Faith helped soldier Brenton Fry through SAS training.
I am called to be a witness to the Gospel. I always had faith, although like a lot of people I went through a stage where I shut the door on God and only invited him in when I needed to. Now I recognise Him as a co-partner in my life.
When I was 13, I was diagnosed with Rheumatic fever which severely affected my ability to walk and I was in bed for two weeks. I had pain in my groin and hip joints. I shared a bedroom with my brother and decided to search amongst his things where I found a New Testament Bible.
Something drew me to read the Gospel of St John. After I finished it, I felt so good I prayed to God, “If this is how heaven feels, take me now.” Although I wouldn’t say that it was a miracle, I recovered completely.
I have been married for 26 years. All my family know there is more to life than this life. My wife Genyese is a Catholic and she impressed me with the way she lived out her faith and brought up our children Rebecca (25), Dylan (24) and Jacob (19) as Catholics.
Originally of the Uniting Church, I decided to become a Catholic too and was baptised in 1998. The women in my life: Genyese, Rebecca, my mother-in-law and grandmother, are the custodians of the faith in my family. I also feel closeness to Mary as the mother of Christ. She supported Him at the foot of the Cross when almost all the disciples were scattered to the four winds.
I am a Captain and an army chaplain with the unit 6 RAR in Brisbane. I have SAS and Commando training. Drawn by the examples of Bishops, priests and deacons I met through the army I decided to become a deacon. I was ordained in 2005 at St Joan of Arc Chapel on the Gallipoli army barracks.
I feel, being married and a deacon, I have a foot in both camps. Both can complement one another but it is important that there is a balance. My wife supports me in my decision to be a deacon but also reminds me to spend time with the family!
There have been times in my life when my faith in God has been confirmed. Once during SAS training, I was required to spend time in food and sleep deprivation. (a controlled environment and necessary part of training, preparing us for conditions that arise during real conflicts.) I started to hallucinate and remember thinking I was sitting at the front of a church.
I saw a waterfall coming out of a stained glass window, splashing into a river and all these people looking at me. Despite not knowing what was going on, I felt calm and in communion with God for the duration of the hallucination.
Another confirmation of my faith came when I was deployed to Somalia with a small attachment of other soldiers. It was my first operation. The people there were in the grip of famine and civil war. We stayed in what used to be the US Embassy which was well protected and there was no reason to be afraid.
One hot night I was sleeping on the floor with my weapon near me and had this very real sense I was going to die. It was a very powerful experience in the negative. I thought, “God, don’t let me die on this night. I am not ready to die.”
I decided to pray the Lord’s Prayer in repetition. A wave of peace came over me, forcing the fear away.
As deacon, my role is to share my faith and walk alongside the soldiers as a representative of the Church. Each of us has a gift and mine is the time I am prepared to give to God’s people. I have the enthusiasm in spreading God’s Word shared by the newly ordained and ever since ordination have had a very strong sense that I am where God wants me to be.
I don’t expect to convert others but know that some of my disappointments in the short term can become God’s victories in the long term.