Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People

People on the Move

N° 106, April 2008

Message on the Occasion of the Annual Meeting of the United States Catholic Conference of Civil Aviation Chaplains

Vatican City, 11 April 2008

Dear US Catholic Airport Chaplains and Chaplaincy Members,

It is with great pleasure that the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People cordially greets you on the occasion of your Annual Meeting this year, which will be held in Albuquerque, New Mexico from April 14^th to 18^th.

You will be discussing various aspects of your mission and how to carry them out more effectively. We encourage you in this endeavor to be well-prepared and more competent, without of course forgetting that “the Pastoral Care of Civil Aviation is an aspect of the Church’s responsibility toward her faithful and a participation in her universal mission to proclaim the Good News to all people, in the specific context of the world of Civil Aviation” (Catholic Civil Aviation Pastoral Directives, 4). Airport ministry therefore is a mission of evangelization, at the airport. Moreover, since people today put more trust in witnesses than in teachers, “the witness of a Christian life is the first and irreplaceable form of mission” that is, “the very life of the missionary, of the Christian family, and of the ecclesial community, which reveals a new way of living” (Redemptoris Missio, 42).

The 9/11 tragedy, which involved your country’s airports, has marked history and greatly influenced the course of events. Seven years from that tragic episode, we would like to send you a  message of hope, in consonance with Pope Benedict XVI’s latest encyclical, Spe Salvi. In it he affirmed: “It is important to know that I can always continue to hope, even if in … the historical period in which I am living, there seems to be nothing left to hope for” (no. 35). Hope is also the theme that the Holy Father has chosen for his coming apostolic journey to your country.

___________________

Rev. Michael Zaniolo

NCCAC President

USA

Hope is the anchor that keeps us secure in the midst of the storms that rage in life, even in the wake of horrifying events like those of 9/11. The words of Paul Le-Bao-Thin, the Vietnamese martyr cited by the Pope in his encyclical, amazingly describe Christian hope. Narrating his life in prison, he says: “In the midst of these torments, which usually terrify others, I am, by the grace of God, full of joy and gladness, because I am not alone — Christ is with me .... In the midst of this storm I cast my anchor towards the throne of God, the anchor that is the lively hope in my heart” (Spe Salvi, 37). Indeed, the Holy Father affirms, “Suffering and torment is still terrible and well-nigh unbearable. Yet the star of hope has risen — the anchor of the heart reaches the very throne of God. Instead of evil being unleashed within man, the light shines victorious: suffering — without ceasing to be suffering — becomes, despite everything, a hymn of praise.” (ibid).

In these difficult times that we are living, may you be anchors of hope in your airport ministry. Let us entrust your work and each one of us to Mary, “the Mother of hope. Holy Mary, Mother of God, our Mother, teach us to believe, to hope, to love with you” (ibid., 50).

We wish you a most fruitful Conference.

                                      Sincerely yours in the Lord,

                                  X Archbishop Agostino Marchetto

                                               Secretary

                                               Msgr. Novatus Rugambwa

                                                         Undersecretary