Apostles for Today
Prayer and Reflection
May 2017
INTER RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE
An Experience in Airport Chaplaincy
Today’s apostle, as well
as his or her apostolate, have to be quite flexible. We, members of the Union
of Catholic Apostolate, have to approach our fellow human beings fearlessly, even
if they are strange to us, even if they come from cultural environments unknown
to us, even if they belong to other religions. We have to be open to dialogue, to
talking with all. Our founder Vincent Pallotti would be pleased with this. “To
be up to date” holds true in general, but especially for our apostolate. It
does not mean falling into an unhealthy freneticism, but rather to live the
apostolate calmly, prudently, and above all in permanent connection with God,
in spite of all the new challenges.
For our pastoral work at
the airport in Frankfurt we had a wonderful model for this, St. Mother Theresa.
Each time she came to us, she had always an abundance of
tasks to fulfil. But before she began, she first withdrew to silence, in
our chapel, before the tabernacle. There she stayed in deep absorption. Then
she came and expressed her matters in a calm voice. In the course of this, she
never put down the rosary and at the end everything was settled. This would also
please Vincent Pallotti.
Now to the airport
chaplaincy. In 1972 the Bishop of Limburg/Lahn and our then Provincial Rector
asked me if I would be willing to build up the first airport chaplaincy of
Germany in Frankfurt/Main. No one had a clear idea of this. I moved to
Frankfurt and from then worked on at the airport for 31 years. We had two rented
rooms there. In one team-room, with a common telephone number, my Protestant colleague
and I, plus two female employees, one Protestant and the other Catholic, worked
together. In the course of time, about 30 volunteers joined us.
The second room was
available for our airport chapel, having about 50 seats.
We called ourselves the “Ecumenical
Airport Chaplaincy”, but from the beginning we were an interreligious
chaplaincy, an interreligious ecclesial ministry, for our doors were open
to everyone, be it Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist or atheist. And all were
coming, and we wanted the dialogue with all. Unprejudiced acceptance of the
other, also of the stranger, is in general an important precondition for an
effective apostolate, yet it is indispensable at a major international airport.
It was important for us to talk to one another ad intra, but also and perhaps especially ad extra.
Our founder Vincent
Pallotti would also have asked for this.
On the first day of my
work as airport chaplain, I stood in the big halls of this international
airport as if in a modern temple, a big cathedral. First I had to learn what an
airport is. Major parts of the business are underground, others on earth and
the most important part is in the air, on its way. In all the three parts,
there are numerous people, passengers, employees and also numerous visitors,
who drop off or collect others, or just want to get to know the airport. (At
Frankfurt Airport, daily about 150 000 passengers arrive and depart. About
80 000 people are working for them locally at the airport, plus about
120 000 persons with suppliers in the localities close by. “A major city without inhabitants”, since out of the many
who belonged to it, no one was living at the airport itself.
The first target group
were the employees, who would also be able to support us effectively and help
us to come in contact with the passengers.
For my personal work, this meant concretely that initially, if possible,
I had to be on the go in the airport all day, in order to visit the employees
at the workstations, to get to know them and to become familiar with them. In this
way I won many friends. Among those, were some who understood themselves to be
apostles of Christ and who considered it as their task to take on
responsibility for the people at the airport, especially for those in need.
Since our door was
always wide open, we also frequently had curious guests who, as they told us,
would otherwise not have dropped in. Thus it came about that at our round
table, as we called our reception, the manager, who
had been a bishop, sat together in dialogue with homeless people, whether
living in hostels or sleeping rough, and thus got their problems directly.
And we let all of them
feel that we are present, to be in solidarity with them in good times and bad.
On our part, we did not ask about personal details. Those who wanted to share
about theirselves personally could do so. The only questions we raised were if
and how we could help. And we tried to do this as far as possible.
Many came who were not
Christians, especially Muslims. They too readily entered into
dialogue. Often there were informative topics which were of interest for
the others present as well. During this it became clear, that we knew rather
little about one another and that we had to come to know each other better. As
early as beginning our work at the airport, I had placed a prayer mat in the
entrance area of our chapel for religious Muslims. This possibility was at once
accepted gladly. (Today for Muslims there are about 20-25 prayer rooms and
niches close to workstations at Frankfurt Airport.)
One day an Iranian
businessman came to our chapel in order to pray. Then he thanked us very
courteously. When I remarked that it would be beautiful if we Christians were
offered such a possibility for prayer in his homeland, he said that he
personally would welcome this, but that the constitution of this country does not
recognise freedom of religion. The example shows that it is necessary that we
talk much more to one another and that we come to know each other better.
In the area of workplace
chaplaincy, there were also many possibilities to show the employees that the
Church is present for people and not the other way round. We were delighted
that this also led some people to find their way back into the community of the
Church. People expect us to take them seriously as mature citizens. If they sense
this, then they become open to dialogue.
During these many years
at the airport, I never experienced rejection and never received an unfriendly reply.
On the contrary. Frankly, many people admitted not sharing our conviction, but
respected it as long as we also respected their opinion. Then they were also
ready to dialogue. This bears good fruit.
Another example regarding
this is imprinted on my memory. For years, I had many good conversations with
one employee about religion when I was walking around. One day I heard that he
had died quite suddenly. When I tried to learn more about the place of his
funeral, I heard to my amazement, that this man was a Muslim. During our many
religious talks I had never become aware of this. Of course, also in this case,
I had never asked him about his religious affiliation.
For us as Catholics, of course,
our chapel with the tabernacle was the centre of our day, and daily Eucharist
at 9.00 a.m. was the only fixed point in our very flexible schedule. For us it
was our spiritual source of strength. For me, personally, these hours of
spiritual nourishment are among my most beautiful memories. There one could
calmly bring everything before God. This chapel also
brought us very gratifying encounters. I think for example of Frère Roger
Schutz, the Prior of the monastic community of Taizé. Many
young people always came to welcome him.
After that he always asked me to celebrate Mass with him and the young people
and to give him Holy Communion, for – he said – he believed in the real
presence of Christ in both the bread and wine, and could see no objection to him
receiving it. One day he wanted to give me pleasure at the end of Mass. He
showed me his Catholic breviary, it was the breviary of
the late John XXIII, which he had given him as a present shortly before his
death.
A special problem that
occupied us during almost all of these past years, is the encounter with
immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers.
Meanwhile, airport
chaplaincy has become standard at all airports in Germany, also thanks to our
cooperation and our “know how”.
For the future, we need even
more closely intertwined networks for the apostolate in general, and especially
for our apostolate according to the charism of the Union founded by Vincent
Pallotti. For the future, it needs to be directed and practised more globally.
Airport chaplaincy is a
meaningful area of apostolate, with growing importance
generally and with a future. It is therefore very necessary to accompany these
apostolic efforts in the field with the apostolate of prayer, with much prayer.
Some Questions for Reflection:
Ø
While we all agree that
apostolate is worthwhile, what am I actually doing concretely?
Ø Am I really unprejudiced and open to dialogue
with all – as equal partners?
Ø Do I pray intensively enough for the success of
the apostolate of the Union?
Ø Do I have real conviction regarding my
membership of the Union?
Ø As an apostle, how do I deal with setbacks,
rejections and doubts?
Ø Do I have enough trust in God and enough patience?
Fr.
Walter Maader SAC and Irmgard Mader UAC
Frankfurt
– Germany
____________________________________________________
Segretariato Generale,
Unione dell’Apostolato Cattolico
Piazza San Vincenzo Pallotti 204,
00187 Roma, Italia uac@uniopal.org
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