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AOS USA Maritime Updates 

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

 

Apil 3, 2016

In This Issue
AOS-USA Assists Shrimpers Seeking on-going Professional Development.
Progress May just return us to Bad Old Days.
More than 100 Graduate from SUNY Maritime!
El Faro Hearings Begin with Tears.
Amped Up!
River Stars!
Join AOS-USA in saying the AOS Prayer daily!
Upcoming Events
PrayingHands
    Prayer Requests:
 




For the repose of the soul of Louise Baker, wife of John Baker, with the International Longshoremen's Union and the Cleveland Port Council.










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



 
Prayer of St. Basil of
Caesarea (ca. 330-379)  


Steer the ship of my life, Lord, to your quiet harbor, where I can be safe from the storms of sin and conflict. Show me the course I should take. Renew in me the gift of discernment, so that I can see the right direction in which I should go. And give me the strength and the courage to choose the right course, even when the sea is rough and the waves are high, knowing that through enduring hardship and danger in your name we shall find comfort and peace.
  



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)





Divine Mercy At Sea    
 
Dear Friends,



On this Divine Mercy Sunday, we share information which was kindly passed on to us from our friends at the Newman Center at the US Merchant Marine Academy, with the request that it is shared with all mariners at sea.



It is gratifying to see Cadets, Midshipmen and Faculty
sharing such information with one another for those at sea.



Indeed, at the heart of AOS Ministry, is assisting and encouraging mariners to be Christ-Bearers to one another.  When mariners themselves take responsibility for their own spirituality, and take the extra step to be faithful witnesses of Christ's love and mercy to others onboard, our mission is accomplished.



For those who cannot go to church or the seriously ill, and in addition, sailors working on the vast expanse of the sea; the countless brothers and sisters, whom the disasters of war, political events, local violence and other such causes have been driven out of their homeland; the sick and those who nurse them, and all who for a just cause cannot leave their homes or who carry out an activity for the community which cannot be postponed, may obtain a plenary indulgence on Divine Mercy Sunday, if totally detesting any sin, as has been said before, and with the intention of fulfilling as soon as possible the three usual conditions, will recite the Our Father and the Creed before a devout image of Our Merciful Lord Jesus and, in addition, pray a devout invocation to the Merciful Lord Jesus (e.g. Merciful Jesus, I trust in you).



If it is impossible that people do even this, on the same day they may obtain the Plenary Indulgence if with a spiritual intention they are united with those carrying out the prescribed practice for obtaining the Indulgence in the usual way and offer to the Merciful Lord a prayer and the sufferings of their illness and the difficulties of their lives, with the resolution to accomplish as soon as possible the three conditions prescribed to obtain the plenary indulgence.



For more information, see the following link:

https://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/mercy/feast.htm 




Doreen M. Badeaux

Secretary General


Easter at Sea  
 


Holy Week and Easter are very busy seasons for the Cruise Ship Priest Program. AOS-USA has worked to place priests onboard Holland America Line, MSC Cruises, Royal Caribbean International and Seabourn Cruise Line throughout this season.  We thought we'd share a few notes from our priests onboard
 
I just wanted you to know that I had a fantastic time on the cruise this Easter!  It was a real learning experience and I will have to write down some notes to myself for future use.  I had two Easter Masses, one on Saturday night at 10:15pm and the other on Sunday at 8am.  There was a Quincinera aboard so I went and offered a blessing at the family's request.  And I had 4.5 hours of confessions on Sunday with people who signed up from the masses!  I also had an opportunity to talk with a totally un-churched woman!



I look forward to being free to take another cruise in the future!

Thank you again for all of your help!



Fr. Patrick Tobin O.P.

 Minneapolis, MN



I enjoyed a wonderful trip onboard the NOORDAM. I very much enjoyed the ministry to the many who came to daily Mass. Mass attendance was robust  and steady with a very appreciative congregtaion. From them there were numerous comments of appreciation. A number of people asked to go to Confession. These we did immediately after Mass in the same room in which Mass was celebrated. Also, the crew Masses were a joy, even though the 11:15 pm schedule is a killer for a non-night owl.   
One elderly woman, traveling with her mother, died on Day Three. They are not Catholic. Nevertheless, I was paged. I spent time with the daughter, and together we prayed next to her mother. She was grateful for this pastoral attention.
 
Fr. Wilbur Davis with crewmembers after the Crew Mass onboard NOORDAM.
Each night for dinner I would sit at a different table of 6, 8 or 10. These leisurely times provided excellent conversation opportunities since many were eager to talk about their own church, synagogue, parish or the time past when they would go to church, the pope, the life of a priest, and so on. I enjoyed those times greatly.



Fr. Wilbur Davis

Newport Beach, CA





Apostleship of the Sea Steps Up Support for Fishermen   
Courtesy: AOS-Great Britain

16 March 2016




Catholic charity Apostleship of the Sea (AoS) will step up its support for fishermen this year as efforts to crack down on fishing industry exploitation continue.
 
Some of the most acute welfare needs are seen in the sector, and AoS regional coordinators who met last week in Sydney agreed to pay specific attention to this issue.
 
During 2016, each AoS region will hold a chaplains' conference devoted exclusively to fishers. These regional conferences will then inform the programme for the 2017 AoS World Congress, to be held in Taiwan and focused on fishing.
 
The recent conference in Sydney was held from 11 to 13 March and part funded by Seafarers UK.
 
It was attended by AoS coordinators from North America and the Caribbean, West Africa, Indian Ocean, Gulf countries, South Asia, East South East Asia and Oceania.
 
They also considered the issues of forced migration and trafficking and AoS' work around the world in supporting the victims of forced migration and trafficking, as well as caring for seafarers who are often the first responders to situations of forced migration and trafficking either at sea or in port.
 
The coordinators reflected on the theology of mission and how AoS can respond with greater effectiveness to Pope Francis' call to reach out to those on the margins of society.
 
The new Stella Maris seafarers' App was endorsed and the coordinators agreed to promote it to seafarers across their regions.
 
Father Bruno Ciceri of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People which oversees the work of AoS worldwide said: "Our regional coordinators' conference gave us an opportunity to reflect on the wonderful work being done by AoS chaplains and ship visitors around the world.
 
"AoS personnel are on the front-line in so many ports around the world, serving the needs of seafarers and representing a practical expression of the Church's care for those on the margins of society."
   
Thai Fishing Slaves as Vulnerable as Ever

 Courtesy: Maritime Executive

22 March 2016



A joint publication released this month by the International Labour Rights Forum and the Migrant Workers Rights Network (MWRN) indicates that a change in approach is required to tackle the slavery problems in the Thai fishing industry. MWRN states:



Egregious labor rights abuses, including forced labor and human trafficking, have been documented across Thailand's seafood sector in dozens of reports over more than a decade. Recently, unprecedented international attention on Thailand's seafood industry, particularly the plight of migrant workers who make up the majority of the workforce, has prompted a flurry of action from governments, exporters and Western brands that sell Thai seafood.

 

Despite the growing number of government and industry initiatives, migrant workers in Thailand remain as vulnerable to abuse as ever. New corporate supply chain monitoring programs are applying a failed CSR model that lacks genuine worker feedback and representation. Meanwhile, Thai labor law continues to prohibit migrant workers from organizing trade unions and thus seeking to bargain collectively with employers for better wages and working conditions.



So even as global brands invest more resources into improving their monitoring initiatives, they are unlikely to achieve significant change to conditions on the ground, as the failures of the same model applied in other sectors have demonstrated. As long as workers do not have the power to hold employers and the global corporations that ultimately dictate prices accountable, these human rights abuses will continue.

 

The report highlights current worker-driven efforts to improve working conditions in Thailand's seafood export industry. It presents case studies from the grassroots organization MWRN that, despite the limitations on unionization, is organizing migrant workers to negotiate for better conditions in their own workplaces and changing factories from the inside.



These case studies demonstrate how worker-driven solutions have effectively resolved some of the most common abuses faced by migrant workers in Thailand. They should be used as a guide by industry and government leaders looking for long-term solutions to the human trafficking problem in Thailand.
By negotiating directly with employers and holding them accountable for illegal labor practices, MWRN has successfully intervened on behalf of tens of thousands of migrant workers in hundreds of cases. MWRN has secured more than 10 million baht (about $281,000) as compensation for unpaid wages to migrant workers, mostly in the seafood sector.



The successes of MWRN, which is migrant-led and migrant-organized, highlights the capacity of migrant workers to improve their own conditions and workplaces when given the chance.



There are 3-4 million migrant workers in Thailand. Most come from neighboring Myanmar, though there are sizable populations of migrants from Cambodia and Laos as well. These workers are the drivers of Thailand's booming export economy, filling a labor shortage in industries many Thais will not work in, including manufacturing, construction and seafood harvesting and processing. Abuses are not isolated to the seafood sector, but can be found in most areas in which migrant workers make up a large proportion of the working force. In seafood harvesting and processing, migrant workers make up about 90 percent of the workforce.



Discrimination against migrant workers is systematic and legalized. Hence, eradicating abuses requires that the Thai government acts in several key areas including: ending official corruption and impunity for public officials involved in abuse of migrant workers; protecting migrant workers' rights to organize and collectively bargain; increasing oversight over private employment agencies and brokers and enacting and enforcing judicial reforms to stop the torture of migrant workers accused of crimes and ensuring human rights defenders and journalists can conduct their work without fear of retaliation.



Companies also have an ability and a responsibility to do much more to address the human rights in their own seafood supply chains, as established in the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights and OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises. The report provides recommendations for companies buying from Thailand to fulfill their human rights due diligence responsibilities, including sourcing policies and their implementation with suppliers to support long-lasting change that ensures respect for workers' rights in seafood supply chains.


Amped Up
Courtesy: Workboat.Com

By: Dale K. Dupont 
1 February 2016

The following article shares good news about the domestic US Flagged Cruise industry. 
 
"We had a really strong summer," said Jerod Blanchette, co-owner of the Portsmouth, N.H., passenger vessel operator. A big plus is that the city is undergoing a growth spurt, and many business conferences that used to take place in Boston have moved north to Portsmouth.
 Sightseeing is the strongest of the company's offerings that also include party cruises, weddings, and corporate events. They've rehabbed the interior of the 340-passenger, 83'4"�25'�7'1" steel hulled Thomas Laighton and are replacing a 40-passenger boat, which the business had outgrown, with one double the capacity.



Isles of Shoals is emblematic of an industry that is slowly expanding.
River, harbor and coastal passenger vessel operators are gradually adding boats, stretching seasons, and some are increasing fares by mid-single digit percentages. They're also beefing up security, making plans to sail to Cuba, and waiting anxiously for Congress to decide the fate of what could be a very expensive requirement for out-of-water survival craft.
And there's a flip side to the low energy prices that's hurting some other sectors of the workboat industry.



 "We're having a good year. The price of gas is down and people have more money to spend," said Troy Manthey, chief of Yacht StarShip, which has two vessels in Tampa, Fla., and one in Clearwater, Fla. "The big difference is the corporate and convention markets have come back very strong."



Manthey said the company is opening a new water taxi service in Tampa in late January and they're renovating three vessels - two 50-passenger and one 40-passenger.



New Orleans Steamboat Co. also has growth plans. The New Orleans-based company is building a 600-passenger, 160'�36' boat to join the 1,600-passenger Natchez, built in 1975, for harbor and dinner cruises and private charters on the Mississippi River. The new vessel is expected to enter service in late 2017. CEO Gordon Stevens said that with tourism and travel up substantially, business has surpassed pre-Katrina numbers.



STRONG 2015
Last year also was a good one for St. Croix Boat & Packet Co., which had its best season since 2000. "It was super," said Dick Anderson, founder of the Stillwater, Minn., company whose six boats run from mid-April to late-October. 



Traditionally, the passenger mix has been 60% corporate and 40% public/private. "It turned exactly the opposite" last year, he said. As for 2016, "I think the economy's coming back."



 In Cleveland, Nautica Queen Dinner Cruise Ship's business was up more than 10% from 2014 to 2015. And Capt. Jim Dale, the port captain, expects this year to be good too, noting that the city will host the Republican National Convention in July.



"We did a lot of weddings and a lot of tour groups," during a season that runs from Easter to New Year's, Dale said. The increase is a reflection of the city's resurgence. They're also considering replacing the 385-passenger, 102'3"�31'1"�8'9" Nautica Queen, built in 1981, with a newer vessel.



 "The good news is Cleveland is getting busier," Dale said, "but it does add to some anxiety with all the smaller vessels around." He echoed many operators' concerns about the profusion of recreational boats ranging from runabouts and canoes to kayaks and paddleboards that often get too close for comfort and whose passengers are clueless about the rules of the road.  
 Out West, the Columbia and Snake rivers have their own traffic issues. The beautiful scenery is attracting even more overnight cruise vessels.
American Cruise Lines' 150-passenger American Pride (formerly Queen of the Mississippi) will join its Queen of the West on the Columbia-Snake this year. The latter ran at full occupancy in 2015, and 2016 bookings "are going very well," said Charles Robertson, who heads both Guilford, Conn.-based ACL and Chesapeake Shipbuilding, Salisbury, Md.



  American Empress' second year on the Columbia-Snake was "fabulous," said Ted Sykes, president and chief operating officer of American Queen Steamboat Co. (AQSC), Memphis, Tenn. Nineteen back-to-back cruises were sold out, and they're already over half booked for this year.
The vessel is extending the season several weeks to the end of November, adding two cruises "because we were oversold," he said. They're also offering full Mississippi River cruises because people were stitching trips together to sail the entire river - an itinerary especially appealing to international travelers.



As for the new rival in the Northwest, Sykes said, "There's room for more. We will compete on our product."



"The more the merrier," seconded Dan Blanchard, CEO of Un-Cruise Adventures, Seattle, noting that the company appeals to a different clientele than the other four vessels on the rivers. 



Last year, the company stretched the 88-passenger S.S. Legacy's season through the summer rather than just spring and fall, a move Blanchard termed successful. So they'll be running late March to late November again, and bookings already are strong. The 192'�40' vessel, built in 1983 by Bender Shipbuilding, was renovated in 2013.



"All our operations are up substantially," said Blanchard, whose company also offers cruises to Alaska, Latin America and Hawaii. "We have a need for another one or two U.S.-flag vessels, and we'd like to add another foreign flag to meet demand." 



Sykes said the outlook for both the Empress and the American Queen, which sails the Mississippi, is "really good. We have more than twice as much booked as this time last year." So will they add a vessel to their fleet? "We're constantly looking for additional tonnage," he said.
ACL's Robertson is building his own tonnage. The 185-passenger 260'�53'�8' sternwheeler America will make its first cruise on the Mississippi in late April. The 175-passenger, 276' hulls 119 and 120, both coastal cruisers, are due out in 2017 and 2018. ACL also will introduce another riverboat in 2018, and the American Eagle will be renamed Queen of the Mississippi.



"Our outlook is relatively bullish," he said. ACL's Alaska schedule is "virtually sold out" for 2016.



ALASKA, cuba markets
The 49th state is hot indeed.
"We just can't keep up with our demand in Alaska," which along with the Antarctic are the top two destinations for Lindblad Expeditions, a spokesman said. They recently signed a $95 million deal with Nichols Brothers Boat Builders, Whidbey Island, Wash., for two, 100-passenger U.S.-flag coastal cruisers due out in 2017 and 2018.



The 238'6"�48'�9'6" vessels will cruise Alaska, the Columbia-Snake, Baja California, Costa Rica and Panama. Lindblad owns six boats, of which two are U.S. flagged.



The next hot passenger vessel market may be Cuba.
Jorge Fernandez is gearing up for a market that hasn't been open in about a half century.



"We are moving fast. We have our offices set up at Port Manatee (Tampa)," said the CEO of Havana Ferry Partners, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., one of the first companies to get a license from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control for ferry service between the U.S. and Cuba.



 "The spirit of cooperation is very positive," Fernandez said. They hope to start trips in early 2016 after ironing out compliance issues with the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the Cuban government.



They're considering a couple of vessels that can each carry 400 passengers and hoped to have made a decision by the end of January on whether to buy or build. The ferry was expected to be U.S. flag "as of now," he said.
 The company may eventually also offer service from Key West and either Miami or Fort Lauderdale. Travel time from Tampa is about eight hours and from Key West under 3.5 hours at 30 knots.



Fares have not been established yet "but they are going to be very competitive," Fernandez said.



 Cruise ships also are planning to visit the island. Among them is Pearl Seas Cruises' 210-passenger Pearl Mist, which makes its first 10-day trip from Miami to Cuba in early March.



Charles Robertson, who also owns U.S.-flagged ACL, is the president of Pearl Seas. He said spring cruises are nearly sold out.
 
NEW BOATS FOR SEATTLE, SAN FRANCISCO
Dirk Rozema is broadening his reach with his first commercial-government tour boat.



The 49-passenger craft for Seattle City Light's tours of Diablo Lake is a "completely new design," said the president of Rozema Boat Works, Mount Vernon, Wash. He expects the aluminum 55'x16'x30" boat with twin John Deere 6091s and Hamilton 364 waterjets to be delivered in the spring.



Rozema said he bid on the project because "it seemed like a perfect fit" given the size of the vessel and the fact that the client was "essentially in our backyard." The cabin is almost all glass "so there's a lot of openness."
The visibility and the 14' aft deck were very appealing, said Jon Aguirre, project manager, Seattle City Light's fleet and mobile equipment group. The Alice Ross IV will be the only tour boat in a fleet that includes three tugs and other smaller vessels. It will run from early July to mid-September on the lake formed by one of three hydroelectric dams on the Skagit River about three hours northeast of Seattle.



"It's a totally different concept for us as far as a tour boat," Aguirre said, with one instead of several decks and air conditioning. "This was the first boat designed for us."



There were three bids on the $1.7 million project.



Farther down the coast, another agency expects to award a contract in early summer for up to three 400-passenger, high-speed aluminum catamarans. San Francisco's Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA), which operates ferry service in the Bay area, wants vessels with Tier 4 diesels that will operate about 3,000 hours a year and can make 34 knots fully loaded. - D.K. DuPont
 
 




Announcement from Catholic Cruises & Tours 



Come and sail away on a 7 Night Alaskan Explorer with Glacier Bay Cruise with Father John Vakulskas, Jr., AOS-USA Cruise Ship Priest.



September 24th to October 1st, 2016 on Holland America's Westerdam out of Seattle, Washington -- Ports of Call: Juneau, Alaska * Cruise Glacier Bay National Park * Sitka, Alaska * Ketchikan, Alaska * Victoria, British Columbia. Prices begin at $2199 for two passengers including all port fees and taxes. Daily Mass offered. Deposits of only $350 per person will reserve your cabin. Space is limited. 

Deadline, Sept. 10



For further info or to register, contact Robert or Eileen:

PH: 860-399-1785 

860-399-17[email protected].


    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
 



National Maritime Day
May 20, 2016



Sea Sunday

July 10, 2016



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