 The Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Hurricane Season Begins on Friday
Though two tropical storms have already played havoc with the east coast of the United States, hurricane season actually begins this Friday, June 30, and concludes on Friday, November 30.
Living in city that was in the path of four hurricanes in three years (Rita, Humberto, Gustav, and Ike), and where the community evacuate three times during those three years, I look on hurricane season with a new wariness.
What I know is that over the next six months three to six communities along the US east coast, the US Gulf of Mexico, Mexico and Central America will be ravaged by devastating winds, and storm surges that will scrub away everything in its path.
At times like these, we can do only three things, prepare, pray, and stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters who are impacted by the violent winds and seas.
SPECIAL DEDICATION FOR FRIDAY'S MASS:
This Friday's Mass is an obligatory memorial for St. Justin Martyr. However, the ordo notes that Ritual Masses and Prayers for Various Needs and Occasions and Votive Masses, in cases of serious need or pastoral advantage are permitted at the discretion of the rector of the church or the priest celebrant.
I personally encourage our priest members to exercise the discretion, and use the Prayer for Various Needs & Occasions for an End to Storms (#37), or for Fine Weather (#36).
Finally, I invite all our members to pray prayers for protection from hurricanes and storms. I have prepared a list of prayers and posted them to the web, you may download them by CLICK HERE. This e-news will also carry a special prayer written by Fr. Al Volpe of Cameron, Louisana throughout hurricane season.
Also, I invite our members to join in solidarity with our sisters and brothers in the Confraternity of Our Lady Star of the Sea. Headquartered in Morgan City, Louisiana, and founded as an expression of thanking for Our Lady's protection from a 1970's hurricane, Carol Ackerman and her devoted members dedicate their prayers every year for Our Lady's protection. If you would like more information about the confraternity, or would like to join them in prayer, you can contact them at:
Our Lady Star of the Sea Confraternity
Central Headquarters
P.O. Box 609
Morgan City, LA 70381
Our Lady, Star of the Sea, pray for us.
Fr. Sinclair Oubre, J.C.L.
President |
An example of the information issued by a local Captain of the Port in preparation for the 2012 hurricane season.
Marine Safety Information Bulletin 06-12 May 22, 2012 HURRICANE SEASON BEGINS JUNE 1st
The 2012 Hurricane Season officially begins on June 1st. All facilities, vessels, service companies, and organizations in the Port Arthur Captain of the Port Zone should have their hurricane preparation plans completed prior to the beginning of hurricane season. If deep draft vessels expect to remain in port, an approved Heavy Weather Plan and Remaining in Port Checklist must be completed and submitted to MSU Port Arthur for approval at least 72 hours prior to the arrival of gale force winds.
Hurricane Planning Information, including the Remaining in Port Checklist for ships and tug/barges, is available at http://www.uscg.mil/d8/vtsportarthur/hurricanes.asp. From our experience with previous storms, the following recommendations are offered:
1. Deep draft vessels should depart the port for sea, when at all possible, well in advance of approaching tropical weather systems.
2. Commercial boat and barge tows that normally transit the Intracoastal Waterway should depart the area, when at all possible, or move as far inland as possible on our rivers and bayous in order to establish secure moorings. Special attention will be paid to tows with Certain Dangerous Cargo (CDC).
3. Facilities with storage tanks should take preventative action to secure their tanks by any appropriate means, including pressing up, flooding, or cutting holes.
4. Commercial fishing vessels should leave port when at all possible. Commercial fishing vessels that cannot leave port should find shelter as far north on our rivers and bayous as possible to increase their chances of surviving a tropical weather system. When Hurricane RITA, a Category Two storm, made landfall in 2005, not one of the approximately 80 commercial fishing vessels that were moored in the Sabine River south of Texaco Island survived without significant damage of sinking. However, fishing vessels that sought shelter on the upper Neches River during Hurricane IKE in 2008 suffered little or no damage.
5. In order to ensure continuity of Coast Guard operations in the event of a significant storm, MSU Port Arthur personnel will relocate to a secure area and establish a remote Command Post prior to arrival of the tropical weather system. Communications from the Command Post will be facilitated by any necessary means, including radios, mobile telephones, email, and Web site postings.
6. The Port Arthur Port Coordination Team (PCT), coordinated by MSU Port Arthur, which includes representatives from local facilities, boat operators, pilots, and other federal agencies, will be activated prior to the storm and hold daily conference calls before, during, and after the event. PCT members should network with their sub-contractors, vendors, and customers by any means available to facilitate information flow to greater maritime community.
This notice will be posted on the HOMEPORT website at http://homeport.uscg.mil. If you have any questions, please contact MSU Port Arthur at (409) 723-6500.
G. J. PAITL
Captain, U.S. Coast Guard
Captain of the Port
John Gardiner
Administrative Assistant
Vessel Traffic Service
MSU Port Arthur, Texas
409-719-5086
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Cardinal Vegliņ's Address on Women Migrants "Building bridges of opportunity"
ROME, MAY 24, 2012 - Here is an address given today by Cardinal Antonio Maria Vegliņ, president of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers, at the second in a series of "Town Hall Meetings on Migration," held at the Centro Studi Americani (American Study Center). The event is sponsored by the United States' embassy to the Holy See.
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Dear all, I am happy to be here with you today, upon invitation of His Excellency the Ambassador of the United States of America to the Holy See, joining this Town Hall Discussion on the particular vulnerabilities that face women migrants. My contribution is mainly focussing on the role of the Church to address women's migration issue, in my capacity as resident of the Dicastery of the Holy See that cares for the pastoral assistance of migrants and itinerant people. 1. Women's hope Women in forced migration, despite everything that has happened to them in their lives, respond to their situation with remarkable courage, resourcefulness and creativity. They believe wholeheartedly that the future offers change and possibilities, and are confident to reconstruct their lives. They are convinced that their children will be educated and successful. And it is visible in their smiles. ... the smiles that seemed to suggest "tomorrow will be better." 2. Women facing threats and violence However, each of them has faced a tragic situation full of brute force, violence and traumatic experiences. Most conflicts nowadays are civil wars, in which civilians are accounting for more than 80% of deaths. Women are increasing part of those who are forced to move. At present 43 million people fled their homes because of war or human rights violations, of which 80 percent are women, children and young people. They are facing special needs reflecting their situation. It is common that during the flight they lost one or more children, since they were running into the opposite direction. Women and girls have become the targets in the many conflicts, leading to abduction and brutality. Their vulnerability is deliberately exploited in order to dehumanise them, to create fear in the region and to disrupt daily life. That's why they are raped, and forced into sexual slavery. Its impact is not just on the individual's physical and psychological health, but is also felt at the family and community levels. Rape has been used strategically, as a weapon of war in attempts to destroy the opposing culture, leading to 'ethnic cleansing', and to control the territory. If women do not comply with their captors, they are often killed. READ FULL STATEMENT
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 American Values: A Waiver for the Ship, A Waiver for the Cargo, but No Waiver for the Crew
By Fr. Sinclair Oubre, J.C.L.President - AOS-USA
In upcoming issue of Sidelights
Those of us who have been engaged in seafarer welfare since September 11, 2001, have become rather jaded about the issue of seafarers accessing shore leave. Whether it was a seafarer in Brunswick, Georgia who was initially refused shore leave to go to a dentist because " . . . he was not bleeding or passed out on the deck," or more recently, a facility in Louisiana who regularly refused access to shore leave because it had not received a 24-hour notice of the crew wanting to go ashore, I thought I had heard all the ways that we could insult seafarers, and make them feel like terrorists.
However, in a recent issue of Professional Mariner, I discovered that foreign seafarers could simultaneously save an Alaskan community from freezing to death, and be such a threat to our national security, that in the middle of winter, they could not get a waiver from Customs and Border Protection to go ashore.
What I am speaking about is the powerful story of the efforts of our US maritime community, the US Coast Guard and the brave Russian crew of the T/S Renda. During the month of January, we watched the news daily of the slow progress that was being made by the cutter Healy and the ice-strengthened tanker Renda. By this time, the Maritime Administration had certified that there was no US-flagged ship available. It also gave a waiver from the Jones Act for a foreign vessel to load a cargo from one US port (Dutch Harbor) and deliver it to another US port (Nome). (The original plan was to load arctic diesel fuel in Japan on the voyage from Russia, but because of a storm, the vessel sailed on to Dutch Harbor, and loaded there.)
Finally, there were questions whether Renda's oil pollution plan was sufficient for a US voyage. As Alaska Business Monthly notes, " . . . an amendment to Vitus Marine's Oil Discharge Prevention and Contingency Plan was required by ADEC to 'include information specific to the T/V Renda and to cover ice operations,' was also expedited. ADEC shortened the public comment period from 30 days to seven and approved the amendment Jan. 5."
After expediting procedures, and obtaining waivers, The Renda and Healy departed Dutch Harbor, and ten days later, after plowing through more than 300 miles of ice, they arrived off Nome. The citizens of Nome were ecstatic on the arrival of these ships. Professional Mariner noted that "The National Guard made Sno-Cats available to transport Healy's crew to shore, where the residents of Nome gave them a hero's welcome."
However, it is the next sentence that demonstrated our new values.  Professional Mariner reported, "Though Renda's crew deserved equal credit, Garay said, immigration law prohibited them from going ashore."
Doug Stevenson of the Center for Seafarers Rights noted in 2004 that, "There are existing regulations in 8 C.F.R. 252.1(d) that authorize waivers for all or part of a crew. Neither the statutory or regulatory authority provide any criteria for granting visa waivers, but past waivers include instances where ships could not obtain a visa because there was no American consulate at its last foreign port, or because the ship received orders while at sea to sail to a United States port."
Why didn't anyone at the Department of Homeland Security respond to the human need in this situation? Was there a fear that they would run off into the frozen Alaskan winter and become undocumented aliens? Or was it just that the Russian seafarers were just not important enough for a government agency to take the time to do a waiver to recognize the great service they did for our citizens?
I am just glad that the citizens of Murmansk were more welcoming 70 years ago, when US mariners arrived at their port without Russian visas.
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| Prayer for Hurricane Season
O God, Master of this passing world, hear the humble voices of your children. The Sea of Galilee obeyed your order and returned to its former quietude; you are still the Master of land and sea. We live in the shadow of a danger over which we have no control. The Gulf, like a provoked and angry giant, can awake from its seeming lethargy, overstep its conventional boundaries, and invade our land and spread chaos and disaster. During this hurricane season, we turn to You, O loving Father. Spare us from past tragedies whose memories are still so vivid and whose wounds seem to refuse to heal with the passing of time. O Virgin, Star of the Sea, Our Beloved Mother, we ask you to plead with your Son in our behalf, so that spared from the calamities common to this area and animated with a true spirit of gratitude, we will walk in the footsteps of your Divine Son to reach the heavenly Jerusalem where a storm-less eternity awaits us.
Amen.
Originally dedicated to the victims of Hurricane Audrey in 1957. - Fr. Al Volpe, Cameron Parish, LA
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Apostolatus Maris Bulletin
N.111 2012/I
Please read the latest edition of the bulletin from the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People.
It shares information from AOS ministries around the world, and is helpful in understanding and appreciating the vast work of the AOS.
This bulletin also contains information on the upcoming AOS World Congress, which we encourage everyone to attend.
Registration ends soon! So please contact Sr. Myrna Tordillo, AOS National Director, if you have not yet registered.
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