Category: President’s Letter

Dear Friends and Colleagues

I have pleasure in putting pen to paper (so to speak) as your new President.

What a great time we had in London, which was for many, our first full face to face conference in nearly three years.  I do want to take the time to thank the team at Heathrow led so well by Steve and supported so well by Judi.  We had a great time of learning, networking and enjoying fellowship with each other.  It was also great to see a number of colleagues join the conference online.

I also want to thank the outgoing Board led by Pierre for your contribution to the life of the Association and especially your encouragement and communication through one of the toughest times in aviation history.

There are a few chaplains that are also either finishing or retiring and I especially want to mention the  Reverend Canon Jonathon Baldwin from Gatwick who will retire at the end of the year after more than twenty years as an Airport Chaplain with four of those years as President of the IACAC Board.  We wish you well in retirement but hope that you stay connected to the Association.

Continue reading “President’s Letter October 2022”

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

What a tremendous 3 years we’ve got through!
Yes, these 3 years as President of the IACAC (and 4 before that as Vice-President including to as Host chaplain) will remain in my heart as a very memorable time and the honor of my life!

Just a few weeks after I took office, after the Melbourne Conference in October 2019, the COVID19 pandemic started and soon became a global crisis. Lockdowns were enforced on the population of most countries; air traffic collapsed, which forced the aviation industry to shut down most of its activities and airports, closed most of their terminals. Many of us were confined in our homes for several weeks and sometimes months. During all that time my question was “what can I do for our members and fellow airport chaplains?” With the Board as well as the involvement of several members from different parts of the world we organized various online sessions to share our experiences, hope and fears as well as, for the first time, an online conference. Through these means we kept in touch and even got closer to one another and develop our network reaching to some of you who don’t usually have the opportunity to attend our annual conferences. I also tried to give to this monthly letter a reflective and pastoral tone, which, I hope, has brought some support to those who needed it.

Continue reading “President’s Letter | September 2022”

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Oh, how good, how pleasant it is for brothers and sisters to live together in harmony! (Psalm 133)

The summer holidays season of the Northern hemisphere has hit the planet and airports again after a 3 years hiatus. Families are coming together and reuniting, tourists are discovering again new destinations and meeting new people.

Air travels are bringing again possibilities of enriching encounters and harmony in a world that desperately needs it when wars are raging in different parts of the globe separating families and friends. Air travel contributes to build bridges between people and cultures where conflicts and political shrinking builds walls of rejections and hatred. It feels great to see our airports filled again, doesn’t it? It feels like a blessing (sometime an overflowing one!) although we must admit that the crowds who tend to have forgotten about the specific rules and requirements of air travel and airports added to lack of staff in airlines and airports makes the experience a little less harmonious than we wished it were.

But that’s where we come as airport chaplains! We are a very small and humble part of the rich and complex airport environment. But we certainly are a drop of oil in these incredible gear systems facilitating the journey of lost passengers whom we help and put back on the right track so that they could fly to the heavens!

On this regard, the very nice story that was shown on Australian TV with our colleague (and incoming IACAC President) Martyn Scrimshaw and Melbourne chaplaincy was a perfect example To view the film clip go to Melbourne Airport Chaplaincy Facebook page).

Humbly being there to help, guide and comfort those who need it is at the core of our ministry and how we become blessings to others. That is how we become like the fragrant oil and the refreshing dew that are mentioned in Psalm 133. Are we aware of the many blessings we share every day? As you read these lines I invite you to pause for a minute and remind yourself of a few people you were a blessing to in the past few days.

Oh, how good, how pleasant it is for brothers and sisters to live together in harmony!

It will soon be time for us to receive the blessing of meeting again for our annual conference in London Heathrow. Learning together and from one another, meeting old friends, making new ones, enriching the harmony of our fellowship are the main benefits of our annual conferences. We had a great time last year in Nairobi but due to the pandemic and economic situation, most international delegates were unable to attend. This year, the number of people who has already registered is promising but there’s room for more! So, don’t wait, register and join us in LHR!

Pierre de Mareuil (CDG)
President

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 effect of the worldwide pandemic from which we are emeging and grief and tragedy at the loss amd disruption of so many lives.

Chaplains often have a role in meeting and supporting vulnerable passengers who have become stranded for a variety of reasons. This has never been more so than in the past two years. Exercising this ministry of service to an airport community, means that sometimes (often!) we simply put ourselves at the disposal of those whom we serve, and if there is a crisis which requires an urgent response, then we need to respond.

Continue reading “President’s Letter | March/April 2022”