AOS USA Maritime News July 28 2010

Sea Sunday Homily

Fr. Sinclair Oubre, JCL

For decades, our Catholic Church as been very concerned with the plight of fishermen and their families. For instance, in 1997, Cardinal Giovanni Cheli told delegates at the 20th AOS World Congress:

"The suffering caused by the human and ecological costs of market economy excesses on fishing and merchant maritime world are unbearable, first of all to the people of the sea. The seafarers, fishers, their families and all the people of the sea... make them the first ones to see and experience if something is going wrong...and that they are among the victims, if not the first victims, of this states of affairs."

On February 9, 2010, Archbishop Agostino Marchetto addressed AOS representatives from around the world reflecting on the Apostleship of the Sea's activities with the world fishing community. In his opening words, he reminded the participants of the Catholic Church's responsibilities to fishing families:

"We are gathering every year, since 2003, because the Church cannot ignore the distressing situation in which many fishers and theirs families are living."

When he spoke these words, his mind was focused on collapsed fisheries and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing that was undermining the ability of artisinal and family fishermen to provide for their families and communities.

However, Archbishop Marchetto's words were quite prescient to our present situation. The religious community must come forward to join with government agencies and private organizations to assist and stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in our Gulf fishing communities.
At the same meeting in Rome, Archbishop Marchetto also noted:
"From ancient times, fishing has been a major source of food for humanity and a provider of employment and economic benefits to those engaged in this activity. However, in recent years the technological development of fishing vessels and the globalization of the industry has created a deep impact on the general situation and the livelihood of many fishers and fishing communities."

In the first few years of this decade, foreign fish farming caused the collapse of the US shrimp market and the livelihood of our Port Arthur shrimpers. Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike destroyed fishing boats, docks and infrastructure. The rise of the cost of diesel fuel to $4.00-a-gallon forced local fishing families to either spend $80,000 to fill their boats with fuel, or forced to stay at the dock because they could not afford to fish. Today, the ecological catastrophe of the Deepwater Horizon will not only close off fishing grounds for years, but it may destroy the superb reputation of wild caught Gulf shrimp.

The Vatican has expressed its concern about the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, and has placed our environmental disaster on par with the terrible disasters of the 20th century. Fr. Lombardi, S.J., the director of the Vatican Press office stated:

"It is difficult to calculate the dimensions of the disaster, but they are certainly enormous and continue to grow. There come to mind other grave environmental disasters connected with human activity, like those of the chemical factory in Bhopal, India in 1984, or that of the nuclear reactor in Chernobyl in Ukraine in 1986, which caused a number of deaths and serious harm to people."

Fr. Lombardi goes on to note that even after two months, billions of dollars, and the best technology, this small hole humbles the wise and the powerful:

"This is something incredible, but it is a fact. It is not the eruption of a volcano but of a relatively small hole made by a man on the ocean floor. And yet, in two months, super-specialized scientists and technicians have not been able to stop it. Will we be able to learn a lesson from this about prudence and care in using the resources of the earth and about the planet's equilibriums? Certainly, much will change from now on in the drilling industry to make it safer. But perhaps we can also learn a lesson of humility."

Our Apostleship of the Sea North America Regional Coordinator, Deacon Albert Dacanay of the Archdiocese of Toronto, invites all of us:

To have a proactive stance in preaching out, advocating and providing pastoral care to those affected by the disaster - more specifically to the maritime workers, the fishers and their families;
To be one in prayer for an immediate resolution of the crisis and that its effects will be minimal and contained;
To understand and act on the moral and ethical dimensions of the environmental crisis.

As the President of the Apostleship of the Sea of the United States of America, I personally ask you:

To pray daily for those affected by this oil spill. If you like, join with the Confraternity of Our Lady Star of the Sea, and pray a special prayer each day at 6:15.
Support Gulf fishermen by intentionally purchasing Gulf red snapper, grouper and shrimp. You certainly can buy farmed raised imports cheaper, but by paying more, you not only get a superior product, but you also directly sustain the fishing culture of the Gulf of Mexico.
Recognize that we are called to Solidarity and Co-Responsibility. Americans like to speak the language of perpetrators and victims, but our Catholic Church rejects this social model, and in its place calls us as Catholics to: Show solidarity with fishermen, merchant mariners and those affected by this oil spill.
Recognize the co-responsibility we share with BP. Because of the lifestyle we cherish, we asked, wanted and were willing to buy any product that would have been produced by that well.
Move from being consumers to being Christian Citizens of the Kingdom of God. The goal of a Christian Citizen is not to consume as much as he or she can, but to work to build the kingdom of God, a world of justice and stewardship.