Dear Friends,

This weekend, I had the particular honor of traveling to San Francisco to present the Star of the Sea Award to Msgr. Michael D. Harriman.

 

All of our Cruise Ship Priest members know who he is, and what he does, but for those of you who do not know, I'd like to share with you, why the membership of AOS-USA unanimously voted to honor him with our highest award, while gathered at our recent conference.

 

For 32 years, Msgr. Harriman has volunteered his services to Holland America Line and placed priests onboard all of their Non-Alaskan sailings. He did this prior to the AOS-USA Cruise Ship Priest Program, so at that time, he also had the job of having to verify each priest as valid and in good standing, in addition to assigning them to cruise assignments, and sending their boarding vouchers and luggage tags, etc. He also did a great deal to help standardize the Mass supplies onboard and to ensure that the Mass was held in a dignified space.

 

Because of the diligent work that he did for Holland America Line, they did not have the problems that other cruise lines experienced with former priests, schizmatics and charletains going on board, and acting as Catholic priests onboard. But this was a serious problem on other cruise lines.

 

When AOS-USA was asked to formulate and facilitate the Cruise Ship Priest Program, Msgr. Harriman was an integral part of that process, and was in on the planning meetings from the beginning, since he was already running a very successful program.

 

AOS-USA was able to take away the work of screening and vetting priests for service onboard, and he continued to assign priests from the AOS-USA list onboard their Non-Alaskan cruises.

 

Msgr. Harriman did this work, all while being Pastor of St Cecilia's Catholic Parish in San Francisco, which is a large parish with a school. Like most priests, he has had many other "hats" to wear in addition to those two, but he kept the cruise ship ministry close to his heart and continued the work as a labor of love.

 

A couple of months ago, he shocked me by giving me a call and asking if AOS-USA could take on his work, as he is ready to retire from doing the assignments.

 

So, this weekend, I was honored to meet up with Deborah Meador from Holland America, so that HAL and AOS-USA could give Msgr. Harriman a proper thank you, in the presence of his parish family.

Thanks to another of our Cruise Ship Priests, Fr. Joe Landi, who is also stationed at St. Cecilia's, we were able to plan a nice send off for Msgr. Harriman.

 

Fr. Joe Landi and Msgr Harriman celebrate Mass at St. Cecilia's Catholic Parish in San Francisco on the Feast of Corpus Christi.

 

Deborah presented a special Volunteer Service Award from Holland America, and I had the honor of presenting the Star of the Sea Award to him.

Msgr. Harriman receives a special one of a kind Volunteer Service Award from Ms. Deborah Meador, of Holland America Line.

 

It struck me that presenting this award on the Feast of Corpus Christi was most appropriate. For 32 years, he helped put hundreds of priests onboard cruise ships with thousands of people on each. Their mission? To bring the Body of Christ to those onboard.  

 

For Catholics, Mass was available each day, on each ship, in the middle of the ocean, all around the world. But even for Non-Catholics, Ecumenical Services, Pastoral Care, and a welcoming smile from the ship's priests, was present. Literally, millions of people had access to the Body of Christ, in the middle of the ocean, because of his quiet work.

 

Join us in thanking him for his service to the People of the Sea!

Doreen M. Badeaux
Secretary General

As many of you know, our immediate Past President, Fr. Sinclair Oubre enjoys working onboard ships during his vacation time. He is an Able Bodied Seafarer with the Seafarers' International Union, and saves up his vacation time to go back to sea for a few weeks a year, when possible.

This month he is working onboard the Crowley Tugboat "Patriarch" which brings stores to San Juan, Puerto Rico from Jacksonville, Florida.

While at sea on the first Sunday, he said Mass in his room. But last Sunday some of the other crewmembers asked if they could attend Mass with him though they were not Catholic.  Chief Mate, Joseph Spicciani took this photo of Fr. Sinclair celebrating Mass, while Capt. Gregg Wolffis who is Baptist, reads from his Bible.

It was beautiful to see how they were all able to gather together to pray, while respecting each other's faith.

Seafarers often come together onboard ship from various Faiths, Cultures and Nationalities, yet they work together for the good of the ship. It's a beautiful lesson for the rest of the world!

 Broadcast of IUU Fishing & Seafood Fraud Committee of the National Ocean Council

Please check out the following links for lots of news in the fishing sector!

 

http://www.usfishlaw.com/ 

Dear Colleagues,

 

I am pleased to present Oceans Beyond Piracy's "The State of Maritime Piracy 2014", our fifth installment of the human and economic costs of maritime piracy.  At the following link you will find access to this year's report, the executive summary and report appendices. 

 

Click Here  for access to the report materials. 

 

Watch the short video below, for an overview of the impact of maritime piracy on seafarers.

 

 Please direct all media inquiries to Maisie Pigeon at MPigeon@oneearthfuture.org.

 

Best wishes,

 

Kellie Brandt

 

The work for a Cruise Ship Priest onboard ship can be as busy as one wants it to be. Recently Fr David Remy, AOS-USA Cruise Ship Priest Member, shared photos of a wonderful project he assisted with onboard.

The Crew of Royal Caribbean International's Legend of the Seas decided they wanted to provide a Toy Run for children in a Central American town. They enlisted Fr. Remy's help and it is apparent from the faces of the children that it was a great success!

Fr. David Remy introduces Santa Claus to the kids.

Crew Members of the Legend of the Seas paint faces of the children and make balloon animals for them.

Staff and Crew members of the Legend of the Seas prepare to bring Christmas joy to children in Central America.

Children enjoying their special day thanks to the Staff and Crew of the Legend of the Seas!

Ship's officers enjoyed the day along with other crew and staff!

Courtesy: Maritime Executive
Posted by: Joseph Fonseca
7 June 2015

 
Since being thrust onto the world stage, residents of a once obscure part of China have rallied round to help those affected by the sinking of a cruise ship, an outpouring of kindness in a country more used to worrying about a decline in public morals.

The 1.5 million people of Jianli, which sits on a bend of the mighty Yangtze River in the central province of Hubei, have offered free food, car rides and even hair-dressing services to the relatives, rescuers, officials and reporters who have rushed there after the ship carrying more than 450 people sank in a storm on Monday.

Residents have tied bright yellow scarves to their arms, car mirrors, buildings and gates to show solidarity with those impacted by the disaster.

"This is a way for us to show how much we care for those people, especially the families," said a taxi driver surnamed Luo, who had festooned his own car with billowing scarves.

"This is such an incredible tragedy and we want to be of service to others however we can."

A woman who asked only to be identified by her surname Wang is one of the organisers of an ad hoc group of volunteers who have fanned out through the city offering free meals, navigation help and other services.

"This is our duty to our country," she told Reuters on Thursday at a candlelight vigil for those killed in the shipwreck.

China's economic boom and the growing disparity between the rich and poor have made changing social values a contentious topic, with some lamenting what they see as materialism replacing morals.

Barely a day goes by without soul-searching over what some see as a moral numbness - whether over graft, the rampant sale of adulterated food or incidents such as when a woman gouged out the eyes of her six-year-old nephew in 2013 for unknown reasons.

Jianli's efforts have attracted high-profile attention.

The website of the ruling Communist Party's anti-corruption watchdog carried a series of comments from social media lauding taxi drivers for offering free rides to relatives "as soon as they hear a non-local accent".

Large-scale disasters have prompted similar outpourings in the past.

After the massive 2008 Sichuan earthquake, which killed more than 80,000 people, residents of cities like provincial capital Chengdu loaded up their cars with drinking water and instant noodles for the survivors, many in remote rural parts.  (Additional reporting by John Ruwitch; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

Courtesy: Workboat Magazine

Just for fun, check out the Workboat Magazine video below, and learn a little from the Captain of the Queen of the Mississippi.