“More often I am away than not away” at Christmas, said Jacobson. “It is not ideal, it is a sacrifice, that’s what it is; it’s not something I look forward to. Last year and the year before I wouldn’t have been able to attend Mass at all on Christmas if it wasn’t for the chaplaincy there in Toronto.”
Jacobson, a pilot with WestJet, flies one of the 1,100 planes that touches down daily at Pearson International Airport, transporting more than 30 million passengers annually. It’s a job that can be taxing on the spiritual safety of the crew, he said.
“The bigger danger that we have in the flying business specifically isn’t the physical safety, it is the spiritual safety,” he said.
“There are a lot of influences in our world today, especially when you are away from home a lot, that are leading you away from your walk with Christ. The sacraments give you the armour to deal with that and to live your vocation .... so I do pray a lot for that for myself and for my crews.”
Fortunately for Jacobson — who converted to Catholicism after becoming a pilot — and his crew, there is someone at Pearson to assist them spiritually. His name is Fr. Joe Peña, Pearson’s senior Roman Catholic chaplain.
Peña said the first and most important duty of an airport chaplain is just being present for the people.
“I don’t have permanent parishioners, they just come and go so that most important thing as a chaplain is the ministry of presence. Just to be here and walking around the place just to let the people feel the presence of our Lord,” said Peña. “That ministry of presence is very important. It is very important, especially at Christmas, that we discern about the love of God and why He sent His only begotten Son into the world among us.”
Peña celebrates Mass at least twice a day inside the airport’s chapels — one in each active terminal. He says four Masses on Christmas Day.
And it isn’t just the crew members and travellers Peña looks after. His primary source of parishioners is the employees at the airport.
“First the chaplaincy caters to the employees,” he said. “These are Catholics and they want to fulfil their obligations as Catholics.”
To aid in this Peña keeps his Mass short, really short.
“They are only given 30-minute breaks so I will give them 20 to 25 minutes,” he said. “I make it short so that at least these people can attend and obey the Holy Eucharist.”
When Queeni Collantes found out about the daily Masses and chaplaincy program at Pearson last year as she began working as a ticket and reservation agent for Philippine Airlines, she was delighted.
“I am so glad that we have this space here, the chapel, because before I was hired here in the airport I used to hear Mass every day,” she said. “I really prayed hard to God that I would not miss my communication and my relationship with God by being here in the airport. It was a blessing that it just so happened that on my break there is a Mass.”
The chaplaincy program also provides Collantes with the strength to get through her days which often contain a difficult client or two.
“I find peace and strength when I hear Mass,” she said.
This is part of the reason why the chaplaincy program was founded, said Kevin Gleeson, who was instrumental in establishing the ministry back in 1979 while working as a manager for Air Canada.
“If they didn’t have this ... they probably wouldn’t have a lot in their religious life,” said Gleeson, chair of the Airport Interfaith Ministry. “It gives them the spiritual strength to go back to work because this can be a highly stressful environment. It is the glue that keeps their minds together really.”
Between flights, Jacobson said he is grateful to have a Roman Catholic chapel in an otherwise secular environment.