The guardian angels of the tarmac
Most major airports have a chaplaincy service, to support passengers or staff in a crisis situation. Testimonials.
Véronique Egger, chaplain of the Protestant Church of Geneva, at Cointrin airport. She mainly deals with supporting asylum seekers detained at the borders.
VANESSA CARDOSO/24HOURS
We imagine them more easily in hospitals or prisons, at the bedside of the sick and listening to prisoners. And yet, the chaplains of historic churches also ensure a regular presence at airports, such as in Geneva and Zurich. “It’s linked to the history of aviation, which took off after the Second World War,” says David Gonzalez, Protestant chaplain at Paris-Orly airport. “American military aviation then used to have chaplains on board flights.”
If these no longer fly with the passengers, they accompany, if necessary, their departures as well as their arrivals. “Most major airports now have a chaplain service,” confirms Stephan Pfenninger, reformed chaplain at Zurich airport. “The spaces of meditation have also become a criterion of excellence for the airport industry”, indicates the Parisian pastor. And to quote “Roissy and Orly, which were in the depths of the international ranking until about ten years ago and have risen thanks to the creation of a space for prayer as well as the establishment of a multi-faith team.
Listening and coffee
Their missions? “Most of the time, we are called by a staff member or the police who tell us that something is wrong,” says Andrea Thali, Catholic chaplain at Zurich airport. And his Reformed colleague continues: “Our mission is often more social than religious. We’re here for anyone who needs some time for themselves.”
Thus, the Zurich chaplains welcome in their office passengers in psychological distress, forced waiting or penniless. “We allow them to use our telephone to reach their relatives or even their embassies”, specifies Stephan Pfenninger. “The spiritual part is more present in the way we address these people”, underlines Andrea Thali. “We are open to all requests, and people feel it. They feel safe, grateful that we try to support them emotionally, taking the time to chat with them over coffee.
“Applicants can stay up to 60 days at the airport, in a building on the other side of the runways. During dismissals, the situation is always very painful.”
To Cointrin, Alexandre Winter, chaplain of the Protestant Church of Geneva (EPG), compares the airport building to “a kind of no man’s land, where it is important to offer a benevolent presence”. With his colleague from the EPG Véronique Egger, they mainly deal with surrounding asylum seekers detained at the borders. “Applicants can stay up to 60 days at the airport, in a building on the other side of the runways,” she points out. During dismissals, the situation is always very painful.”
In Paris, David Gonzalez also regularly “marauds with Red Cross employees, to meet the fifty or so homeless people who sleep in the terminals – people who have often been lost for years”. The approach? “When you have the airport badge around your neck, people come to you spontaneously to ask us for the information they need.”
Screams and tears
And then there are the dramas. Like the September 11 attacks. Or these two suicides, which took place just before Christmas at Zurich airport. In another register, the grounding of Swissair had marked the whole country and affected thousands of passengers. The Zurich duo had experienced it together. “The core of our business remains crisis situations. Our pet peeve: the air crash”, formulates David Gonzalez. During the pandemic, when many North Africans wanted to reach their country for the burial of their parents or grandparents, flights were lacking, he says. “We had to deal with elderly women who were rolling on the ground in pain. In this kind of situation, calling the chaplain is always better than the police or the Sûreté!”
“When we realized that this traveler really didn’t want to go home, we resolved that we could only be a temporary home for her.”
Whatever the dramatic event, chaplains are always on the front line. Véronique Egger will remember that day for a long time to come, after the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean, when the police “asked her to accompany them to families who had no news of their loved ones, to take their DNA. “. Or “this young Guinean, who was forced to marry an old gentleman. Her mother helped her flee during the wedding, but she was refused protection in Switzerland and sent back to Casablanca, Morocco,” she continues. “I contacted her mother in Guinea, she has heard nothing from her daughter.”
Stephan Pfenninger remains marked by “this 65-year-old traveler from New Zealand, who was convinced that her government was trying to eliminate her”. Prevented in her flight by lack of money, she lived for several weeks in the airport: “When we realized that she really did not want to go home, we resolved not to be able to be, for her, only ‘a temporary home.’
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