A little bit o' this, and a little bit o' that...
Dear Friends,
It has been a busy day around the AOS-USA office. On Monday, Deacon Patrick LaPoint from the Lake Charles Seafarers' Center and our Port Chaplaincy Board Member, phoned to let us know that a ship would be arriving in Port Arthur, with very special needs. The Captain had a massive heart attack onboard and died while the ship was at sea.
Late last night the ship arrived at the Port of Port Arthur and investigations started right away with CBP, Attorneys, P&I Clubs, etc all onboard. This morning, Fr. Sinclair and I boarded the ship to greet the crew, hear their story and offer a Mass, ship blessing, etc, Tomorrow morning, we will go back onboard for the Ceremony.
We are honored that the Vice President for our local Shrimpers' Association, Mrs. Vui Kim Tran, a Mariner Member of AOS-USA, will also come onboard for the ceremony. As a Catholic Mariner and a shrimper, Kim is very aware of the tragedies that can occur at sea, and made it very clear that she wants to go with us to pray for this Captain, his family and crew.
What a beautiful thing for one Mariner to offer to another Mariner!
Though the Captain is Hindu, we will have Hindus, Catholics and others praying for him and his family. In fact, the crew is quite diverse not only Denominationally, but culturally. On this one ship there are Indians, Filipinos, Bulgarians, Chinese and Russians. And yet, all clearly work well together and the ship is pristine and well run. It is in fact, a great model for how people of various countries, cultures and Faith lives should get along!
Throughout the day, our AOS Ship Visitor Alvin Adams, and the Director of the Port Arthur International Seafarers' Center, Ms. Jacqueline Boyden attended to the needs of the crew members including trips to local stores, phone card and sim card sales, and lots of phone calls home.
Later this afternoon, we had the opportunity to meet with one of the web designers for the upcoming new AOS-USA Website. (You may have noticed that our current site has changed, but is not fully functional.) We have contracted with a local Company AmeriCommerce, which will be able to move our entire mission forward in a way that we have never done.
It was a pleasure to meet a young man there who is a devoted, active Catholic, and is "super excited" to work on our site for us. In the process, he too is learning about maritime ministry, and I dare say, he is very proud to share this information with his other colleagues, some of whom are very active in their own Faiths. He is taking a very active role in re-creating our website, and I believe that each of you will be truly inspired by the new site once it comes online.
It is great to see a Catholic alive in their faith, and we are blessed to have him on our team!
I never thought that by speaking to a company about our website, that we would somehow be opening up an opportunity for evangelization of the workers creating that website, but it really is just that. This gentleman, and all those who are working with him are learning more about the Catholic Church and our unique area of ministry.
Where the Spirit leads....we will continue to follow!
Doreen M. Badeaux
Secretary General
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