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AOS USA Maritime Updates 

The Professional Association of Catholic Mariners, Cruise Ship Priests and Catholic Maritime Ministers.

 

October 2, 2015

In This Issue
Emergency Prayer Request for US Crew of EL FARO!
Sea Services Pilgrimage.
PrayingHands
    Prayer Requests:
 
For all the Cadets, Faculty and Staff at our Maritime Academies throughout the USA, as they begin a new school year.



For all seafarers who are just starting their careers, especially those who are struggling to find work in the current economic climate.



 




 
Prayer for Hurricane Season
By: Bishop Maurice Schexnayder

 (2nd Bishop of Lafayette)




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 calmness; 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 of Mexico, like a provoked and angry giant, can awake from its sleep, overstep its conventional boundaries, 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 passing of time. O Virgin, Star of the Sea, Our Beloved Mother, we ask you to plead with your Son on 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 stormless eternity awaits us. Amen.
  



A Seafarers' Prayer



O God, I ask you to take me into your care and protection along with all those who sail ships.
Make me alert and wise in my duties. Make me faithful in the time of routine, and prompt to decide and courageous to act in any time of crisis.
Protect me in the dangers and perils of the sea; and even in the storm, grant that there may be peace and calm within my heart.
When I am far from home and far from loved ones and far from the country that I know,
help me to be quite sure that, wherever I am, I can never drift beyond your love and care.
Take care of my loved ones in the days and weeks and months when I am separated from them, sometimes with half the world between them and me.
Keep me true to them and keep them true to me, and every time that we have to part, bring us together in safety and in loyalty again.
This I ask for your love's sake.
-Amen-
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


AOS PRAYER 
Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy upon all Seafarers.    
(1 Our Father)
(Hail Mary)
  
Our Lady, Star of the Sea, pray for us.
  
St. Peter, pray for us.
  
St. Andrew, pray for us.
  
Lord save us,  
or we perish.
 
 
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Some went down to the sea in ships,

doing business on the great waters; 

they saw the deeds of the Lord,

his wondrous works in the deep.

(Psalm 107:23-24)





Emergency Prayer Request for U.S. Crew Missing in Hurricane Joaquin     


Dear Friends,



At this time the US Coast Guard is searching for the crew of the US Crewed El Faro. Please join us in praying for the crew, their families and colleagues, and those who put themselves in harms way to search for them.



We encourage you to meditate on the words of the Naval Hymn, "Eternal Father Strong to Save" & follow it with the AOS Prayer located at the bottom of the E-news.

(First Verse and Merchant Mariners Verse)
Eternal Father, strong to save,

Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,

Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep

Its own appointed limits keep,

O hear us when we cry to thee

For those in peril on the sea!



Lord, stand beside all those who sail

Our merchant ships in storm and gale,

In peace and war their watch they keep

On every sea, on thy vast deep.

Be with them, Lord, by night and day,

For Merchant Mariners we pray.
May Our Lady Star of the Sea be with the crew, their families and colleagues, and those searching for them.



Doreen M. Badeaux

Secretary General
 


American Cargo Ship El Faro Missing with 33 Crew in Hurricane Joaquin 

Courtesy: GCaptain.Com  
MV El Faro.

Photo Courtesy of MarineTraffic.com/Capt. William Hoey
  
The U.S. Coast Guard has launched a search for a U.S.-flagged containership with 33 crewmembers aboard reported to be caught in Hurricane Joaquin, near Crooked Island, Bahamas.



The Coast Guard reported Friday that at approximately 7:30 a.m. Thursday, watchstanders at the Coast Guard Atlantic Area command center in Portsmouth, Virginia, received an Inmarsat satellite notification stating the 735-foot cargo ship El Faro was beset by Hurricane Joaquin while en route to San Juan, Puerto Rico, from Jacksonville, Florida. The notification said that the ship had lost propulsion and had a 15-degree list.



The crew reported the ship had previously taken on water, but that all flooding had been contained, the Coast Guard said.



El Faro is part of TOTE Maritime's fleet serving in the Puerto Rican trade.



The Coast Guard has launched an HC-130 aircrew out of Clearwater, Florida to search for the El Faro and its crew. Coast Guard watchstanders and rescue crews have so far been unable to reestablish communications with the El Faro crew, the Coast Guard reported Friday morning.



Two Air Force C-130 Hurricane Hunter aircrews have also attempted to locate and reestablish communications with the El Faro but so far any attempts have been unsuccessful. Coast Guard crews remain on scene and are continuing search efforts Friday by both air and sea.



Hurricane Joaquin grew to a powerful Category 4 storm on Thursday, battering the Bahamas with torrential rain, strong winds and storm surges. On late Thursday, Joaquin was centered about 75 miles (120 km) south of San Salvador, Bahamas with maximum sustained winds of 130 miles per hour (210 kph), the National Hurricane Center said in its advisory late on Thursday.



Tim Nolan, President of TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico issued the following statement regarding the situation with the El Faro:
"On September 29, the El Faro, one of TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico's two ships departed Jacksonville en-route to San Juan Puerto Rico. At the time of the El Faro's departure, the vessel's officers and crew were monitoring what was then Tropical Storm Joaquin. As of 720am EST on Thursday October 1, TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico lost all communication with the El Faro. The US Coast Guard was immediately notified and since then we have been unable to reestablish communication. There are a number of possible reasons for the loss of communications among them the increasing severity of Hurricane Joaquin.



TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico's primary concern is for the safety and well-being of the 33 individuals on board. We are working to ensure clear and frequent communications with their families and loved ones as we learn more.



We have reached out to the families of those impacted and have established open lines of communication to provide them with timely updates. Our thoughts and prayers are with the individuals and their families.



TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico is working closely with the US Coast Guard and all available resources to establish communication by whatever means possible."
The El Faro has been a part of Sea Star Line's fleet serving the Jones Act trade route between the U.S. and Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. Sea Star Line was previously an operating company within TOTE, Inc., but it was recently re-organized along with Totem Ocean Trailer Express, serving the Alaska market, under the TOTE Maritime brand.
The El Faro was originally built in 1975 and underwent a major overhaul in 2006. The ship was known as the Northern Lights.



Also on Thursday, the U.S. Coast Guard rescued 12 crewmembers who abandoned the Bolivian-flagged cargo ship Minouche   north of Haiti after the ship developed a severe list.


 


 Sea Services Pilgrimage - Oct 4

Courtesy: The National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton  


The National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton will welcome visitors on October 4 for its annual Pilgrimage for the Sea Services. Members of the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Merchant Marine, and The United States Public Health Service along with family members and friends are invited gather at the Basilica and celebrate a special mass at 3 p.m.



This event is held each year to honor Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton as Patroness of the Sea Services and ask for her intercession for all the men and women serving in our nation's Sea Services, and is the only event of its kind in the United States.  Each year, the Sea Services Pilgrimage draws hundreds of visitors to the Shrine for a Mass and dinner reception.



"This year we are honored to have Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio celebrate Mass," said Rob Judge, executive director of The National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. Archbishop Broglio oversees the diocese of Military Services, which supports and provides spiritual enrichment for those serving for our country. "It is an honor to have Admiral William Fallon, U.S. Navy (Retired) chair the Sea Services committee each year," said Judge. "We are blessed to have Admiral Fallon leading a renewed effort with the committee, who is instrumental in coordinating the annual event, in spreading devotion to Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton as the Patroness of the Sea Services."


For more details click:

 

    Star of the Sea Statue

 Join AOS-USA in saying the AOS Prayer each day!

  

Please take the time to say this pray with us each day:
 
Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy upon all Seafarers
 

(1 Our Father)

(Hail Mary)

 

Our Lady, Star of the Sea, pray for us.

St. Peter, pray for us.

St. Andrew, pray for us.

Lord save us, or we perish!

Important Upcoming Events for

AOS-USA Members




Sea Services Pilgrimage  

October 4, 2015



World Fisheries Day 
November 21, 2015

 

 
Houston Maritime Ministry Training School 
February 21 - March 3, 2016

Houston School Application



May God Bless you with Smooth Sailing throughout your day!

Contact Info

Doreen M. Badeaux
Secretary General
Apostleship of the Sea of the United States of America
1500 Jefferson Drive
Port Arthur, TX  77642-0646
PH:  409-985-4545
FAX:  409-985-5945


Apostleship of the Sea of the U.S.A. | 1500 Jefferson Drive | Port Arthur | TX | 77642