Category: President’s Letter

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

What a tremendous time we had together on October 20^th for our Online Conference! It felt amazing to be connected with so many colleagues from all over the world (including Asia which is exceptional for our conference). And how good it is to feel enthusiastic about anything in these very dark times. As I have written in a previous letter, one of the very positive things in this crisis is the creativity developed in faith communities to maintain some kind of fellowship despite the impossibility to meet face to face.

This Online Conference was our way of showing this creativity and it has been extremely rewarding. We had many new chaplains and people who are not used to connect to the IACAC and also the opportunity to learn from fascinating speakers from 4 different continents whom each had some extremely interesting things to share with us and have been amazingly encouraging to us. If you hadn’t registered or haven’t had time to view the several videos of this first Online Conference you can access them on our website at https://www.iacac.aero/conf-prep/ which also includes the live presentation we had with Geoffrey Thomas as well as the full interviews used for the videos on the challenges on the aviation industry and the value of airport chaplaincy. In total that’s more than 4 hours of quality presentations, interviews and interactions with our special guests so take the time to watch them.

Reflecting on this unique experience and the privilege it was for me to supervise this Conference I realized that there was one thing missing: a deeper spiritual time. There was a lot of spirituality in what each of our guest shared and I think Kathy Malcom Hall’s session was particularly deep in that sense, but we could have thought of a more specifically spiritual time.

Let me make it up to you by sharing some personal thoughts on the spiritual dimension of ministry and airport chaplaincy. I was deeply inspired those past days by the thoughts of a French pastor who wrote an article on being a pastor in lockdown. In a very short summary James Woody says that after having put much energy in reorganizing the church services and meetings in order, as I mentioned earlier, to maintain some kind of fellowship and beyond being an organizer and a facilitator of the church’s life (a role that could be played by other members) what remains specific to the role of pastors (and we can include airport chaplains as pastors or pastoral agents) is to bring people to a face to face meeting with God. Isn’t this a wonderful definition of our role as chaplains?

 But isn’t it also a great reminder of our mission. Maybe you are like me and sometimes the passion for the airport, the people who live through it, with it or in it makes you forget that you are an ambassador of the Creator in this specific place and spirituality is limited to specific times, services, celebrations or request of prayer. How do you and I help people of so many faiths, spiritualities, convictions come to that intimate encounter with God? I believe this question becomes particularly accurate in this difficult time when so many things we used to take for granted such as life, health, work… etc. suddenly become so vulnerable and thus so valued. There are many ways in which we can help those whom our paths come across and I’m sure you would have a thousand examples (and I’d love you to share them) but I believe it all starts within each one of us and how we connect to our Creator and reflect this connection around us.

May we feel renewed in this connection in the coming weeks which will be a time of spiritual awaiting and longing for many of us who will soon enter into Advent. Then will come the time of Hanuka and Christmas which are both celebrations of a miracle of God’s presence among his people and celebrations of awaited and finally answered prayers.

Pierre de Mareuil, President
Paris-CDG

Holy Days Of The Month – Sharing and Celebrating Our Traditions

November

24^th – Martyrdom of Gru Tegh Bahadur Sahib. Sikh

26^th – Thanksgiving USA

29^th – First Sunday of Advent. Christian

30^th – St Andrews Day. Christian

30^th – guru Nanak Birthday. Sikh

30^th – Kartik Poornima.  Hindu

December

6^th St Nicholas Day. Christian

8^th –  Bodhi Day. Buddhist

11^th – Hanukkah begins. Jewish

15^th – Dhanu Sankranti. Hindu

18^th – Hanakkuh ends. Jewish

24^th – Christmas Eve. Christian

25^th – Christmas Day. Christian

25^th – Geeta Jayanti. Hindu

26^th – Stephen’s Day. Christian

28^th – Holy Innocents. Christian

31^st – Watch Night. Christian

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

In the past few weeks and in the weeks to come many of us have felt the need to connect and share our stories through the COVID-19 crisis and our hopes and challenges for the coming months and years. As have so many people around the world, we have discovered the benefit of online video meetings and Zoom has been a great tool for that.

On 15th June 40 chaplains mainly from Europe but also from the US, Australia and Kenya shared in a 2 hours online meeting. In this time of the COVID-19 pandemic and crisis which dramatically affects the aviation industry and the airports in which we serve, the aims of this meeting organized by airport chaplains in Europe was to support each other, share about our hopes and challenges as well as evaluate the need for closer networks in particular for chaplains who don’t meet regularly.

Continue reading “President’s Letter | June/July 2020”

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

After about 2 months of forced absence at Paris-CDG I was able to visit the airport for a few hours and be of some assistance to a handful of passengers in transit and have a chat with some staff (most of them work maximum 4 days a month). But maybe the most unexpected conversation was with a group of 3 ‘inhabitants’ of the airport including a real friend. It was quite unexpected as most homeless people have found shelter in nearby hotels as almost every food supply have closed on the airport but another surprise was the content of the conversation between an ex-teacher and an artist and their friend (of whom I don’t know much). Each have a deep culture and spirituality and after some chit chatting about the situation we all face they asked: ‘’Pierre, why do we face such a pandemic, who sends it, is it some kind of punishment?’’

Continue reading “President’s Letter | May 2020”

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

We are living in rapidly changing times and each of us has been called upon to be responsive to these changes according to the decisions made by the governments and health authorities in our own countries.

Many of our colleagues have been unable to continue their ministry within their airports while others are finding their presence is needed more than ever. Each of us must be conscious of our responsibilities to ensure that we are not carriers of the infection to others.

Continue reading “President’s Letter | March 2020”