Author: Sarah Eustace

Stella Maris welcomes crew change at Felixstowe Port

Posted on July 23, 2020 by -

Seven seafarers from a container ship are bound for home after spending almost 14 months working at sea.

During a visit to Felixstowe port last Friday 24 July, our East Anglia chaplain Julian Wong learnt that seven crew members from the container ship APL Norway would be going home after working at sea and being away from their families in the Philippines for nearly 14 months.

This was great news for the seafarers and Julian was delighted for them and that the crew change was able to take place.

To celebrate the occasion, Julian bought chocolate and freshly made doughnuts, filling up seven bags with the goodies, copies of Stella Maris magazines and packs of prayer cards for the seafarers.

Their transport arrived later that evening to take them to the airport. Julian said a quick prayer for their safe journey home. The crew are are scheduled to board their flight home tomorrow 30 July. Upon arrival in Metro Manila, they will have to go into quarantine for 14 days.

Julian provided them his contact details so they could continue to keep in touch with him.  He says, “I feel very blessed as a Stella Maris Regional Port Chaplain to be able to share this joyful moment after the last few months of lockdown. I am able to maintain contact with many seafarers, thanks to modern technology and social media. I hope the crew change situation will continue to improve to enable seafarers to fly home from any country where they sign off. May God bless all seafarers and their families.”

Julian continues, “Seafarers are hero key workers in this coronavirus pandemic. They are invisible to the general public. Without them and the shipping industry, our supermarkets would have been empty long ago. So, many thanks to them and all who work in the shipping industry. Huge thanks also to the port workers in big container ports like Felixstowe Port that operates 24/7. Without all these people and in particular seafarers we would not be able to get all the supplies that we need every day during the lockdown and all through the year.”

Separately on 4 July, Julian was informed that five Filipino seafarers from the Maersk Serangoon were able to return home following a crew change at Felixstowe Port.

Huge thanks to Felixstowe Port and the UK Government for enabling crew change to take place.

Aberdeen chaplain supports hospitalised fisherman

Posted on July 27, 2020 by -

A Filipino fisherman hospitalised in Aberdeen since the start of lockdown after a suspected stroke has thanked Stella Maris for providing virtual support while in hospital.

Twenty-three-year-old Jericho who was working on a vessel in the North of Scotland had to be airlifted to the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary for emergency treatment after taking ill suddenly.

Stella Maris port chaplain Reverend Doug Duncan was informed about the incident. Over the weeks Doug picked up, washed and delivered Jericho’s clothes and supplied fruit, chocolates and magazines to the hospital.

Doug also communicated regularly with Jericho via social media, helping keep his spirits up and reassuring him.

On 13 July two days before he was due to fly home to the Philippines, Covid-19 restrictions were lifted at the Infirmary. Doug was named as the allotted person who could visit Jericho.

Following all safety precautions Doug visited Jericho who was delighted to see a friendly and welcoming face. They chatted and prayed, and Doug gave Jericho a blessing.

Doug said, “Having gone through so much and still extremely weak down his left side Jericho’s only complaint was the hospital didn’t serve rice at breakfast, lunch and dinner.

“Thankfully, a local Filipino lady helped out with some local dishes and assisted him with his local dialect.”

On 15 July, Doug waved off Jericho at the hospital and the fisherman finally flew home to the Philippines where he is now receiving further treatment in hospital.

Sea Sunday 2020 Prayer and Message

Posted on July 7, 2020 by -

Cardinal Peter Turkson Prefect of the Dicastery for Promotion of Integral Human Development at the Vatican has sent a message ahead of Sea Sunday which falls on 12 July this year. The Vatican has also released a prayer inspired by the Message for Sea Sunday.

On 12 July Christians around the world will celebrate Sea Sunday. Due to the uncertainties around Covid-19, Stella Maris in the UK will celebrate Sea Sunday in December instead of this weekend. The date has not yet been finalised, but it is likely to be either Sunday 13 or Sunday 20 December. We will update you as soon as we have more information.

Nevertheless we would urge you to please continue to pray for seafarers, fishers and their families, many of whom have had their employment period extended, resulting in fatigue, prolonged absence from their families and poor mental health. Estimates suggest that, every month, 100,000 seafarers who finish their contracts and look forward to flying home are prevented from doing so by the outbreak of Covid-19 and the subsequent closure of borders and flights.

Click the download button below to read and reflect upon the Cardinal’s Sea Sunday message.

Download the Sea Sunday Message

Sea Sunday Prayer

Holy Virgin Mary, sign of the maternal face of God,
with filial confidence we turn to you in the current pandemic. Keep in your Immaculate Heart the seafarers, the fishermen and their families, who with their work are ensuring the human family with food and other basic needs.

Sign of the closeness of the Father,
support them in their trials and protect them from all dangers: isolation and severe physical and mental stress, long periods spent on board ships, distance from their family, friends and from their own country, fear of contamination, piracy attacks and attempted attacks, armed robberies.

Sign of the mercy of the Son,
help Stella Maris chaplains and volunteers to listen to the people of the sea, trying to respond to their material and spiritual needs, standing by their side, raising their concerns, upholding their labor rights and preventing discrimination.

Sign of the fruitfulness of the Spirit and advocate of seafarers,
bring unscrupulous ship-owners, crewing agencies and managers back to the way of justice who, using the excuse of the pandemic, dismiss their obligations towards seafarers Let us stand in solidarity with those who have lost their income.

Sign of consolation and sure hope,
tenderly embraces coronavirus victims, especially the seafarers who committed suicide.

Star of the Sea, pray for us. Amen!

The Church and the People of the Sea

Posted on June 9, 2020 by -

A message from Don Bruno Bignami National Director of National Office for Social Problems and Work of the Italian Bishops Conference.

For many seafarers – often prevented from being able to disembark – it will be a hard working Easter, without the pastoral service provided by priests on board. The difficulties resulting from the Covid-19 emergency have also the face of fishermen and their dry nets. Last but not least, it is impossible not to share the concern for those who, across the sea, seek an alternative to a life of violence and today are facing our ports closed. The General Secretariat of the Italian Bishop Conference (CEI), through the National Office of the Apostleship of the Sea, asks for care and solidarity for these tragedies and offers some proposals to the [issue].

The image of the boat is antique: it derives from the Gospel. On March 27, in the extraordinary moment of prayer in an empty Saint Peter’s Square, Pope Francis referred to it: “We have realized that we are on the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented, but at the same time important and needed, all of us called to row together, each of us in need of comforting the other. In this boat … are all of us”. The vessel is the living and working environment for many seafarers. This image reminds us that we all belong to the same destiny, we experience the interdependence of problems, we live a deep sharing even in the crisis originated by Covid-19. The health emergency has shattered the working environment. Numerous sectors suffer. Many of them are at the center of government politics to support companies in this time of shutdown or to boost their restart.

The paradox could be to say that we are on the same boat, but to forget that “on that boat” there are also those who live and work at the sea. 90% of the goods arriving in our markets are transported at sea by commercial shipping, and it is not an insignificant sector of the economy. In practice, seafarers ask to be designated as “key workers” for the role they play, essential for goods to reach our cities and homes.

Unfortunately, in normal times those who work on merchant ships, cruise ship and crews of ferries and transport vessels are already at risk of being overlooked. In the time of Covid-19 the condition of suffering increases. “We are on the same boat” means accepting that the miscellaneous world of those who work at sea or in ports is also at the center of attention and solidarity of the civil community.

The Church’s pastoral concern for seafarers is alive and does not fail, especially now that seafarers are in danger of being among the poorest categories. For the first time, because of the storm caused by Covid-19, the chaplains do not get on board as they usually do. The Italian Church had to give up the usual religious service for Holy Week on cruise ships. The crisis in the tourism sector is also striking this area and has not allowed the normal celebration of religious services. A service appreciated because it allows many passengers, and especially crew members, to celebrate Easter.

In addition, many seafarers who in recent weeks have been at sea could not sign off from the “boat”: the presence of infected people has kept them away from their homes, their families and even from docking to a port. The refusal to offer a landing pier for ships flying Italian flag, vessels that cannot find a port to allow crews to quarantine on land or to reach their families, seems inexplicable. There are crews that, for the lack of possible replacements, are working twice as hard, beyond any criteria of justice. The decision to close Italian ports to humanitarian ships appears also inappropriate and could turn into a boomerang of greater insecurity for everyone: it pose the danger of depriving those who are fleeing from war or prison camps of an alternative, exposing them to drowning in the Mediterranean. Our solidarity embraces all those who feel abandoned.

On the boat could not get on board, the fishermen who decided to stop their activity because it is impossible to guarantee the safety distances and for lack of adequate protection devices. The crisis in the world of tourism and catering has reduced a good portion of their sale, putting them on their knees and discouraging future investments.

The Italian Church expresses solidarity to the persons who are in these days overwhelmed by the Covid-19 emergency, all the more to the seafarers who are so numerous in our peninsula surrounded by the sea. The Christian community feels challenged. In the 2020 Centenary Year of the Apostleship of the Sea, we want to renew our ecclesial support to seafarers in their workplaces and their families.

We would like to suggest to the maritime dioceses which are sensible to this pastoral activity the followings:
• enhance where they are existing, the services of the Stella Maris Centers, as a concrete sign of support to the maritime world;
• express gratitude to seafarers who, in this moment of emergency, continue to work for the common good, both in trade and in other activities;
• share the good practices, in support of the Apostleship of the Sea, already existing in different dioceses. In the Centenary Year, new initiatives of prayers and solidarity should start. Sea Sunday which will be celebrated on July 12, 2020, can be an occasion to make the ecclesial support felt in all the sector of maritime industry;
• send a message of prayer and solidarity to fishers and their families who experience the uncertainty of their work in this time and in the next months. May they feel part of a community that welcomes and accompanies them on their journey. What Pope Francis recommended during the audience to the fishers of San Benedetto del Tronto, Italy, on January 18, 2020, can be applied to all seafarers: “I like to think that even today, those of you who are Christians feel the spiritual presence of the Lord beside you. Your faith animates precious values: popular religiosity which is expressed in trust in God, in the sense of prayer and in the Christian education of children; esteem for the family; a sense of solidarity, so that you feel the need to help one another and to help each other in need. Do not lose these values!”.

Without doubt, locally and in the dioceses there will be appropriate ways for the concrete solidarity of the Church to reach the seafarers: they who feel being on the same boat at sea on a daily basis may experience it also in being part of the diocesan life. May the time of trial also become time of hope. In the face of the adversity and uncertainty of life, nobody should lack the courage to dare fraternal charity and concrete solidarity. The same courage that drives many seafarers to take the risk of going out at sea must be shared with all people of good will who understand that each of us is closely interdependent upon the other. The empathy with those who work at sea, who are often subjected to hard and stressful rhythms, bring us look with gratitude at the unknown commitment of thousands of people who find the source of life in the sea.