The Catholic Herald reports:
On Wednesday September 22, at Westminster Cathedral, the Apostleship of the Sea (AoS) organised an awareness day to promote its cruise chaplaincy programme.
Seven priests who will be undertaking cruise chaplaincy over Christmas on P&O cruise ships met to discuss the benefits of their work and the possible difficulties they will experience at sea, especially over the Christmas period, which can be very lonely for seafarers away from family and loved ones.
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In 2008 the Apostleship of the Sea completed research into the provision of pastoral care for cruise ship crew, validated by London South Bank University. This study continues to inform the work of its cruise chaplains who are onboard in the first place for the many hundreds of crew.
This study detailed one cruise line reporting that chaplains ‘provide an external outlet for [crew] pastoral or welfare needs, spiritual and domestic needs. They also provide contact with an outside organisation so that if something untoward were happening that they wouldn’t necessarily talk about with company members. I think it’s important it’s not often seen but it’s needed…’
The ‘routine’ pastoral care of chaplains is striking as one chaplain recounts
‘the young [crew] man was on his first trip and he made his first call to his wife after months, he returned to us with a tear in his eye and embraced … (a colleague), there’s probably many others like that that we haven’t seen’
With many nationalities of crew in confined spaces pastoral care at times of crisis is also crucial, another chaplain recounts ‘Yes, whenever there was a problem we had many; murder, suicide, we had many.’
Cruise chaplains deployed by the Apostleship of the Sea, who are also working as employees of the cruise line are there primarily to work for the crew. They will have legitimate time to relax, though in such an environment they are always on ‘duty’. The Apostleship of the Sea, cruise lines and countless cruise ship crew are grateful for the generous pastoral care offered for no renumeration of these chaplains to some of the most forgotten workers in the world
John Green
Director of Development
Apostleship of the Sea
johngreen@apostleshipofthesea.org.uk
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