When Father Michael Zaniolo walks through the corridors of Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, he is treated to smiles, waves and greetings of “Hi, Father,” from people behind counters, flight crews on their way to catch a plane and maintenance workers in their reflective vests. This is his parish. The rest of his parishioners are across town at Midway Airport. For 50 years, the Archdiocese of Chicago has maintained a spiritual presence at O’Hare and Midway serving the more than 50,000 people who work at the airports and the hundreds of thousands of travelers who pass through. The chaplaincy celebrated its golden anniversary with a Mass with Cardinal George on Nov. 1. Officially called the Interfaith Airport Chapels of Chicago, there is more than just a Catholic presence at the airports. Jewish, Muslim and Protestant congregations have a presence there as well. They share the same worship space and co-exist to serve the people who come to the airports. Today’s chapel at O’Hare features two glass walls, providing a measure of visibility for an area that’s open 24 hours a day. A tabernacle holds the Eucharist, but the crucifix is displayed only during worship services. For Protestant services, it is turned around so the corpus does not face the congregation. A prayer rug is available for Muslims. Mass is usually condensed in time because workers often come during their lunch breaks and need to get back to work. Look through one side of the chapel’s glass walls and you see people being dropped off for flights and checking in at airline counters. Look through the other side and you see planes lined up at gates and the runway in the distance. Most of the people who come to the chapels work in the airport or, in the case of flight crews, work in air travel. That’s how the chaplaincy began. According to a written history of the the chapel, in 1960, Catholic workers at O’Hare wanted to attend Sunday Mass but did not have an available church close to their work site so they asked priests from Our Lady of Hope Parish in Rosemont for help. The solution: Sunday Mass celebrated in a training room for United Airlines. In 1966, the airport community asked Cardinal John Cody to create a permanent presence at the airport. He agreed and appointed Father John Keough its first chaplain. Father John Jamnicky took over in 1982 and the reins were handed to Zaniolo in 2000. There are a few priests who assist Zaniolo with Masses at the airports. On a recent day at O’Hare, Zaniolo explained that the airport ministry is a lot about presence. He spends a great deal of time walking through the airport visiting with the various groups of workers. In his black clerics he’s easily identifiable. Workers often stop him to ask for prayers for a loved one or to tell him about something that is going on in their lives. Zaniolo knows many of them by name. The goal of the chapel is to continue providing spiritual care to everyone who comes through the airports for many years to come so next time you are flying out of O’Hare or Midway, give yourself a little extra time and find the chapel. And say “Hi” to Father Zaniolo.