By Susan DeGrane
At 8:25, Father George McKenna strips off his maroon windbreaker with “Airport Chaplain” printed on the back and pulls white vestments out of the wardrobe cart. During his quick change, the seats in the makeshift chapel fill completely, and about ten more people stand at the back of the waiting area.
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For the last 13 years McKenna’s been celebrating mass every Sunday morning for a congregation of airport security guards, janitors, flight attendants, baggage handlers, executives, Chicago police officers, travelers, and even a few people from the neighborhood.
The homily lasts only three minutes, which McKenna figures is best for this setting, “because people are busy. They can only take so much time out from work on a break or they have a flight to catch.”
George Gaynor, a security guard at Midway, works most weekends and attends McKenna’s services regularly. “It’s great. You have to figure without Father a lot of these people wouldn’t get to go to church. They have to work. It makes it really nice for us.”
After he retired from parish life 13 years ago, McKenna started his weekend ministry at Midway.
On rare occasions he has been summoned to the airport to offer comfort and spiritual guidance. Once he was called to console family members of an airport employee who committed suicide, another time to offer prayers on behalf of a baggage handler who died in an accident involving a baggage cart. “Mostly I was there to help fellow workers who were simply shocked by what happened. The woman was a new employee, so she really didn’t have any deep friendships, but, as I said, it was important for the others.”
