Prayer Requests:
For the many Filipino Seafarers who are currently at sea, and do not know the status of their families at home, or the status of their homes, due to inability to make contact with them in the aftermath of the Typhoon.
For the Cadets at the Newman Club at New York Maritime Academy , who will be on retreat Nov 15-17.
For the repose of the Soul of Fr. Anthony Hannick, Cruise Ship Priest Member, who passed away recently. Fr. Hannick was from Ireland, and was known for bringing several priests into the AOS-USA Cruise Ship Priest Program to serve the People of the Sea. We thank God for the work of this good Priest.
For the hundreds of refugees and ferry travelers who have died in the last three weeks in maritime disasters in Nigeria and off the Coast of Lampedusa.
For the thousands of Indian Fishing Families impacted by the Typhoon.
For the 19 missing crew members of the M/V Chenglu 15, lost off the South Korea Coast on October 14.
For the continued healing of our AOS USA past vice president, Chris Fogarty, who is now home and undergoing therapy.
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Join AOS USA Today!
To join AOS USA simply click on the following link:
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Additional Funding for Typhoon Relief
Additional funding options are available. We are sending this second e-mail of the day to share this with you, along with other updates.May Our Lady Star of the Sea continue to watch over all those affected by Typhoon Haiyan. Doreen M. Badeaux
Secretary General
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ISWAN Funding available for Free Communications for Seafarers
Editor's Note:
Fr. Bruno Ciceri with AOS Vatican shares the following news from ISWAN with all AOS Port Chaplains, and encourages you to apply directly to ISWAN if your Center will need assistance in the following:
ISWAN has secured an additional US$62,000 for the Seafarers Emergency Fund from 3 funders to provide free communications for Filipino seafarers back home from seafarer centres.
Interested Seafarers' Centers should apply to the Seafarers Emergency Fund for this funding.
Please send short applications, explaining how the funds are going to spent with bank account details to :
[email protected]
Please let me know if you need any further information,
Best regards
Roger
Roger Harris
Executive Director
International Seafarers' Welfare & Assistance Network (ISWAN)
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Typhoon Victims in Your Backyard!
Most people still have yet to truly fathom that many people who have been affected by this Typhoon are in their backyard. This is a story that is important for our AOS Port Chaplains, AOS-USA Cruise Ship Priests, AOS-USA Mariner Members and others to help people understand. We encourage you to tell your story to your local supporters, news media and your Diocesan newspaper. Help them understand these people are in their midst and can use their help and their kindness. Here in Port Arthur, we shared the following with supporters of our local Center, the Port Arthur International Seafarers' Center:
All of us have seen the horrific scenes from the Philippines in the news, in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan.
What you may not have heard is that many people who have been affected by this Typhoon are in your backyard.
If you jogged the seawall this morning and saw a ship at the Port of Port Arthur, there were guys on that ship affected by the typhoon.
If you were at Best Buy last night, you might have seen 3 young men buying computers. You might have even thought they were just spending money losely, but they were trying to get laptops or i-pads in hopes of getting news from home via Skype. If you were working in one of the Refineries today, you saw the ships docked, and perhaps you saw guys getting a ride in the Seafarers' Center van and heading out of the gate. But here's the rest of the story. Most of the seafarers that we see in our area are from the Philippines. The Philippines is one of the largest suppliers of merchant mariners for the entire worldwide maritime industry. Typhoon Haiyan was bigger than Katrina or Ike and went through areas with buildings far less able to handle hurricane force winds than our buildings. And though they tried to evacuate, when you consider that the Philippines is a country made up of thousands of islands, finding a place to hide from a Typhoon is pretty difficult. Whole communities were wiped off the map, along with homes, phone lines, internet lines, etc. So thousands of seafarers around the world are currently trying to figure out what has happened to their families, their friends and loved ones...and their homes. And they have to try to do this between their watches. But this task is made almost insurmountably difficult because so many communities have been destroyed and the communication system is down. So what can we do? Primarily, we offer our time and presence. And if we can provide any helpful information, we do so. So we provided links on the web to maps of the distressed areas. We provided websites that have places to look up people's names, much as New Orleans had after Hurricane Katrina. Yesterday, our Ship Visitor Alvin Adams downloaded a couple of lists for the guys. One is a list of known survivors. The other, a list of known casualties. The guys were quick to want to see them, and to bring them back to the ship to share with others currently on watch. One of the guys asked..."Is this list true?" All I could answer was "It's the best that we have. Your country is trying to do their best to gather names of known survivors and deceased. They keep updating it, and we'll keep printing out current lists. But if you don't see a name on the survivor list, don't give up hope." This particular guy "Jo Jo" was from the pellet ship at the Port of Port Arthur. He was from one of the areas worst hit, and mentioned that some of the guys still on watch onboard ship were also from his area. He just quietly stared as the 5:30 National News reported on the Philippines. The other guys stopped playing pool, stopped texting and just stared at the mess they were seeing before them on T.V. It was the first telecast that they had been able to see of the storm. After the news cast, Jo Jo went into the communications room and sat quietly texting. I assume he was looking for family. Today, Fr. Sinclair went onboard to say Mass for the crew, and they were very appreciative to have time to pray for their families and countrymen.
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Crew of Lowland Breeze after Mass onboard ship,
with Ship Visitor Alvin Adams on right.
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And then came one of the brightest moments of the day. Tammy Domingue, our Director phoned. She had transported some of the US Mariners onboard the Seabulk Arctic which is currently at Valero. One of the regulars, Ricky, handed her a $100 bill and said, "Ms. Tammy if any Filipino Seafarers need a phone card or sim card to call home, you just give it to them. I'm buying!"
Nice!
So, that's another day in the life of the Seafarers' Center. Your support to our Center allows us to be there for these men and women when there is little that can be done for them, other than to offer them a place to come together, watch the news, try to phone home, and just be with people who acknowledge what you're going through.
Oh yeah...and Tammy and her crew? They had all kinds of munchies and "comfort food" for the guys. We are in the South after all!
Doreen M. Badeaux President of the Board Port Arthur International Seafarers' Center
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AOS Special Fund for the Philippines
From the Vatican , November 13th, 2013
Prot. n. 7423/2013/AM
Re: AOS special Fund for the Philippines
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Once again, we have witnessed the catastrophic power of the nature that in less than one month hit the same area twice (Central - Southern Visayas) in the Philippines . On October 15th, a devastating earthquake and then on November 7th, the Typhoon Haiyan hit the Nation, sweeping away people and property in its course. The death toll is in the thousands, while the survivors struggle to put together what is left of their lives.
Our prayers and solidarity go to all the Filipino seafarers miles away from their loved ones, not knowing their fate. We praise many of our AOS Centers around the world that have provided free telephone cards and internet access to allow Filipino seafarers to contact their families. Many of our AOS chaplains have celebrated Masses for the deceased, and have helped the seafarers make sense of such devastation and turmoil.
We appreciate that Carnival Cruise has requested AOS deploy Catholic chaplains on board of several of their ships to support Filipino crews.
The great family of AOS would like to show its closeness and manifest its solidarity to the Filipino people. Therefore, as it was done for the tsunami that struck the coast of Japan in 2011, the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, which is responsible for the overall direction of the Apostleship of the Sea, has decided to set up a special fund with an initial contribution 10,000 (ten thousands) US dollars. The fund will support long-term reconstruction projects, to be realized in cooperation with AOS - Philippines , benefiting the people of the sea in the affected areas when, after the initial weeks of emergency, people will have to return to their "normal" life.
Attached, you will find the instructions for your donations in US$ or in Euros (enclosure).
Bank Transfer Document
Please be kind enough to inform our office ([email protected]) of any transfer of funds.
We would also be grateful if you could share this initiative, giving it all the exposure that you deem fits. In advance, we express our sincere thanks for your support and generosity, asking Mary, Star of the Sea, to bless this initiative.
Antonio Maria Card. Vegli�
President
X Joseph Kalathiparambil
Secretary
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Stuck in Duluth, Searching for Haiyan Survivors Courtesy:WDIO.com
As a port city, Duluth gets many visitors from around the world.
Right now, there is a group of people working on ships from the Philippines.
They're staying at the Seafarers Center in Duluth and working furiously to find their families after Super-Typhoon Haiyan.
"There's one young man who is waiting to hear about his brother-in-law, and a couple of cousins," said Tom Anderson, director of Seafarers Ministry. "Still don't have word."
"Maybe I can go home the first week of December," said Gohnray Abelges, a sailor from the Philippines whose almost done with his contract. "I hope I see him soon."
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Important Upcoming Events for AOS USA Members
World Fisheries Day November 21, 2013
Houston Maritime Ministry Training School Feb 9-21, 2014 Houston, TX http://www.venturecd.net/SeafarersCenter.org/Application.htm
AOS-USA Annual Conference April 29 - May 2, 2014 Corpus Christi, Texas
National Maritime Day May 22, 2014
National Day of Remembrance and Prayer for Mariners May 24, 2014 12:10 pm Mass Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception Crypt Church 400 Michigan Ave. N.E. Washington, DC 20017-1566
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