JFK AIRPORT — Bishop Robert Brennan celebrated Mass on April 4 in Our Lady of the Skies Chapel — his first ever visit as bishop to the historic worship space at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Bishop Brennan was invited by airport workers from the Catholic Guild of JFK Airport, who packed the chapel for Mass.
Guild President Al DePhillips called the visit a “historic event.”
“It’s awesome that he’s here,” DePhillips said. “The last bishop that we have had was Bishop [Nicholas] DiMarzio, so it has been some time.”
DePhillips, who works for the service company Airway at JFK, called the sprawling airport “a city within the city,” where customers and employees alike face the stress of air travel. But, he added, the Our Lady of the Skies Chapel — located on the fourth level of Terminal 4 — is a sanctuary for everyone.
It is positioned with similar chapels for Islamic, Jewish, and Protestant congregations. Each group has its own chaplains who work with their counterparts in the other JFK chapels. Together, they serve travelers and employees in the spirit of interreligious cooperation and fraternity.
“It’s a very good faith community,” DePhillips said before Bishop Brennan’s arrival. “I think when he comes here, he’s going to be amazed.”
And he was.
“I had long heard about the chapel here at JFK,” Bishop Brennan said after the Mass. “I was very moved by the experience.”
Bishop Brennan, who was installed in the Diocese of Brooklyn in 2021, noted that air travel is stressful for everyone.
“Because it’s stressful for travelers, it’s got to be even more stressful for those who work here and try to assist people, and let’s face it, [workers] don’t always see us at our best selves,” Bishop Brennan said.
“So, the chapel here at JFK Airport is an opportunity to be able to root ourselves here in Terminal 4,” he added. “This is a beautifully done chapel here. I’m really impressed.”
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Catholic employees at Idlewild Airport (the name of the airport used until 1963) formed their guild in the early 1950s. At about the same time, they participated in creating the Our Lady of the Skies Chapel, which was dedicated in 1955.
The famous chapel with stained-glass windows and a marble altar was torn down in the mid-1980s and replaced with the current chapel. Some of the original stained-glass windows were installed there, and more recently, at the new Interfaith Chapel dedicated last September at LaGuardia Airport.
Father Cezariusz Jastrzębski, who became chaplain at Our Lady of the Skies Chapel two years ago, is also the pastor of nearby St. Joseph’s Parish in Jamaica.
Father Jastrzębski praised Bishop Brennan for finding time to accept the guild’s invitation to celebrate Mass in the chapel.
“It was a really great celebration,” he said. “With it, we show that the church is close to the airport, to different cultures.
“The church is not really an addition to the airport, but is the center, the heart, of the airport.”
