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Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People People on the MoveN° 105, December 2007
Fortieth Annual Conferenceof the IACAC*
The fortieth Annual Conference of the IACAC was held on September 9-14, 2007 at the American Airlines Training and Conference Center, in Fort Worth, Texas, USA. The venue is located near Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) international airport, whose chaplaincy team hosted the Conference. The CEO of the aforesaid airport gave financial aid for the holding of the Conference. There were about 70 participants, mostly from North America and Europe, with a few chaplains from Australia, Africa and Latin America. There were no participants from Asia. Many different Churches and Ecclesial Communities were represented. Aside from our host, Bishop DD Hayes, there was another Bishop-participant, from the Greek Orthodox Church. An imam from Brussels airport was also present. The DFW airport chaplaincy team is made up of 14 chaplains from different Churches and Ecclesial Communities, and a lady office manager. Deacon Ed Scarborough is the Catholic chaplain (part-time). Not all of them attended the meeting but they came and greeted us on different occasions. The airport executives and workers appeared to have a high regard for the DFW airport chaplaincy team. There was a very cordial atmosphere among them and this was extended to the participants. The airport police came for a remarkable formal flag-raising ceremony on two occasions. The Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Fort Worth, H.E. Bishop Kevin W. Vann, gave the welcome address at the opening session. He joined the participants again that evening at Thanksgiving Square for a multi-religious encounter and dinner. On September 11th, the Conference participants joined the DFW airport Memorial Ceremony for the victims of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York. At the opening of the business session, Messages were read. One was from Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino and Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, respectively President and Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People. Civil Aviation Apostolate is, in fact, a sector of this Pontifical Council. Patriarch Bartholomew of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople also sent a Message. The theme of the Seminar was: “Faith at the gates”. Talks were centered on how to cope with crises situations at the airport, including faith-response. Rev. Andrea Krasznai, IACAC Acting President, gave a report on her participation at the last Seminar for Catholic Civil Aviation Chaplains and Chaplaincy Members, in Rome. The Seminar’s theme on the search for a response to terrorism was quite relevant. The chaplains from London Heathrow airport also circulated the paper presented at that Seminar by Fr. Paschal Ryan, who could not be present at the IACAC meeting. The new IACAC President, elected during the present meeting, is Mr. Henri Damamme, a Catholic pastoral agent at the Nice airport. The other officers-elect are Michael Banfield (London-Luton airport) as Senior Vice-President, Mary Holloway (Melbourne International Airport) as Secretary, Leo Mosses (Munich International airport) as Treasurer, and Peter Holloway (retired Melbourne airport chaplain) as Directory Officer, with the assistance of Andreas Sembdner (Dresden airport). The next IACAC meeting, in 2008, will be hosted by the Nice airport chaplaincy. Many participants in the Conference asked Fr. Giorgio Rizzieri, Chaplain of Rome-Fiumicino International Airport, to host a future IACAC meeting in Rome. The IACAC meetings are important occasions for ecumenical relations, grassroots ecumenism which brings about ecumenism of daily life. This promotes fidelity to one’s own Church and at the same time respect for one another’s views and practices. This also helps everyone discover the points that we already have in common and realize that if we walk along the path of mutual charity, we are walking towards the day when unity will become a reality.
Nilda M. CASTRO Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People
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