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AOS World Congress Registration Deadline this Friday
Dear Friends,
We wish to remind you that the Deadline for Registration for the AOS World Congress is nearing. If you plan to attend as a part of the U.S. Delegation, you must submit your registration and the full fee to Sr Myrna's office by this Friday, June 15.
Registration Information from Sr. Myrna Tordillo, AOS National Director: AOS-USA encourages all those engaged in Catholic Maritime Ministry to attend the World Congress. If you are an active current member of AOS-USA, our AOS National Director welcomes you to submit your registration for this conference which comes only once every five years.
We look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible, as we join with our AOS brothers and sisters from around the world! Doreen M. Badeaux Secretary General |
Diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands (U.S.) Establishes New AOS Ministry!  | | Rev. Msgr. Antonio Verzosa, of the Diocese of Saint Thomas, Rev. Fr. Robert F. Higgins, of the Diocese of Charleston, South Carolina, and Jimmy Torrez of Carnival Dream. |
AOS-USA is pleased to announce that there is a new AOS Ministry blossoming in the Caribbean! The Diocese of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands has established a new AOS ministry. This is particularly exciting in that this Diocese is a major port of call for cruise ships, as well as merchant ships and fishing vessels. Our thanks and admiration goes out to Bishop Herbert Bevard, for his forward thinking, and for seeing the need that is in his Diocese. He has worked to put together a great team to really kick off this ministry in the right way. The Diocese has reached out to AOS-USA, the AOS National Director in the United States, and others for assistance. Fr. Robert Higgins, Port Chaplain to the Port of Charleston, South Carolina, and Diocesan Representative to the Apostleship of the Sea for the Diocese of Charleston, South Carolina, at the request of Most Reverend Herbert Bevard, Bishop of the Diocese of Saint Thomas in the United States Virgin Islands, was recently in Saint Thomas helping Bishop Bevard start the ministry to seafarers. Fr. Higgins, an AOS-USA Member, enlisted a former Criuse Ship Priest member Fr. Andy Riley to further assist the Diocese as they work to establish the ministry. AOS-USA welcomes our 4 new members from AOS St Thomas: Most Rev. Herbert Bevard, Rev. Msgr Antonio Verzosa, Rev. Msgr. Jerome Feudjio, and Mr. Emmanual Suaner. Please join us in welcoming them to maritime ministry, and in keeping them in prayer. May Our Lady Star of the Sea guide them in their work! |
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ICSW Announces new Seafarer Centers Directory
Dear Colleague,
We are pleased to announce that the latest edition of the Seafarer Centres Directory has now been printed and a number are being sent to your seafarer centre. The directories are free of charge and should be distributed to seafarers. We are aiming to get at least one on every ship.
The directory has been funded by the ITF Seafarers Trust and the ICSW deeply appreciates this. The ICSW would also like to thank iVitta mobile who have sponsored the directory.
Although the directories are free (and so is their transport ) there maybe local custom charges. Unfortunately, the ICSW is unable to pay these charges. The boxes of directories are labelled 'of no financial value'.
We have printed 50,000 of the directories and we expect a high demand for them. Please only re-order when you have distributed all of the ones you have received.
You can download a pdf of the directory from the ICSW website from here (see bottom of page).
The directory is also available as an online searchable database - please go to http://bit.ly/centredirectory
If you wish to make a correction to your entry in the next edition please email seafarersdirectory@icsw.org.uk. We will make a correction in the online database straight away.
Please contact Ray Barker or me if you need any further information, |
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Yours sincerely,
Roger Harris
Executive Director
ICSW
roger.harris@icsw.org.uk
+44 (0)300 012 4279 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +44 (0)300 012 4279end_of_the_skype_highlighting |
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Washington Watch: Lock Funding, TWIC in the Forefront
Courtesy: Workboat.com
Pamela Glass
June 7, 2012
It has been an especially busy week for inland waterways issues in Washington, D.C., with lock funding and TWIC topping the agenda.
The Senate Appropriations Committee has proposed a significant change in the cost-sharing arrangement for the Olmsted Locks and Dam project . This would free up funds for other navigation projects that faced closure due to funding shortfalls. Among the projects in peril is the Kentucky Lock addition, located about 22.4 miles from the confluence of the Tennessee and Ohio rivers, and the Chickamauga Lock and Dam replacement on the Tennessee.
Waterways groups have been pressing Congress over the past few months to find an interim solution so that all available funds in the Inland Waterways Trust Fund (IWTF) are not used to pay for Olmsted's estimated $3.1 billion in construction cost overruns.
The Senate panel's proposal would reduce the trust fund share of Olmsted from 50 percent to 25 percent for one year only in 2013, according to the Waterways Council Inc. This would free up $72 million in the next fiscal year.
"The Senate's decision to alter the cost-share on Olmsted is welcome news to the industry," said WCI spokeswoman Debra Colbert. The industry pays for half of the federal costs of new construction and major rehabilitation projects on priority navigation projects.
"With the significant cost escalation at Olmsted, no other project on any part of the system can be meaningfully funded and therefore, the nation does not reap the transportation benefits that could result from these critical projects,"Colbert said.
"It is unacceptable to me that Chickamauga Lock could close because of the IWTF's failure," said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn, ranking minority member of the Appropriations subcommittee on energy and Water Development who proposed the change. The lock has been in service for the last 73 years and is now considered structurally deficient.
A House bill, however, does not contain the cost-sharing change. The fate of the provision will be decided later this year by either a joint House-Senate conference committee, or by congressional negotiators developing a year-end catch all funding measure.
Also on Capitol Hill, the House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday approved legislative language that would extend the validity of TWIC cards that are set to expire in October. If enacted, the legislation would allow workers to continue to use their TWICs for the next two years.
"Without DHS holding up its end of the bargain by deploying the card readers, TWICs will essentially remain expensive flash-passes, and a vital security vulnerability will remain exposed," said Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss, ranking member of the security panel. "The strong unanimous message that the committee put out today will boost efforts by me and others to get relief for workers and keep pressure on DHS to issue the reader rule as soon as possible."
The new reader rule is currently under review at the Coast Guard.
In another positive development, the Inland Waterways Users Board met for the first time in 14 months this week, convening in Pittsburgh. The IWUB's work had been suspended last April over a dispute within the Obama administration over the appointment of board members.
The situation has since been resolved, and the board now has a new chairman, Larry R. Daily, president of Alter Logistics Inc. He is one of three other carry-overs who served on the previous board.
The IWUB now operates under a new charter that allows the secretary of defense to invite 11 "primary commercial users" from inland or intracoastal barge and towing companies, or companies that ship goods on the waterways to designate"an individual" to represent their interests.
Topping the board's agenda at the Pittsburgh meeting was discussion about the ballooning cost of the Olmsted project, and the future of funding for the inland system. "We are very gratified that this important body is functional again," said WCI's Colbert.
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News items from The Shipping Tribune
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Several firsts in the past few days as the ongoing conflict with Somali hijackers continues. They include an initial conference in London, the first claim of assistance given by the Iranian Navy to a US flagged vessel and, perhaps most ... |
THE drunk captain of a ship which collided with a passenger ferry in Northern Ireland, causing more than £1 million of damage, has been jailed for a year. Miroslaw Pozniak, 55, admitted crashing his cargo boat while three times over... |
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The United States will shift a majority of its warships to the Asia-Pacific region by 2020, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Saturday, giving the first details of a new U.S. military strategy. Fleshing out details of a strategic pivot |
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Get on Boared the Good Ship OSCAR
Courtesy Bow Waves
Harriet Fergusam writes:-
On Thursday 24th May the shipping industry will hold its first industry wide trading day, when companies and individuals from across the shipping community will raise vital funds for Great Ormond Street Hospital by chartering, insuring and filling a virtual ship, The M/V OSCAR. The money raised will help to fund a Seas and Oceans themed floor at the hospital, where clinical investigations will take place for children with heart and lung conditions.
The inaugural OSCAR Trading Day is part of the OSCAR (Ocean and Shipping Community Advancing Children's Health and Research) campaign. The campaign was the inspiration of Phil Parry, Chairman of Spinnaker Consulting Ltd, whose son Oscar received lifesaving treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital. To date the campaign has raised £400,000 and it is hoped that this trading day will help to raise another £100,000 to reach the campaign's £500,000 target.
On the trading day, broking houses, insurers, the legal industry and individuals from across the sector will be encouraged to go online and 'fill', 'insure' and 'charter' the virtual ship by making donations. The Good Ship OSCAR will be docked at www.oscartradingday.org and it is hoped that as well as raising funds, the vessel will carry the word of the OSCAR campaign across the oceans.
Phil Parry explained, "Having worked in the shipping industry over the past 20 years I saw an opportunity to bring the shipping community together to raise funds for the vital work of Great Ormond Street Hospital and UCL Institute of Child Health. I know the fantastic work of the hospital first-hand as they saved my son Oscar's life, and am delighted that the OSCAR campaign can unite us in helping to improve the lives of some of the world's sickest children."
Tim Johnson, Executive Director at Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity said, "We are hugely grateful to Phil and the OSCAR Campaign board for pulling together the international shipping community in support of the hospital. Great Ormond Street Hospital treats children not only from the UK but from all over the world and it is our hope that the Trading day will not only raise funds but also capture the imagination and heart of the industry"
To find out more about the OSCAR Trading Day visit
http:// www.gosh.org/oscar
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| And now, for a little Catholic humor.....
After watching sales falling off for three straight months at Kentucky Fried Chicken, the Colonel calls up the Pope and asks for a favor. The Pope says, "What can I do? "The Colonel says, 'I need you to change the daily prayer from , 'Give us this day our daily bread' to 'Give us this day our daily chicken.' If you do it, I'll donate 10 Million Dollars to the Vatican." The Pope replies, "I am sorry. That is the Lord's prayer and I cannot change the words." So the Colonel hangs up .
After another month of dismal sales, the Colonel panics, and calls again. "Listen your Excellency. I really need your help. I'll donate $50 million dollars if you change the words of the daily prayer from 'Give us this day our daily bread' to 'Give us this day our daily chicken.' And the Pope responds, "It is very tempting, Colonel Sanders. The church could do a lot of good with that much money. It would help us to support many charities. But, again, I must decline. It is the Lord's prayer, and I can't change the words." So the Colonel gives up again.
After two more months of terrible sales. The Colonel gets desperate. "This is my final offer, your Excellency. If you change the words of the daily prayer from, 'Give us this day our daily bread' to 'Give us this day our daily chicken' I will donate $100 million to the Vatican." The Pope replies,
"Let me get back to you."
So the next day, the Pope calls together all of his bishops and he says, "I have some good news and I have some bad news. The good news is that KFC is going to donate $100 million to the Vatican." The bishops rejoice at the news. Then one asks about the bad news. The Pope replies, "The bad news is that we lost the Wonder Bread account." |
| 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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