Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People

People on the Move

N° 105 (Suppl.), December 2007

Report from THE Secretary General of the European Catholic Civil Aviation Chaplains 

Rev. David Lacy

Secretary General

1. Website

Much effort has gone into creating a new website, since gaining access to airchap.com (the previous website which had the server in Poland) proved impossible due to language problems and poor communication. The name of the new website is: euroairchap.co.uk.  It has translation facilities. The Secretariat is grateful to Ray Russell for taking on the task of Webmaster. Comments would be welcome to improve the service. There will be a running cost both to Gabriel Media for the server, and Mr. Russell for his management of the website. The cost involved was £400. We would be grateful if these could be met from subscriptions or donations. 

2. European Association

• Constitution. Not much progress has been made on the draft Constitution. We thank Archbishop Agostino Marchetto who has sent us his suggested amendments. We would need to vote on that. What is the next step?
• Funding. There was much promise last year, but only €100 came into the treasury. A bank account is in the process of being set up and signatories are needed. Could we vote on the suggested subscription of €100 per chaplain?
• Title. We need to go firm on the Title of the Association so that the Constitution will have a title. Suggestion: European Catholic Chaplains in Civil Aviation (ECCCA)

3. Birmingham Conference

• Limited resources for planning. Need for secretarial assistance, for monitoring visitors and their needs and seeking speakers, to arrange transport around Birmingham, interpreters, and accommodation.
• Took on the job as Secretary General at short notice but did not anticipate organizing the conference in addition. However, I have looked into interpreters which cost £2000 per day. Accommodation can be arranged at Oscott College, our seminary. There are 30 rooms and conference facilities at a reasonable cost, historic venue, with easy access to the city of Birmingham and other places of Catholic religious interest. Our needs would be sensitively dealt with, and we would be comfortable in new conference facilities. Additional accommodation in local hotel.
• Archbishop of Birmingham Vincent Nichols is generally supportive of the idea of organizing the conference, but he did not want to see me overloaded with extra work, in addition to parish and hospital duties.
• Local sponsorship is not forthcoming. Local political and business people are not responsive. Ecumenical contacts will be supportive.
• The IACAC Conference in Nice might dilute the interest in traveling to Birmingham as both conferences will be in Europe.
• What is the theme to be for the 2008 Conference? Suggested multi-cultural Midlands City with a variety of religious practice and experience?

Votes on

• amendments,
• level of subscription,
• title of the Association, and
• theme for the Birmingham Conference 2008.