The pastor of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church recently traveled to Amsterdam and left on a cruise ship to not only sit back and relax, but deliver Mass as well. As a member of the Apostleship of the Sea of the United States of America, and it's national secretary, he served as the Catholic minister aboard the M.S. Eurodam, part of the Holland America Cruise Line. During the voyage, he was considered a crew member, but said he was treated as a passenger.

"It was very much a vacation for me," Reynolds said.

Reynolds left Amsterdam on Aug. 27 and returned to New York on Sept. 12 after visiting several cities in Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. In addition to delivering a daily Mass, he also performed burial at sea, something he have never performed before.

A Catholic man on board had the cremated remains of his wife and wanted to have a burial at sea.

"I don't customarily travel with the Catholic funeral book with me, the Catholic Funeral Rite," he said. "I wouldn't have occasion to take that with me. It's another big book, it's more weight, burden to carry with me."

Thankfully, Reynolds had copies of the passages on his laptop. He had crew members print off the passages for him and also had them place them in a three-ring binder so they wouldn't blow away.

Reynolds thought the service might take place above deck, but it actually took place in the area of the ship where they keep the ropes that tie the ship to the dock. The room had holes where the ropes would be pulled out and that's where the box of ashes was dropped from the ship.

Reynolds wasn't the only clergy aboard. On the ship was also a rabbi and a Protestant pastor. The cruise took place during the Jewish New Year, or Rosh Hashanah, and Reynolds attended that service, also something he had never experienced before.

"It was really something interesting for me to attend, a Jewish service," he said. "Thankfully, there was a seat in the back because I wouldn't know what to do."

Reynolds said the service consisted of scripture reading and song, but without instruments.

The ship consisted of about 2,000 passengers and 1,000 crew. The ship was about 960 feet long. Reynolds' services usually took place in two different places, but while not using them for Mass, the rooms would be used for bridge or entertainment and culinary demonstrations.

"All spaces on ships are used for multiple things," Reynolds said.

This isn't Reynolds first time serving as a priest aboard a ship, he said he's served in this capacity on a ship about 25 times.

"It's just a very interesting place to be and everybody's very pleasant and kind and nice and gracious and enjoying it and having a good time," Reynolds said. "People are very good."

Dear Fr Bill

Just a line to express my gratitude at your celebrating Mass for us passengers each day during the above voyage. It was something I seriously missed on a trip I'd done the year before on the "Celebrity Millennium".

I was at sea myself, becoming Chief Engineer before moving ashore to become a Surveyor of Ships for the government here in New Zealand, and it was one of your colleagues in charge of the Apostleship of the Sea "Mission" in Liverpool who took it upon himself to fill out the skeleton of my Catholicism learned at school, into a full blown commitment of faith which has lasted me down the years and lead my dear late wife to convert. That was Fr Cyril Brownbill - known like your goodself as 'Bill' - who has since moved on to receive his reward RIP. So I owe more than I know to the Apostleship of the Sea and which I was very happy to find is still around and present on the Eurodam in the personage of yourself.

 I don't have a high enough opinion of my self to go around blessing people right left and center but I know you will understand if I merely say thank you so very much for the work you do for seafarers and those associated with the sea, and may it continue for as long as you feel up to it.

With the administration of both a parish and the secretariat of the Apostleship of the Sea making demands on your time I do not expect you to reply. Thanks once more and
with kind regards!

Mike Donnellan

At the United States Coast Guard Academy, hundreds of cadets funneled from the bitter January cold into Leamy Hall to hear a personal address from Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Bob Papp, and this year to hear a different sort of speech.

"This year, I don't have a formal speech prepared for you," said Adm. Papp. "I thought tonight, rather than talking about lofty ideas and theoretical leadership, I'd talk about some practical matters to consider. I'm going to be very personal and candid tonight with you and hopefully at the end of it, you'll have gained something from it."

Adm. Papp proceeded to take the cadets on a virtual journey through his career, focusing on his experiences commanding the Coast Guard cutters Red Beech, Papaw, Forward and Eagle, and several important lessons he learned along the way.

Above all, Adm. Papp stressed the importance of utilizing the expertise and proficiency of the Chief's Mess.
"If you remember nothing else tonight, remember to use the Chief's Mess," said Adm. Papp. "That's a good start for all of you."

MEXICO CITY (AP) - When heavily armed marines and government tax agents stormed eight marinas on Mexico's Pacific and Caribbean coasts, boaters thought they were witnessing a major drug takedown.

The mostly American and Canadian retirees found out that the target was actually them - couples spending their golden years sailing warm-weather ports in modest 40-foot boats.

After inspecting more than 1,600 vessels in late November, the Mexican government's Treasury Department announced it had initiated seizure orders against 338 boats it accused of lacking a $70 permit. The office says it has four months to decide whether to release the boards or sell them at auction.

Many owners say they actually have the permit but were never asked to present it. Others say minor numerical errors in paperwork were used as grounds for seizure.

Some say they were away at the time and have never been officially notified at all, learning of the seizure only from local marina operators.

It is all part of a new effort by President Enrique Pena Nieto's administration to increase government revenues in a country with one of the worst tax-collection rates among the world's large economies. The push has drawn howls of protest from Mexicans upset about new sales taxes and levies on home sales. But few of the new measures were as unexpected or toughly enforced as what foreign pleasure boat owners call a heavy-handed crackdown over a minor permit, and they say it threatens a tourism sector Mexico has long sought to promote.

"They brought all these marines, with machine guns and stuff, and they kind of descended on the marina and everybody's going, 'Wow, there's a big narco thing going down here,'" said Richard Spindler, whose catamaran Profligate was impounded near Puerto Vallarta. "These are just retired people, 50-, 60-year-old retired people, mellow people. It was way over the top."

The document in question, known as a Temporary Import Permit, can be obtained from a Mexican government website and proves holders own their boats and promise not to leave them in Mexico or sell them here.

Many boat owners say they simply weren't around when authorities came by and slapped liens on the boats barring them from leaving Mexico. They say officials have not told them how they could remedy the situation.

One boater said marina operators warned that anyone who tried to leave would be hunted down. The owner, who expressed fear that speaking out by name could bring reprisals, said officials had given no written notice of seizure on their boat, and they had learned of it second hand from marina workers.

Hundreds of boats did present their papers on time and weren't impounded. Elizabeth Shanahan, who lives on her boat at a marina in the Pacific coast resort of Nueva Vallarta, said she had no trouble when authorities came through, and that fellow boaters who didn't initially have their papers in order were given 10 days to comply.

"It is the responsibility of the property owner, be it a boat or whatever, to know the laws of the country in which they are traveling and visiting," she said.

The Treasury Department and its tax agency refused to specify the size, value or nationality of boats that were impounded and did not respond to numerous requests for details or reaction to the boat owners' complaints.

Because authorities put no notices or chains on targeted boats, some foreigners in affected marinas are uncertain if their boats are on the impound list and fear their vessels might be seized if they tried to sail away even if they had paid the $70 tax.

"This is killing nautical tourism in a worse way than drug trafficking, because it's the government itself that is taking the yachts," said Enrique Fernandez, a member of Mexico's Association of Marinas.

A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, Mark C. Johnson, said in an email that U.S. officials are holding discussions on the issue with the Mexican government. Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development said it knows of three Canadians whose boats were seized.

Spindler, who has been sailing to Mexico for 36 years and publishes the sailing magazine Latitude 38, estimated that about 45 of the 53 boats at the marina where his boat was seized are owned by Americans or Canadians.

"Mexico wants and greatly supports nautical tourism," he said, but warned that the heavy-handed approach could put the sailing sector at risk.

"I'm getting all these letters from people now going: 'Well, that's it. I was going to go to Mexico, I was a little scared before, but now I'm not going to do it for sure,'" he said.

Paradoxically, Mexico may be punishing some of its biggest boosters - visitors who return each year and keep marinas and boatyards in work.

"This is the killer, these people are the greatest ambassadors for Mexico you have ever heard," Spindler said. "It's given Mexico a really black eye."