President’s Letter – Page 3 – IACAC | International Association of Civil Aviation Chaplains

24/12/202124/12/2021

President’s Letter | December 2021

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

As I write these lines, the months long of celebrations have begun with Thanksgiving in the United States, Advent and Hannukah everywhere else. Soon will come the time of the Mahayana Bodhi Day (enlightenment of the Buddha) as well as Christmas. Our cities and airports are getting decorated by thousands of lights and the special mood of the season is growing on us. Lights in dark ages can have a very specific meaning. A sign of hope we desperately need as the COVID pandemic continues to threaten humanity with new waves and variants, more borders closing, more flights being canceled. Light might very well be the universal symbol of hope. But what kind of light represents better true hope? We sometimes think that light chases away the darkness which is true to some extent. Our modern lights do that. A simple lamp lightens a whole room or an entire block in our streets. But these lights, if you look at them directly, also dazzle you. It can also disorient animals who confuse them for the sun or stars. Those light can be misleading if we take them for the symbol of hope.

06/08/202106/09/2021

President’s Letter | August 2021

Dear friends and colleagues,

It’s been too long since we last met!

It seems to me that I’ve been repeating that phrase for the past 2 months. Meeting friends and family for the summer holidays or airport staff that had been furloughed for 12 to 15 months has been such a joy and made me realize once more how much we need to see and meet each other. Then, those past days Facebook has been starting to remind me of fond memories of our conference in Paris in late August 2016. I already anticipate within the next few days and weeks the memories from Charlotte in 2018 and Stockholm in 2017, then will come those from New York in 2015 and Melbourne in 2019. My Facebook will not search beyond as I wasn’t on it before 2015 but I’m sure that for many of you more memories will remind you of so many past conferences, friendly faces and new encounters.

31/05/202103/06/2021

President’s Letter | May 2021

Dear friends and colleagues,

It was my estimated predecessor the Rev Georges Lane who told me about the origin of the words “chaplain, chaplaincy and chapel”. Did you know it referred to the St Martin of Tour’s cloak which, according to the famous legend he had shared with a freezing beggar at the gate of the French city Amiens. The young Roman soldier from a Hungarian noble family has been remembered for his famous generosity since then. The cloak was the property of the Roman army and it was probably the liner that the young man shared. Later the cloak (cappa in Latin) itself became a sacred relic, the church it was kept in was called a chapel (cappella) and the priests whose office was to carry the relic chaplains (cappellani). Beyond the fact that as a Protestant I don’t personally give much credit to relics in general and this one in particular, I must say that I love the story and what it means in the definition of our role and ministry in the airport.

29/04/202130/04/2021

President’s Letter | April 2021

Dear Friends and Colleagues.

The entire planet has been and continues to pass through a very strange and painful time. The COVID-19 pandemic has enforced much of the world’s population into some sort of isolation as the pandemic peaks into recurring waves. Each of us has now seen the dramatic impact of lockdowns around the world on air traffic and on the global aviation industry. Our airports have been empty. It will take years for airlines and airports to recover from this tragedy and while many of us were unable to visit the airport in which we serve, the presence and ministry of airport chaplains will be more essential than ever in airports around the world.

01/04/202101/04/2021

President’s Letter | March 2021

Dear friends and Colleagues,

Humanity has always travelled. Near or far, to migrate to a better place, visit relatives, explore other regions or, more recently simply for the pleasure of tourism, walking, riding, by sea, ground or sky, it has been in our genes for centuries and millenniums to go on journeys. Apart from very few notable exceptions in very remotest areas of the planet, none of our cultures and faiths would be what they are if they weren’t for journeys of a few or many men and women and the encounter with other human beings, their environment and cultures. I believe that each one of our spiritual traditions is specifically marked by some kind of journey and cultural encounters.