{"id":2893,"date":"2008-09-05T10:26:00","date_gmt":"2008-09-05T10:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2008\/09\/a-diaconate-ministry-takes-off.html"},"modified":"2008-09-05T10:26:00","modified_gmt":"2008-09-05T10:26:00","slug":"a-diaconate-ministry-takes-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/09\/a-diaconate-ministry-takes-off.html","title":{"rendered":"A diaconate ministry takes off"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the prevailing truths of the diaconate is that you never know where, or when, you’ll encounter a deacon in the midst of his ministry. This piece<\/a> from the Georgia Bulletin is a reminder of that: <\/p>\n

<\/a> More than a quarter of a million people daily fly out of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. And 60,000 airline, concessionaire, airport and security employees work there.<\/p>\n

Deacons Don Kelsey and Mike Landaiche care for the souls of all of them.<\/p>\n

The two men in their Roman collars stroll the baggage claim area. They say a quick hello to the security workers and joke with attendants at the Air Canada ticket counter. A man and woman pulling luggage are pointed to the correct parking garage. In Terminal E, the international arrival area, a confused passenger just off a flight from Korea is sent in the right direction.<\/p>\n

The two deacons of the Atlanta Archdiocese are part of the Interfaith Airport Chaplaincy, a 25-year program to serve the spiritual needs of the airport community.<\/p>\n

Air travel puts millions of people in transit. And Atlanta is the world\u2019s busiest airport. Every day there are the road warriors away from home. Or people traveling to funerals to pay their respects to loved ones. Or young people about to embark on global adventures.<\/p>\n

Deacon Don has been walking the terminals for close to 20 years. A ministry in the airport made sense as a retired official with the Federal Aviation Administration. He\u2019s been there to greet Olympic athletes and was rushed out of the airport on 9\/11. Often it is the small kindnesses that fill his hours on the concourses.<\/p>\n

For instance, he spotted a mother feeding an infant and trying to mind her three other youngsters at the same time. He stepped in, spoke a few words with the mother and turned his attention to the boys. Out came the paper and crayons.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst thing I know, I am on the floor with the three boys. And I probably spent an hour with them. For me to do that for her was to help her through a struggling time,\u201d says the 75-year-old.<\/p>\n

As Landaiche studied to become a deacon, he was challenged to think creatively about where he could serve the church.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to have an open mind,\u201d says Deacon Mike, 74, a diaconate cross and airport photo ID hanging around his neck. Deacon Mike, a world traveler who has touched down in 43 countries, has been doing this work for several years.<\/p>\n

The airport chaplain program follows the military model, where the chaplains tend to the diverse spiritual needs of everyone who crosses their path. The deacons, two out of nearly 200 permanent deacons in the Atlanta Archdiocese, said they are not out to convert people Instead they aim to be of comfort when nothing seems to be going right.<\/p>\n

Deacon Mike once was invited to pray by a Muslim. He said the request forced him to craft a prayer that respected both faith traditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be there whenever they need someone to be there,\u201d is how Deacon Don puts it. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Head to the link<\/a> for more. It’s a great read. <\/p>\n

Photo: Atlanta airport chaplains Deacon Don Kelsey, foreground left, and Deacon Mike Landaiche stand in the airport atrium. Photo by Michael Alexander.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the prevailing truths of the diaconate is that you never know where, or when, you’ll encounter a deacon in the midst of his ministry. This piece from the Georgia Bulletin is a reminder of that: More than a quarter of a million people daily fly out of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. And 60,000…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":204,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deacons"],"yoast_head":"\nA diaconate ministry takes off - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/09\/a-diaconate-ministry-takes-off.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A diaconate ministry takes off - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of the prevailing truths of the diaconate is that you never know where, or when, you’ll encounter a deacon in the midst of his ministry. This piece from the Georgia Bulletin is a reminder of that: More than a quarter of a million people daily fly out of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. 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Prior to that, Deacon Greg worked for 26 years as a writer and producer for CBS News, where he contributed to \"The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric,\" \"60 Minutes II,\" \"48 Hours,\" (Emmy Award, Writers Guild of America Award) and \"Sunday Morning.\" He was co-writer for the acclaimed documentary \"9\/11,\" hosted by Robert DeNiro. (Emmy Award, Christopher Award, Peabody Award, Writers Guild of America Award.) His radio essays were featured in the bestselling book \"Deadlines and Datelines\" by Dan Rather. He's also a two-time winner of the Catholic Press Association Award. Other places you may find him: AMERICA, U.S. CATHOLIC, CATHOLIC DIGEST, REALITY (Redemptorist Communications) and THE BROOKLYN TABLET. He also contributes homiletic reflections to the parish resource CONNECT!, published by Liturgical Publications. In November 2009, he began serving a three-year term as a consultant to the Communications Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Deacon Greg grew up in Maryland (Go Terps!) but he and his wife today live in the beautiful borough of Queens, New York. You can contact Deacon Greg at dcngreg@gmail.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/author\/gkandra"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/204"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2893\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}