Walking the walk, talking the talk at O’Hare

He is: Father Michael Zaniolo, chaplain for O’Hare and Midway airport chapels. President of the National Conference of Catholic Airport Chaplains. Ordained in 1988.

Growing up: Attended St. Ferdinand Grammar school and St. Patrick High School across the street. “I was the pipsqueak of the class. Contact sports weren’t for me, but I was a baseball player with a neighborhood team and with my pals on the school lot.”

What if’s: “As a junior in high school, I thought, since God had blessed me in so many ways, ‘I’d like to serve you, but not in religious life or as a priest.’ I was interested in designing things, so, ‘I’m going to study engineering and that’s how I’ll serve you.’”

He graduated from Illinois Institute of Technology as an electrical engineer, like his dad. “I got a job at Motorola for a while; worked at Zenith, and started to have the stuff a young man wants: good job, money, nice car, fancy stereo — but the more I had, the emptier I felt.”

The call: “Every Sunday I’d go to church and every day I’d pray. Then one day at 22 or 23, it started hitting me. ‘I want you to be a priest.’ ‘No, Lord, you’ve got the wrong man.’ The more I prayed the stronger it got. I finally said, ‘OK, if this is what you want, I’ll inquire about the seminary.’

“I called my parish priest, Father Mike Cronin, and said, “You’ll know me when you see me, but I don’t hang around the parish or get involved. I think the Lord is calling me to be a priest.” He told me to come in. ‘You’re in luck,’ he said. ‘We have a seminarian here and he’s Italian just like you. He can take you up to Mundelein and show you around.’ The seminarian was Father Jim Presta.”

After a positive connection with the seminary, he enrolled. “I studied theology for four years, met guys from all over the country, and the more I studied the more I saw it was for me.”

Attracted to flying? “Well every kid is fascinated by airplanes and fire trucks. I didn’t know there was an airport chaplaincy until I was at my first parish at St. William.

“One of the things a young priest does is take over the youth group. I started a little vocation program and wanted to introduce kids to priests who had ‘other jobs.’ To see it isn’t just funerals and weddings. Priests are teachers, lawyers. … We’d go to the cathedral, say some prayers, have pizza, then the priest would give a presentation and we’d have a Q & A.

“One of the people on my list was Father John Jamnicky at O’Hare Airport. I called him and said, ‘I’ve got a dozen teens, would you give us a presentation?’ He said, ‘You guys have to come up here to see what I do.’

“We went to O’Hare and I saw how interesting this ministry is. He knew everybody, from the guy who cleans the toilets, to the guard in the most remote guard shack, to the firemen and cops, ticket agents, airline people, everybody. He’d walk around with his collar on and everybody would say hello to him. “We spent a whole afternoon there. It was a Saturday so we stayed for Mass and went out for pizza. I jokingly said to him, ‘John, whenever you retire or move on, give me a call. I’d be interested in this.’

Dream comes true: “Every time I saw him I’d say the same thing. One day he phoned and said, ‘I got a job in Washington, D.C. I think you’ve got the right personality for this ministry. Make sure you apply.’ I prayed, ‘I know what I want to do, but what is it you want me to do?’

“Coincidentally I was going to Italy and would be in the vicinity of the Shrine of Our Lady of Loreto. She is the patroness of air travelers. I said Mass at the Holy House of Loreto, and it was the coolest thing. I lit a candle and prayed to the Blessed Mother. ‘I want to serve your son and if this is what he wants, you’ll intercede with the cardinal and the personnel board.’ Sure enough, I got back and got word I had the job.”

Airport ministry: “I hear confessions every day. Travelers have an idea of their own mortality, so I get some nervous people going to confession. Sometimes it’s just a convenient place to go. I’m Father Nobody to a lot of people. They’ll never see me again. But for the people who work at the airport, I’m their pastor. They don’t have a chance to get involved in their own parish because of their crazy hours.

“They’re also grateful to have a place with the Blessed Sacrament, and know there’s a priest if they need to talk. Countless people just want to talk. They’re worried about their job, they ask me to pray for a family member or for a concern, ask for blessings, for guidance. I refer people to some help beyond my own competence too.”

Differs from a parish: “I tell grounded pastors, it’s the equivalent to getting up every day, ringing doorbells in your parish and telling people, ‘If there’s anything I can do for you, here I am.’ I wear my collar and spend my time walking around the terminals, our four fire houses at O’Hare, our police station, food kitchens, hangars, training facilities.

“Because workers here only get a half-hour lunch break, Mass is a half-hour. Homilies are two or three minutes. There’s no choir or organist, Communion doesn’t take long, and after Mass if you stay, we have coffee and snacks.”

Refreshment: “I just had a sixmonth sabbatical. I spent most of it in a program at the North American College in Rome. St. Peter’s is a couple minutes away. I was there with 27 other priests from around the U.S., and I was the only one who knew Italian!

On my day off I generally get together with priest friends, get a little exercise or go to a movie. I cook a lot of pasta. I have a special recipe for veal and beef stew from my mom that’s pretty good, too.

“I’m reading ‘The Armchair Mystic, Easing into Contemplative Prayer,’ by Mark Thibodeaux, SJ. At work I’m always with people. It’s like walking into a tornado each day. It’s hard to step back and take a breath, to pray, to calm your mind and listen. I like this book for a noncontemplative in the world.”