What does it take to serve 73,000 passengers a day? That is the scale of traffic that YVR Airport (Vancouver International) handles every single day. Add to this 20,000 aircraft movements monthly for 127 destinations worldwide and the handling of 315,000 tons of cargo. That is the reality that YVR, Canada’s second-busiest airport, faces on a regular basis.

Behind its modern and award-winning structures and facilities is a hardworking army of people making sure that the hassles of travel are reduced to a minimum so that flying to or arriving from a distant destination can become a pleasant experience.

Few people know that within this vast airport — a place that moves and breathes like a miniature city with the rhythm of departures and arrivals of hordes of travellers — there is a quiet sanctuary tucked beside the International Arrivals area. It is a place where weary travellers and exhausted airport staff can step away from the noise for a moment of stillness, hope, and prayer.

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This is the YVR Chapel, a multi-faith sanctuary where I was assigned to serve as the Catholic chaplain, working alongside a devoted team of volunteers from different faith traditions. Every Sunday at 4 p.m., the small chapel becomes a sacred gathering place where a Catholic Mass is celebrated within the heart of the airport itself.

Across the terminals, an announcement in English and French echoes through the public-address system, inviting anyone who wishes to attend. Travellers in transit, airport employees ending long shifts, families waiting to welcome loved ones, and others carrying unseen burdens slowly make their way to the chapel doors.

Over time, a small but faithful community of airport staff began gathering regularly for the Sunday liturgy. Every so often, unexpected souls arrive after hearing the announcement overhead.

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Once, a family from Jamaica attended the Mass and afterward quietly asked for help finding shelter for the night. Another time, a distressed woman came seeking comfort after she had been denied boarding following a difficult altercation with airline staff. Then there was the pilgrim who rushed breathlessly into the chapel after arriving from an overseas pilgrimage. Her flight and luggage had been delayed, and she feared she would miss Sunday Mass entirely. But as she walked through the airport, her eyes happened to fall upon a simple note posted on the chapel bulletin board about the 4 p.m. Catholic Mass.

“It was an answered prayer indeed!” she said.

As a former airline employee myself, the airport has always felt to me like a second home. I have long been drawn to its restless energy — the steady rhythm of arrivals and departures, the movement of people from every corner of the world, and the quiet stories behind every journey. 

I never imagined that, as a permanent deacon, my ministry would one day lead me into this place of seeming chaos, where God’s message of peace, hope, and love can still be shared in a quiet but profound way.

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In an airport designed for the efficient movement of travellers and aircraft, the presence of the YVR Chapel offers something different: a space where people can pause and encounter sacred silence. Amid the constant noise of boarding calls, rolling luggage, and hurried footsteps, the chapel stands as a gentle reminder to me that even in this fast-paced world — and especially for travellers in transit — God’s grace has a way of finding people exactly where they are.

(Deacon Wilfrid Victoria recently escorted Vancouver Archbishop Richard Smith through the busyness of YVR.)