplain, military chaplain, or professional serving veterans upon their return. Use the “Welcoming Veterans Home Planning Resource” PDF in the Recommends section to prepare you for leading the reflections on your own.
- This session should be planned for 90 minutes.
- The day of the event, arrive early to set up the space, greet the speaker and participants. Set up any refreshments. Check the sound system. Organize supplies.
- The core team will welcome the group and begin with a prayer (see the Veteran’s Prayer in the Recommends section below).
- After the prayer the leader will say in these or similar words: “Thank you for joining us tonight. Many parishes pray for those in the military and those who have deployed. Some even put up pictures of those who have deployed. Not many parishes, however, consider the challenges that men and women in the military and their families face when they return home. They might have physical wounds we can see or psychological wounds and even spiritual wounds that we cannot see. The experience of war and hypervigilance is hard to let go of. We ask our soldiers to go into these difficult experiences but when they return we are not always so willing to hear about what they endured. Tonight’s session is designed to open our eyes and hearts a bit as we reflect upon ways that we might better welcome our veterans back home.”
- A leader will encourage the group to read together one of the articles (i.e., “Hidden Wounds,” or something from the “Brining Vets Home” issue of Health Progress) or introduce a keynote speaker to talk about ways that volunteers from parishes can assist in welcoming wounded warriors home.
- The core team and/or volunteers can facilitate a small group discussion based on the article or presentation with the following questions:
- What did you hear that was new?
- What are some ways that we could listen better to veterans?
- What are areas of support in our community that already exist?
- In what ways might we serve the veterans in our community?
- Do we know of veterans in our community now — what needs might they express before we move forward? How do we reach out to them?
- As a large group, you may wish to determine some concrete next steps. Record them on chart paper.
- Conclude with prayer (see the Recommends section).
