IACAC Media Officer – Page 22 – IACAC | International Association of Civil Aviation Chaplains

20/08/201926/08/2019

President’s Letter | July/August 2019

Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Cnut (or Canute) the Great (c. 995 – 1035), was “king of all England and Denmark and the Norwegians and of some of the Swedes”, often referred to as the North Sea Empire. Had his heirs not died in rapid succession and a weakened England not been conquered by William of Normandy in 1066, the European Union might now be a thousand years old with the UK and Scandinavia at its heart. If history was fair, Canute would be better known, as it is, he is often unfairly remembered as the idiot who thought he could stop the tide coming in – a 12^th century story recorded by Henry of Huntingdon.

30/06/201930/06/2019

Chaplaincy at Melbourne Airport

It has been just on eighteen months since I stepped into some very large shoes and followed on from Winton as the Coordinating Chaplain at Melbourne Airport. What a journey it has been. So many things to learn, so many people to meet, and the constant demands of supporting the airport community, both staff and passengers.

What an incredible privilege we have in loving people all who have been created in the image of God.

We have the joy of serving a multi-cultural, multi-faith community. This was evident through the recent celebrations of Ramadan. Last year I was a bit caught out and we had bottles of fruit juice and food galore brought into our prayer rooms so people could break fast and pray. The problem was, chicken curry and unrefrigerated fruit juice are not very inviting the next morning. So this year we placed posters in our prayer room with a greeting for our Muslim brothers and sisters and said our team would provide the water and dates to break the fast. It was amazing, the feed back from passengers and staff was incredible with emails, phone calls and great conversations thanking the team for caring about Ramadan and providing those small refreshments. We had not food or juice that could prove a danger or we had to clean up.

30/06/201930/06/2019

IACAC Board Nominations and Elections

Sadly, due to a change in her role within the airport, the Rev Donna Mote has withdrawn her nominations for the positions of president and vice president. As the Rev Pierre de Mareuil has also nominated for the positions of president and vice president, the Constitution provides for nominations to be received from the floor for both positions during the Annual Business Meeting in Melbourne.

A member does not have to be present at the Annual Business Meeting to be nominated but it is desirable that members have an opportunity to learn about them and what they can offer the Association. Only 2019 financial members are eligible to vote in the election and members who are not present at the Annual Business Meeting can vote by proxy. Proxy voting application forms are available from the Treasurer. Any member who is holding proxy vote for another member may only hold a maximum of two proxy votes.

We ask members to think and pray on this matter. Nomination forms are available from the Secretary for the position of president and vice president for election in 2019 and the receipt of nominations for secretary to be elected in 2020.

29/06/201930/06/2019

The Paris Chaplaincies

The chaplaincies at Paris Orly and CDG airports have come through a number of changes this past year. Starting with the last one, Anniel Hatton, Protestant Chaplain at Orly retired on 30 June. She served 10 years as an airport chaplain,1st at CDG and then at Orly since October 2013. Her ministry was greatly appreciated by both passengers and staff. Previous to airport chaplaincy Anniel was a pastor in several Baptist churches in France together with her husband William. She also served as a hospital chaplain. Anniel was a pioneer in advocating and living women’s ministry in Baptist churches in France. Anniel has been succeeded at Orly by David Gonzalez, a reformed minister who enthusiastically joined the team as a full time chaplain on 1 July.

28/06/201930/06/2019

President’s Letter | June 2019

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 17^th 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.