The Costa Concordia accident has highlighted the invaluable role of chaplains both onboard and ashore.

In a statement released to the media by the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Itinerant People, the AOS expressed its appreciation for the crew of the Costa Concordia who had acted with responsibility and dedication. The media statement affirms the Apostleship of the Sea-network’s commitment to ongoing care of passengers and crew.

The Apostleship of the Sea International, Rome, released this statement to the media on Saturday, 21st January 2012:

Statement of Apostleship of the Sea (AOS) – Italy

on the sinking of Costa Concordia

A week after the tragedy of the Costa Concordia, the Apostleship of the Sea (AOS) – Italy, which for many years has being providing chaplains on board several ships of Costa Crociere, offering assistance to over 14,000 crew members, still experiences a feeling of pain for the victims and apprehension for the missing, but also great appreciation for the crew members who have fulfilled their duties with a sense of responsibility and dedication.

The Apostleship of the Sea was involved firsthand in this tragedy through Don Raffaele Malena, the chaplain on board the Costa Concordia, who devoted himself to save lives and offer words of comfort and support during those dramatic moments.
On January 14, the day after the sinking, an AOS team made ​​up of volunteers from the Stella Maris in Genoa, went to Savona, where they met about 1,500 people, including passengers and crew members, providing comfort, psychological support and answering to their immediate needs.
In the following days, January 15 to 17, the AOS team visited hospitals and hotels in Grosseto, Orbetello and Siena where, meanwhile, other crew members were hospitalized or housed.
At the same time, in Rome and Civitavecchia another AOS team offered assistance to a large group of crew members from Latin American, in need of psychological support and material things (clothing, medicines, shoes, etc.) having lost all they had in the disaster.
Meanwhile, the chaplains on board of other Costa vessels sailing in various parts of the world, have once again confirmed the importance of their delicate and precious work of support offering comfort to the crew members who were also affected by this tragedy because they have worked and known many of the crew of the Costa Concordia.

As of today, almost all the crew members were repatriated to their countries of origin. Although in a few days the media will fall silent on this matter, there are wounds, traumas and psychological consequences that will take a long time before they will be healed.

The Apostleship of the Sea, taking advantage of its worldwide network of chaplains and centers, will continue to offer its material and spiritual support to all the crew members and their families wherever they are.

For more information contact:

Don Giacomo Martino
Piazza Dinegro 6/A 16126 Genova
Tel. 0108938374 Fax 0108932456
E-mail: g.martino@stellamaris.tv
Website: http://www.stellamaris.tv/

The AOS’s role in the aftermath of the Concordia accident has not gone unnoticed.  Capt. Kuba Szymanski, Secretary General of InterManager said:

Thank you very, very much for your msg.

Also big thank you to your teams who [I] understand were immediately on the scene to provide assistance.

Bruno – well done in those very difficult times.

Kuba

The International Christian Maritime Association expresses its gratitude to the chaplains from the Apostleship of the Sea.  The Apostleship has performed with distinction its God-given calling of care to people in peril on the sea.

January 23rd, 2012 | Category: Ministry, News | Comments Off

Passenger panic and misinformation has the crew feeling as though shipwrecked all over again.  The care given to women and children, on the other hand, the selfless support from the people of  Giglio and the presence of a man of God who comes close enough to offer comfort, makes all the difference to this story.

H. Sergio Mora reported at ZENIT.org on the Costa Concordia disaster, saying

Among those intimately involved in the disaster are the personnel from the Church’s ministry to seafarers. Father Raffaele Malena was the chaplain on board and lived the wreck firsthand.
Another priest, Father Lorenzo Pasquotti, parish priest on the island of Giglio, provided assistance to the survivors as they landed on the island.
And Father Giacomo Martino, the director of maritime ministry for the Church in Italy, has been coordinating assistance to the survivors.
The onboard chaplain called the headquarters of the Apostleship of the Sea when the wreck happened, reporting his intention to “stay close to the crew and the passengers to comfort them at this moment of great confusion.”
Speaking with Vatican Radio, the chaplain has in fact given a different account of the crew’s reaction than that which has circulated in some press reports.
“The problem of the evacuation was the panic; the crew behaved well,” he said.
The priest shared his impression of the first moments. “There were so many children,” he said. “I took a little girl in my arms. I asked that she be sent first with her mother and her evacuation took precedence.”
Father Malena also praised the residents of Giglio, saying “all wanted to give a hand, they opened the inns, they gave us something to eat, blankets and everything they had.”
Shock recovery

Father Giacomo Martino of Apostleship of the Sea, Italy

ZENIT spoke with the director of the maritime ministry, Father Martino, about the tragedy.
“The crew has probably not yet assimilated the blow entirely, and the accusations flying in the media against them make them feel shipwrecked once again,” he commented.
He stressed that “speaking with many people, I see that what has been said by some of the media about incompetence is not true. Simulations of shipwrecks are made, but it is quite different when there is a real shipwreck and panic spreads.”
Father Martino also spoke about the role of chaplains on cruise ships.
“He acts as a man of God, without making distinctions between the passengers and crew, even if his main task is in the sector of the crew,” the director said. These “workers count on the presence of a chaplain, even if they are of other religious confessions.”
“Even in Ramadan, for example, though not automatically, I am sometimes asked to say the final prayer,” he commented.

These chaplains from ICMA’s Apostleship of the Sea have acted as men of God. We thank God for them.

To see the original article on ZENIT.org, CLICK HERE

January 23rd, 2012 | Category: Ministry, News | Comments Off

Dominee Johan Smith, port chaplain in Cape Town, South Africa, and affiliated to ICMA member the Christian Seamans Organisation (CSO) writes a regular blog on the CSO website.  He writes:

We are playing cards. Everyone is enjoying the fact that I lose, because I have no idea how the game works. They barely understand my English, and we struggle to communicate, but the engineer speaks English and interprets where we lack understanding. We laugh and talk together.

They are all Muslims, without exception, and are from Pakistan.  There are thirteen of them. Following the recent events relating to the death of Osama Bin Ladin in their country, I felt apprehensive about my visit to the ship. Yet, after a month, we still play cards and talk regularly. Every time I leave the ship, they anxiously ask when I will return. When I arrive for my next visit, they are ready with something to eat and drink. They also plan activities for my visit.  In all honesty, I do not think any other crew has received me with more warmth during my duties over the past two years and a few months.

We talk also of our beliefs. We do so with sensitivity. It is an incongruous situation: they dressed in proper Muslim attire, and I the dominee from Christian Seamans Organisation.  The divide between us seems insurmountable.  Yet, somehow we get to share faith!

To see the website of the Christian Seamans Organisation and read Johan’s blog, CLICK HERE

January 25th, 2012 | Category: News | Comments Off

ICMA is at the forefront in responding to piracy.  ICMA’s members focus on professional first response.  But ICMA’s contribution is set to go beyond the first response to piracy, to participation in the academic debate on mental health.

Two years ago, the Seamen’s Church Institute of New York and New Jersey (SCI) appointed Clinical Researcher, Dr. Michael Stuart Garfinkle, to head its Piracy Trauma Study. The SCI initiative was groundbreaking. When SCI took this initiave in response to ICMA’s 2008 Resolution on Piracy, very little else was being done.  Since then, the maritime industry and the seafarers welfare sector has come together in response to piracy as never before on any other issue.  On the SCI website, Dr. Garfinkle writes:

Dr Michael Garfinkle speaks to seafarers on piracy

…the Maritime Piracy – Humanitarian Response Program (MPHRP)…headed by Mr. Peter Swift and advised by major partners in the maritime industry, as well as an advisory board that includes mental health, pastoral care and maritime professionals, … represents an important force in advancing the cause of protecting the emotional well being of men and women at sea. Their guide, which complements SCI’s (Post-Piracy Care for Seafarers Guidelines v3.0),… has already become an important resource for planning, assessing and caring for those who may be or have been affected by piracy. SCI commends them on their good work and looks forward to further collaboration.

Dr. Garfinkle took part in the workshop of health professionals which informed the MPHRP advisory board on mental health.  He adds:

SCI’s study on the psychological impact of piracy on seafarers will be formally presented at the annual meeting of the International Congress of Psychology in Cape Town, South Africa in late July 2012.

Garfinkle says that the SCI-study is ongoing and invited people affected by piracy to participate in the research.

SCI continues to interview seafarers impacted by piracy to learn from their individual stories about what helped and hindered their recovery. Anyone wishing to share piracy experiences on a confidential basis should contact me by telephone at

+1 212-349-9090

or by email at

mgarfinkle@seamenschurch.org.

ICMA’s members are in the frontline in addressing piracy.  Our contribution, while focused on first response, will eventually also inform the pool of academic knowledge on mental health.  We are, as ever, committed to the professional care of seafarers.

January 24th, 2012 | Category: News | Comments Off

DSM Secretary General Reverend Heike Proske with the winning team

Gotcha! Anke Wibel's delight at Duckdalben's triumph.

We missed the chance to celebrate the good news:  Duckdalben, ICMA member the Deutsche Seemannsmission’s seafarers centre in Hamburg, was hailed as the Seafarers’ Centre of the Year.

Jan Oldmann and his team received this well deserved accolade at the annual ICSW Seafarers Welfare Awards ceremony held on December 12th in Geneva.

There is little doubt that Duckdalben’s excellence in caregiving is typical of  many ICMA centres around the world.  And those seafarers’ centres that are not quite there yet are inspired by what the Duckdalben Team has achieved.

Congratulations to Jan and the guys at Duckdalben.  You deserve it!

January 20th, 2012 | Category: News | Comments Off

The International Christian Maritime Association aids the professional development of port chaplaincy.  The annual Seafarers Ministry Training is a vital instrument in achieving this goal.
The 2011 Seafarers Ministry Training (SMT) was held in Cape Town, South Africa.  SMT Coordinator, Reverend Martina Platte (DSM, Hong Kong) reports:

For the second time the SMT was held in Cape Town, South Africa. The course venue was the Dutch Reformed Church in Bloubergstrand, a half hour’s drive outside Cape Town.  Participants and speakers stayed in holiday homes at the  beachfront.

The atmosphere and the hospitality at the church were great and everyone felt very welcome.

Eleven subjects were on the course schedule including a full course on pastoral care, advocacy for seafarers and MLC 2006, an introduction to trauma, maritime health, ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue with visits to the synagogue and the mosque.  Another focus was the ministry to fishermen which could be experienced “hands on”.

Visits to the Seafarer’s Center, Table Mountain, Robben Island, a township and two barbecues made the SMT a true South African experience.

A big THANK YOU to Patty, Gerard, Johan, Geraldo, Elmie, the staff of the seafarer’s center, the church staff and all the speakers who volunteered their time for the training.

For more information on ICMA’s training and education programmes, please follow this link to the webpage: CLICK HERE

January 19th, 2012 | Category: News | Comments Off