39th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF CIVIL AIRPORT CHAPLAINS
Cape Town (South Africa) - 3 to 8 September 2006
Cape Town – About 60 airport chaplains from around the world gathered together for the 39th annual congress in Cape Town, South Africa, from the 3rd to the 8th of September 2006.
They are all members of the International Association of Civil Airport Chaplains (IACAC). They belong to various Christian denominations, Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Protestants and Orthodox, and a Muslim Chaplain from the Brussels International Airport.
The theme of the Conference was “Unity and Diversity”. Father Peter-John Pearson, a Roman Catholic from Cape Town, spoke to the participants about the various socio-economic, political and multicultural aspects of life in South Africa. He said: “Almost every one of the great mystics understood this, that union with God is expressed or manifested as union with life. Union with God is union not with some esoteric experience, but union with the daily round of life with all its vicissitudes. We have to listen to the symphony of life. (…) We must celebrate the liturgy of the world before we celebrate the liturgy of the church”. Adding that our sacred spaces are also the custodians of the moral values that make for lasting peace in the world and that, “prayer teaches us, helps us make space for the other, embrace the other in ourselves and in others literally, so that we can be more than we thought we could be”.
His message consists in “building a new world through dialogue”.
A second presentation was given by Abdeslam Koubaa (Muslim Chaplain of the Brussels International Airport). His subject was “Understanding among faiths”. He talked about inter-religious dialogue since the first encounter of Islam with the Western Christian World, seen in the light of his own personal experience.
After both presentations there was an opportunity for questions and the speakers responded. The debate was enriched by various testimonies from chaplains who reflected upon the difficulties within their own airports. The main purpose of these conferences is to share experiences between Chaplaincies, when difficult situations arise.
The Participants had the opportunity in various workshops to discuss the meaning and the role of the Chaplain within airport life. Emphasis was put on the diversity of activities depending upon particular situations that arose. It is important for the Chaplain to be open and available for everybody. Chaplains are people of faith and spirituality. They are a listening ear, and have an open eye and a burning heart for everyone.
The participants were taken around the Southern Cape regions and the Cape of Good Hope, places remarkable for their great beauty. They have been confronted with the great contrasts of different life conditions for black, white and coloured people, finding next to each other extreme poverty and wealth. At the same time people came together to start different projects with the view of gaining better life style.
A General Assembly of IACAC was held in order to determine the future activities of the Association.
The Congress was officially opened with a celebration in Saint George’s Cathedral, presided by the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, The Right Reverend Njonkonkulu Winston Ndungane (the Primate of South Africa). During the conference there was the possibility for common prayer, meditation and Roman Catholic Mass.
The conference received various messages of encouragement and support from Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino (President of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Travellers), from His All-Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, as well as from Ibrahim S. Alkoshy, project coordinator of the World Association of Muslims (International Association for New Muslims – Saudi Arabia).
The Orthodox Church was represented by His Grace Bishop Athenagoras of Sinope (representing the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and responsible of the two orthodox chapels in the Brussels International Airport ) and by Archpriest Michel Seliniotakis, who takes part at the work in the ecumenical chaplaincy at the Airport of Nice. There are orthodox chapels in the airports of Brussels, Athens, Thessaloniki, Varna (Bulgaria), and in November next one will be inaugurated in the Frankfurt International Airport (Germany).
The next conferences will take place in Dallas USA (2007) and in Nice (2008).
