|
Prayer Corner
Many of our Members have asked for prayers from their AOS Family. Please keep the following in prayer:
Fr. Lawrence Burke - Cruise Ship Priest who suffered a stroke this weekend.
Len Falkenthal, brother of Fr. Tom Falkenthal, who had a brain cancer, and passed away last week.
Fr. Laurence Hansen - Cruise Ship Priest, who is recuperating from a bad fall.
The Father of Lesley Warrick, (Director of Seafarers' House in Port Everglades). Lesley's Father passed away last week.
Fr. Vicente Jazmines - Cruise Ship Priest who is battling Prostrate Cancer
Mr. Joseph Patronella - Volunteer with the Port Arthur International Seafarers' Center
Fr. Patrick Collins - Cruise Ship Priest who has a cyst on the sciatic nerve on his leg.
For our Gulf Fishers, Shrimpers, Crabbers and Oystermen, that God will bless them with a fruitful harvest this year.
For all those in pirate infested waters that God will protect them.
For those who have fallen into piracy, that they will find better, honest ways of sustaining their families, and turn away from a life of crime.
|
Join AOS USA Today!
To join AOS USA simply click on the following link:
| |
 Thank God, the Well is Capped!
Since April 20, the people along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico have mourned, prayed, and worked to save their coasts and fisheries. With the announcement by President Obama, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Energy Secretary Steven Chu that the Macondo well has been permanently plugged, the impact mitigation chapter has been completed, and the recovery chapter has begun.
I want to thank those of you who have made contributions to our Relief Fund. We have a little more than $1,200 in that fund, and are working with our contact in Golden Meadow, Louisiana to direct twelve $100.00 gift cards to needy Catholic fishing families. Our prayer is that this will be a small sign to these families of our prayers and concern for them.
National Fisherman magazine has done a great job in explaining the effects of the oil spill from a fisherman's perspective. Below is a link to their September article, Some Call it Opportunity. In addition, I have scanned their July article, Their Gulf Pain: fishermen battle to Contain an Oil Spill that threatens Life as It is Known on the Gulf of Mexico. Since this article is not on the web, I would be happy to send you the scanned version if you drop me an email to aos-beaumont@dioceseofbmt.org.
The Administrative Board of AOS USA has prepared a Resolution of Solidarity With the People of the Sea of the Gulf of Mexico. It has been posted to the web site, and is reprinted in its entirety below. We encourage all our members both to reflect upon it, and distribute it at their local centers, diocesan newspaper, and well as industry friends.
The resolution expresses concern about the economic impact that the deepwater drilling moratorium will have on the thousands of Gulf Coast oil rig workers and merchant mariners who service the offshore oil industry from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Recently, the federal government issued an inter-departmental report on the anticipated economic impact that the moratorium will have on Gulf of Mexico oil rig workers and merchant mariners. The report notes that between 8,000 to 12,000 workers may temporarily lose their jobs because of the moratorium.
Finally, it is great news for those of our members who have seafarer centers. Dave Heindel, the Secretary-Treasurer of the Seafarers International Union was elected on August 6, 2010, to be the head of the Seafarers' Section of the International Transport Workers Federation. AOS USA now has a very good friend heading up this very important section of the ITF.
Finally, the Administrative Board of AOS USA will be meeting in Washington, D.C. at the end of October. Please keep us in your prayers as we discern the future challenges that we will have, and the initiatives that we should put forth.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Fr. Sinclair Oubre, J.C.L.
President
|
|
|
AOS - USA Expresses Appreciation and Solidarity With the People of the Sea of the Gulf of Mexico in Light of the Explosion and Sinking of the MODU Deepwater Horizon
In 1997, Pope John Paul II called on the Apostleship of the Sea to be " . . . concerned with the specific pastoral care of the people of the sea . . . " He noted that the people of the sea include seafarers and maritime personnel, including oil rig workers. (Motu Proprio Stella Maris, Title II).
The Apostleship of the Sea of the United States of America expresses its ongoing prayers and condolences to the families and friends of oil rig workers killed on April 20, 2010, when the drilling vessel Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. We also express our ongoing prayers and solidarity to the 115 rig workers who survived the explosion, and are presently recovering from the physical and emotional trauma that each person suffers.
In solidarity with the Confraternity of Our Lady Star of the Sea and all men and women of good will, the Apostleships of the Sea - USA prays daily for the ongoing efforts to control the well, recover oil, mitigate environmental damage to the Gulf waters, marine life, coastal marshes, and beaches.
The Apostleship of the Sea - USA also wishes to acknowledge the skill and courage of the US seafarers who were the first responders, rescued those in the water, coordinated air rescue with US Coast Guard aircraft, and remained on scene fighting the raging fires until the Deepwater Horizon slipped below the surface.
These seafarers, joined by hundreds of other fellow mariners and Gulf fishermen, have worked, often in challenging conditions, to skim, corral, burn, disperse, and shuttle recovered oil to shore.
Recalling the motto of the US merchant marine, "In Peace & War," the Apostleship of the Sea - USA recognizes that in the peace of the Gulf of Mexico, the merchant marine responded, mitigated the environmental impact, played an integral part in capping the well, and will continue the work of recovery for many months ahead.
The Apostleship of the Sea - USA expresses its prayers for US mariners in the Gulf and all US merchant mariners in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon incident. With the implementation of a moratorium on deepwater drilling, and a call by some congressional leaders for a repeal of the Jones Act that is so much the life blood of US merchant mariners, we share with you your anxiety and concern for the future of your job and profession.
Finally, this has been the greatest environmental disaster in US history, and calls all of us to reflect on the decisions and practices that led to it. We wish to echo Pope Benedict XVI's concerns for the environment as he expressed them in his third encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, "The environment is God's gift to everyone, and in our use of it we have a responsibility towards the poor, towards future generations and towards humanity as a whole." (Paragraph 48)
Pope Benedict also states, "Questions linked to the care and preservation of the environment today need to give due consideration to the energy problem. The fact that some States, power groups and companies hoard nonrenewable energy resources represents a grave obstacle to development in poor countries . . . The international community has an urgent duty to find institutional means of regulating the exploitation of nonrenewable resources, involving poor countries in the process, in order to plan together for the future." (Paragraph 49)
In closing, The Apostleship of the Sea - USA prays that in the aftermath of this ecological tragedy, that all Americans will recognize our responsibilities and call for ecological stewardship in future domestic and international energy development.
Text of AOS USA Resolution On line |
 Some call it Opportunity: Louisiana's cleanup fleet has grown with spill
An armada of shrimping vessels, 60- and 70-foot double riggers, their future uncertain, set out to perform tasks they and their captains had never dreamed of doing.
Now there are hundreds, a virtual navy of fishing boats keeping back the waves of oil gushing for months from the Deepwater Horizon spill site in the Gulf of Mexico and performing other tasks vital to survival of and recovery from the disaster.
They are components of the Vessels of Opportunity program developed by BP. It was designed to keep fishermen working while the spill kept them from fishing, and minimizing the impact of oil that threatened nurseries for shrimp and other sea life.
READ MORE |
|
Estimating the Economic Effects of the Deepwater DrillingMoratorium on the Gulf Coast EconomyInter-Agency Economic Report
September 16, 2010
Evidence on employment, unemployment and unemployment insurance (UI) claims in the parishes most affected by the deepwater drilling moratorium indicates that there have not been
large increases in unemployment or decreases in employment in these parishes. These data do not indicate that there has been no employment impact associated with the drilling moratorium,
but they do suggest that any losses have not been large to date, since significant losses would have shown up in the employment, unemployment and UI claim activity data.
Based on conversations with a number of rig operators along with other publicly-available information, we estimate that during the six-month period of the moratorium average employment of rig workers in the Gulf of Mexico fell by about 2,000. Total spending by drilling operators is estimated to decline $1.8 billion over the six-month period. This direct reduction in spending by the rigs impacts employment in the industries that supply the Gulf drilling industry and then in all other industries affected by declines in consumer and business spending. To capture all of these related employment changes, we apply a multiplier to the direct reduction in spending in order to estimate the total decline in Gulf Coast employment as a result of the moratorium.
We estimate that the six-month moratorium may temporarily result in up to 8,000 to 12,000 fewer jobs in the Gulf Coast. These jobs would not be permanently lost as a result of the
moratorium; most would return following the resumption of deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
For reasons described in the report, we expect this impact to be more heavily concentrated in smaller businesses than in the larger companies operating in the Gulf Coast. These estimates are lower than estimates from earlier studies. There are several reasons for the difference, but a primary reason is that many deepwater drilling operators and contractors have retained most of their employees. Earlier studies assumed that all employees would be let go.
READ MORE
|
|
 SIU's Heindel Elected ITF Seafarers' Section Chair
SIU Secretary-Treasurer David Heindel unanimously
was elected chair of the Seafarers' Section at the International
Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) Seafarers Conference during the
group's gathering on Aug. 6, which was part of the ITF's quadrennial
Congress (convention) in Mexico City. Heindel becomes the first American
to hold the position since the late SIU Executive Vice President John
Fay, who was the first American to ever serve as chair. Fay served from
1995 to 2000.
Heindel will oversee the efforts of the most powerful
and progressive section within the ITF, dealing with such subjects as
the flag-of-convenience (FOC) campaign, piracy, the safety of mariners,
and many others. He told the body, representing maritime unions from
around the world, that he was honored to head the Seafarers' Section. He
said he looks forward to continuing on the work already underway as
well as to facing upcoming challenges.
Among those challenges is
the ongoing problem with piracy. An SIU-initiated motion condemning
piracy and its impact on mariners passed during the Seafarers Conference
and later was approved by the whole ITF convention. The motion states a
belief "that more needs to be done to protect the world's seafarers
carrying out their duties serving on merchant ships." It points out the
trauma being inflicted not just on the mariners but also upon their
families....
READ MORE
|
|
Read & View More about the Oil Spill
|
|
|
