President’s Letter August 2023

Dear Friends and Colleagues

I firstly want to acknowledge the work of our colleagues in St Louis as they prepare for our conference in October.  Now is the time to book as we gather to learn and share together.

We have also had the Board meet with our colleagues in Frankfurt and plans are well advanced for the conference in 2024.  As yet we don’t have an offer for 2025 so if you are interested in hosting please let us know.  We are open as costs increase to consider an online conference in 2025 and then a face to face in 2026.  Please let us know your thoughts.

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News from our chaplaincies

* Brothers and sisters:

It is with great sadness I inform you that Deacon Ben Wenning of St Gabriel Parish in Charlotte recently passed away.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Deacon Ben was married to the love of his life, Dorothy (Dot) Wenning, for 66 years. He was a faithful servant of the Lord and his people.

He served in the US Navy and belonged to the volunteer fire departments when living in New Jersey and Virginia. He and Dot moved to Charlotte and Deacon Ben was second in charge of air traffic controllers at Charlotte Douglas Airport. He was ordained as a permanent deacon in the diocese in 1988 and was the first deacon assigned to Airport Chaplaincy at the Charlotte Airport. He also served as Director of Deacons for the diocese. At St Gabriel Parish he taught RCIA, worked in Marriage Encounter and served many other ministries over the years – truly a “deacon’s deacon.” A mentor and kind friend to many. Deacon Ben loved his family dearly and leaves behind many children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. 

Please keep Dot and all the family in your prayers for consolation and peace.

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President’s letter May 2023

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I wanted to get this newsletter out to you as some have been asking about information for this year’s conference.  We hope to start taking registrations early in June and information is included in this newsletter.  This year we will using Eventbrite to register and take payments at the same time.  I want to thank the team at St Louis for their hard work and I can assure you we will be in for a great time.

I do want to remind you all that as part of the application process you will need to acknowledge that you have taken out appropriate travel insurance.  We will also ask people to acknowledge that they will take care of their own health and not attend sessions if they feel unwell.

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Research Project

General characteristics of airport chaplaincy

Researcher’s Introduction

My name is Jilke Veldman and I am a student at the University of Humanistic Studies in Utrecht. I am writing my MA thesis on airport chaplaincy.

The topic of my research is the motivation to become a chaplain at an (international) airport and the ways airport chaplains conduct their work, including how they contact people in need, both travellers and airport personnel, on and around airports, and the support or counselling they provide. This research will provide insight into the use and different forms of presence by airport chaplains.

Your participation is requested because of your experience as an airport chaplain and the support or counselling you provide to people at the airport, both passengers and airport personnel, to see in which way presence is used by airport chaplains. 

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News from our chaplaincies

It was with great sadness we received the news of the passing of Henri Dammane in Nice. Henri has been a long time member of IACAC and attended many conferences  where he and Denise formed life long frirndships with chaplains from around the world. He served as President from 2007 to 2009 and hosted the 2008  annual conference in Nice. Henri was a devout christian and was laid to rest following a Requiem Mass at Saint-Joseph church in Saint-Laurent-du-Var on Monday March 27. Flowers were laid in the name of ICHTUS and IACAC. Our prayers and sympathy were extend to his daughter, Dominique and her family. May Henri rest in peace and rise in glory.

Condolences

Our prayers and sympathy are also extended to  the Rev Romeo Dabee from JFK, New York, who sadly lost his mother over Easter. Her funeral service was held on the 15th April and our prayers were  with Romeo at that time. May she rest in peace and rise in glory.

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