The team

The foundation board, the volunteers in the Meditation Centre and the pastors together form the Airport Chaplaincy at Schiphol. Three pastors have been appointed at the airport, each with a different background. The pastors provide emotional and spiritual care and support to passengers and airport employees. They assist those who encounter difficulties during their journey, whatever difficulties that may be.

Marieke Meiring-Snijder

Airport chaplain

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Pastor Marieke Meiring-Snijder is an active minister and since November 1, 2015, she is connected to the Protestant Schiphol Airport Chaplaincy Foundation.

Marieke has served several different parishes in the Netherlands as well as abroad. Between 2004 and 2007, she was affiliated with the English-speaking Presbyterian Church of Malaysia. In addition to her duties as a minister in Kuala Lumpur, Marieke taught at two theological seminaries.

Her return to the Netherlands was followed by an appeal from the Protestant community at IJsselstein, with whom she was associated from 2009 to 2015. During that period she was also involved as a chaplain in the Johannes Hospitium at Wilnis. In 2017 she completed the postgraduate education in spiritual direction.

Marieke is officially associated with the Ecumenical Church Community De Ark at Hoofddorp and she is a resident of the city of Woerden.

Mark Hafkenscheid

Airport chaplain

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Mark Hafkenscheid is a member of the Church of England in Amsterdam, Christ Church. This is the church from which the Anglican Airport Ministry at Schiphol was established. In addition, he has been a board member of the "Alle-Dag-Kerk" since 2008, an interdenominational initiative that provides a service every Wednesday afternoon in the English Reformed Church at the Begijnhof in Amsterdam.

For several years now, he has been appointed by the Old-Catholic and Anglican Airport Ministry Foundation (OCAAM) as an airport chaplain at Schiphol, under the episcopal supervision of Bishop Robert Innes (Anglican Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe) and Monsignor Dick Schoon (Old Catholic Bishop of Haarlem). 

As a pastor, he would like to serve at Schiphol and he considers hospitality, warmth, pastoral care and personal attention important. 

Gerard Timmermans

Airport chaplain

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Father Gerard Timmermans was dedicated on July 7, 1996. After having worked in Zambia for four years, he started in Amsterdam. He has worked for and with asylum seekers and refugees. Besides this work he was asked to give an impetus to the change in migrant communities. This is on a managerial level, nationwide and to a design by the diocese.

Father Timmermans joined the Airport Chaplaincy on January 1, 2008, and is connected to the Roman Catholic Airport Chaplaincy Foundation Schiphol.

Joop Albers

Supporting chaplain

Pastor Joop Albers was ordained in the Anglican church in 2000. In the time that followed, he was an assistant-priest in the Anglican church in Voorschoten and Amsterdam. In 2002, the bishop of Haarlem asked if he could take care of two Old-Catholic parishes (in IJmuiden and Den Helder). He was also connected to the Anglican parish of Haarlem for some time.

Joop is currently pastor of the Old-Catholic parish in Enkhuizen.

In addition, Joop has been connected to the National Council of Churches in the Netherlands for many years.

In 2007, he joined the team of the Airport Chaplaincy. In 2013, he retired, and then, after a few years, he started to contribute again in the church services on Sunday mornings. Pastor Joop Albers is connected to the Old-Catholic and Anglican Airport Ministry Foundation.