Dear Friends and Colleagues,
In June I had the tremendous privilege of spending four days in Rome with Roman Catholic colleagues from around the world at the 2019 World Seminar for civil aviation chaplains and pastoral agents, meeting on the theme of “Catholic Civil Aviation Chaplains and Members of the Airport Chaplaincy at the Service of Integral Human Development”. This, the 17th such gathering was the first to be organised by the Dicastero Servizio dello Sviluppo Umano Integrale (Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development), and an entirely new Vatican team.
Chaplaincy in Scandinavia
Report from Rev Mats Linde, Göteborg Landvetter Airport, Sweden
In Scandinavia there are three Airports where the Church is present; Oslo Gardemoen Airport in Norway, where the new Airport Chaplain Torbjørn Olsen serves. He has been there for over one year and I will see him on June 11th for the first time, when he visits me at Landvetter. The other two are in Sweden, Stockholm and Göteborg. Stockholm Arlanda Airport has no Airport Chaplain since November 2018, when Unni Franck retired. Currently, interviews are under way to find a new Airport Chaplain.
Continue reading “Chaplaincy in Scandinavia”President’s Letter | May 2019
Continue reading “President’s Letter | May 2019”“When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the Lord your God, you shall make this response before the Lord your God: “A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous. When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labour on us, we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me.” You shall set it down before the Lord your God and bow down before the Lord your God.”
Deuteronomy 26.4-10
President’s Letter | April 2019
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
It is always worthwhile to ponder the truth of the often quoted observation that the world is now like a global village. What happens in one part of the world ripples like a wave on the water across the rest of the world touching all in its path. Nothing else brought this home more clearly than the worldwide grief and tragedy at the loss of so many lives often as a result of a fanatical believer of some faith or political group.
Continue reading “President’s Letter | April 2019”Ramadan
Ramadan is the holiest month of the year for our Muslim colleagues. Ramadan in 2019 began on the evening of Sunday, May 5th and ends on the evening of Tuesday, June 4th. This means that the holy month has now officially begun.
The word Ramadan comes from the Arabic root ramiḍa or ar-ramaḍ, which means scorching heat or dryness.
Continue reading “Ramadan”