CHARLOTTE — The holiday travel season marks the busiest time of the year for chaplains at the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, and this Christmas, a record-breaking number of people are expected to fly into, out of or through the Queen City, including more than 3,000 soldiers headed home from Fort Jackson, S.C.
More than 1.8 million people used the Charlotte airport last December, and passenger traffic topped 44 million overall last year. Every day, Catholic chaplains are on hand to comfort travelers in need. Part of an 18-member team of chaplains from five faiths, they all have one goal: to comfort and aid any traveler or airport employee who needs their help. They all volunteer at least four hours a week to staff the airport for at least 10 hours a day, seven days a week. They logged a total of 3,700 volunteer hours last year.
Pictured: Deacon George Szalony, director of the airport chaplaincy ministry, spends time talking to a passenger at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, in this file photo. (Kimberly Bender | Catholic News Herald)
For Father Conrad Hoover, six deacons and three assistants from the Diocese of Charlotte, their work is about putting the Gospel into action – going out into the world, serving as the hands and feet of Christ to all they meet.
"We assist a lot of people who we would term 'infrequent travelers'," explains Deacon George Szalony, director of the non-profit chaplaincy. The chaplains spend a lot of time looking for people who are confused and need help getting to the right gate, or getting in the right line so they don't waste valuable time or get lost.
"This work we do is never seen by anyone. We respect people's privacy and we respect their dignity," Deacon Szalony notes. "Our goal is to stabilize the traveler so they can continue their journey...We respect who they are and what they believe, whether they believe in God or not."
The Catholic deacons and Father Hoover wear a clerical collar so they are easily identifiable, but they are careful not to proselytize.
"It's our hope and our prayer that if they are willing to seek out somebody wearing a collar in that moment, perhaps when they really need someone, they'll seek out their (faith leader) or a priest if they need one," Deacon Szalony explains.
Deacon Kevin Williams and his wife Theresa serve at the airport besides their responsibilities at Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Charlotte. He has served as an airport chaplain for nine years.
"After I get off of work, I spend two to three hours mostly walking the concourse and being a presence there. Once a month, I go help with the two Masses offered on Sundays," he says.
He looks for travelers who look like they could use help, those who walk around with a "glazed look" on their faces. "You get to recognize that look pretty quickly," he says. "It's mostly a ministry of presence, being visible. If someone wants to talk, if they need a listening ear, we're there for them."
Theresa Williams has been serving at the airport for almost six years. "I most enjoy the opportunity to pray with someone who is going through a difficult time. There is also a lot of satisfaction in sharing their joys, such as meeting newlyweds.
"I feel good when I can make a difference to someone, even if it's just picking up something I see that someone has dropped and giving it to them," she notes. "It's the smile of gratefulness for pointing someone where they need to go for a bathroom, an airport services desk or where a concourse or gate is, answering questions, etc."
Deacon Patrick Devine, a retired TSA security guard, and his wife Michele also serve at the airport. He originally joined the TSA after retiring from a career in chemical manufacturing. He traveled a lot over his career, he says, and he appreciated the TSA's work protecting travelers. "I said when I retired I was going to work with those guys and pay them back some service. So I took a part-time position with TSA as a security officer for four years."
Now Deacon Devine has been serving at the airport for the past three years in the airport chaplaincy, and says working in the chaplaincy is an opportunity to continue helping people.
"You never know when you're going to see someone who needs a little assistance," he says. "It's always different and I like it because it's a ministry of service. We spread the Good News of Jesus just by our presence."
"It's a ministry of the moment," adds Deacon David Reiser. "You never know what will come at you – from an employee coming up to you, to a lost passenger, to a passenger with a lost bag."
Deacon Reiser has even been asked to minister to a family whose loved one passed away on a flight. He took the child traveling with the family to get a cookie and get away from the commotion as emergency workers tended to the deceased and to other family members.
"We're there. We're there for the people. It's always interesting," he notes. He says it's a joy to see people smile and feel happy after he has helped them. "You get the joy of the people. It's a gift."
Besides providing a calm presence and a guiding hand for passengers who are a bit lost or confused inside the sprawling airport, the deacons and the whole chaplaincy team offer a listening ear and a sympathetic shoulder for the 18,000-plus airport employees.
"We minister to the employees as much as anyone else," says Deacon Williams. "You get to know them, especially when they come out to Sunday Mass every week."
Thanks to a $1,000 gift last year to the airport chaplaincy, there is even a confidential, modest loan program available for airport employees who need a little help making ends meet.
—SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter
How you can help
The Charlotte Douglas International Airport chaplaincy program runs independently on donations, thanks to the generosity of people in the community. The airport chapel is funded by donations and offers travelers a quiet place to pray, as well as an interdenominational service and two Catholic Masses every Sunday.
For more information or to make a tax-deductible donation to the airport chaplaincy, go to www.charlottediocese.net/ministries/airport-ministryor contact Deacon Szalony at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Mail donations to: Airport Chaplaincy, Charlotte Douglas International Airport, 5501 Josh Birmingham Pkwy., Charlotte, NC 28208.
CHARLOTTE — The Blessed Virgin Mary can inspire us and help us to become more holy, if we open our hearts in response to God’s love for us just as she did.
That was the message Bishop Peter Jugis preached during Mass for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception Dec. 8 at St. Patrick Cathedral.
This “beautiful feast” for the Blessed Virgin Mary celebrates her sinlessness and her complete trust in God, Bishop Jugis said. We are similarly called by God to follow Mary’s example, growing in holiness and virtue so that we may be with Him in heaven one day.
Mary was “a beautiful, perfect creature,” the model for all humanity to follow, he said. “Because of her sinlessness, her response to God is always a generous yes. There’s never any question in her mind.”
Saying no to God – being disobedient to His will – is the very definition of sin, he noted.
Mary shows us how to say yes to God. She is also the epitome of virtue, and we can become more holy by imitating her, Bishop Jugis said.
On this feast day that celebrates Mary, the Lord is asking us to become more generous, more charitable, more forgiving and open-hearted, just as Mary was, he said.
“We should not necessarily be content as to where we are now” on our path to holiness, he said. “With God’s grace, great things are achievable. We will never be the Immaculate Conception, we will never be the Blessed Virgin Mary, but the Lord knows” what we are capable of doing with His grace and the help of the Holy Spirit.
Mary is also our intercessor, Bishop Jugis said. Pray to her, asking her for help in following God’s will.
God always “makes the first move towards us, extending the hand of friendship to us, and reaching out to us,” he continued. In response, we are called to do our part “in being present to Him.”
“We can’t do much if we don’t say, ‘Yes, take this raw material, Lord, and continue to perfect it.”
We must open our hearts to His love, he said. God gives us the grace to grow in holiness, if we accept His gift as Mary did.
— Patricia L. Guilfoyle, editor
ELKIN — Members of St. Stephen Mission gathered on the Feast of Christ the King Nov. 22 for the initial celebration event of the church's 60th anniversary.
During Mass, three of the founding members – Gayle Altemueller, Ruth Harris and Greg Collins – presented Father John Hanic, pastor, with a papal blessing from Pope Francis to mark the special occasion. Following Mass, the community gathered in the Family Life Center for a brunch hosted by the Ladies' Guild.
St. Stephen has been a mission of St. John Baptist de la Salle Church in North Wilkesboro since its founding.
In the spring of 1955 construction of St. Stephen Church was started. The land on which the church was built was purchased from Chatham Manufacturing Co. for $1.
The first Mass was celebrated in late 1955, and the church was officially dedicated on Jan. 30, 1956, by Bishop Vincent Waters of the Diocese of Raleigh. Whether from curiosity or true interest, Elkin townspeople overwhelmed the church on the day of the dedication. The event attracted the mayor, town officials and community leaders as well as average citizens.
—Photos provided by Sister Janis McQuade, SSJ. Slideshow courtesy of Bill Harmon, member of St. Stephen Mission.
FOREST CITY — Father Herbert Burke, pastor, recently blessed a new altar for use in Immaculate Conception Church's 65-year-old historic church.
The altar was dedicated by Father Burke Nov. 16 during Mass in the original church, which continues to be used as a chapel.
"We took the altar stone with the relic from the old altar and had it installed by the manufacturer in the new one," Father Burke noted. "The parishioners have been very pleased with the three-inch deep carving in the oak wood of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and with the golden angels in adoration at each side.
"We have many hours of Adoration each week in this chapel, and so in addition to Mass we will have the monstrance placed on the altar on a regular basis."
— Pictured are Father Burke, Deacon Andy Cilone and altar server Michael Lugo.
KERNERSVILLE — A quiet corner on the grounds of Holy Cross Church has been transformed into a peaceful place of remembrance for the dead featuring a combined cemetery and columbarium. The project is the result of the talents and labor of many in the parish community.
Oblates of St. Francis De Sales Father Paul Dechant, pastor, blessed the new cemetery and columbarium on All Souls' Day Nov. 2 – celebrating the culmination of three years' effort by the parish council, finance committee, the Knights of Columbus Council 8509, local firms and many other parishioners in collaboration with officials from the Diocese of Charlotte.
Designed as a final resting place for parishioners and their families, clergy and friends of the church, the cemetery and columbarium encircle a large statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. A stone cross stands nearby.
It has a total of 1,200 plots and niches with room to expand in the future.
The niches of the columbarium, a circular brick structure, are arranged in groupings which feature the names of 20 saints: St. Juan Diego, St. Clare, St. Martin de Porres, St. Joan of Arc, St. Francis de Sales, St. Jane de Chantal, St. Patrick, St. Rose of Lima, St. Stanislaus, St. Thérèse, St. Michael, St. Leonie Aviat, St. Felipe de Jesus, St. Josephine Bakhita, St. Andrew Dung-Lac, St. Bernadette, Blessed Carlos Rodriguez Santiago, St. Kateri Tekakwitha, St. George and St. Katharine Drexel.
Once the concept was approved by the parish council and finance committee, Father Dechant asked parishioner and architect Matt O'Brien to lead the design effort. He assigned Worth Yonts, at that time an intern in his office, to produce the conceptual drawings of the design for parish and diocesan leaders.
"I drew from my construction background, each rendering involving light versus shadow," Yonts said. "It was a fairly successful project."
So successful, in fact, that not only did the project get the green light but Yonts was named a partner at O'Brien's architectural firm.
Parishioners Sharon Ladd, Rosemary Vasko and Dottie Saffer, members of the parish's cemetery committee and self-described gardeners, worked out many of the details about how the cemetery and columbarium would be landscaped.
"There were a lot of details you wouldn't consider," Ladd noted.
The parish held a pre-sale for the new cemetery and columbarium in July, she added, with discounts offered off the prices of the plots and niches (normally $1,500 each or $2,500 for a double). "I was astonished at the number of people who purchased," she said.
Fellow committee member Rosemary Vasko, who co-designed and assisted in the landscaping work for the cemetery and columbiarium, took a special personal interest in the project.
Earlier this month, she had her husband Tom Vasko Jr., who had passed away on Aug. 21, 2014, interred there.
"It was like having 10,000 pounds lifted off of my shoulders to have my husband laid to rest," Vasko said.
About the cemetery project in general, she commented, "It was a beautiful thing that we accomplished – physically and spiritually an accomplishment. It was a lot of hard work."
Since its completion by Beta Builders, LLC of Winston-Salem, several other parish members whose families have patiently awaited or labored for a place to inter their loved ones have been laid to rest at the new cemetery and columbarium.
—Paul S. Doizé, Correspondent