All at Sea
2 July 2009
The Apostleship of the Sea (AoS) is well supported in the Clifton Diocese with our rich maritime heritage and so local many jobs reliant on shipping. Their annual Sea Sunday Appeal was recently launched by Cherie Blair at Tilbury. Sea Sunday is AoS’s annual, national fundraising and awareness campaign; this year it is taking place on Sunday 12 July throughout Catholic parishes in England and Wales.
Mrs Blair, herself the granddaughter of a seafarer, joined seafarers and AoS volunteers in the Centre for Seafarers to experience the work that modern AoS chaplains do on a daily basis, visiting ships, meeting crews and providing for their welfare needs. It gave Mrs Blair the chance to hear for herself the issues that seafarers deal with in the rapidly changing world of shipping. Mrs Blair commented: “I remember my Grandfather going to sea back in the 60’s on the MV Auriel where he was the Chief Steward’s writer on their regular route between Liverpool and Nigeria. He was away for 6 weeks at a stretch, then home for only 10 days. As a child, those 6 weeks away seemed like an eternity. It’s hard to believe that all these years later, seafarers are now away from home for up to ten months. There’s no doubt that this must be a real sacrifice for the families concerned.”
Mrs Blair was greeted by AoS Chairman of Trustees, Eamonn Delaney, who explained that as most seafarers are now recruited in the Philippines, India, Poland and the former Russian republics, they are almost all Catholics who enjoy the opportunity to meet with a chaplain when time allows. However, turnaround times in port are now as short as eight hours which means that AoS’s policy of providing a frontline service, where the chaplain is on the quay to meet the ship, is proving to be the ideal way to adequately meet the needs of today’s seafarers.
Father Patsy Foley, chaplain to the Port of Tilbury, invited Mrs Blair to accompany him on a visit to MV Clipper, a regular visitor to Tilbury. The ship’s Master and crew are mostly Filipino, with two members hailing from Myanmar. They are all personally known to Father Patsy, but were delighted to meet Mrs Blair, who spent time talking to them about their lives at sea and the families they leave behind. They were proud to hear that Mrs Blair had met their President; they are all very patriotic people. Many, many photographs were taken as Mrs Blair posed smilingly with each seafarer. As she left she commented: “We depend on seafarers for 90% of all imports into the UK. They work long hours, in all weathers, to ensure that we have the things we take for granted in today’s society – but we don’t take them for granted. Apostleship of the Sea will be there to help them wherever and whenever they need it. The Sea Sunday appeal is vital to ensure that AoS has sufficient funds to meet this need. Please remember Apostleship of the Sea on Sunday 12th July.”
The Apostleship of the Sea (AoS) is well supported in the Clifton Diocese with our rich maritime heritage and so local many jobs reliant on shipping. Their annual Sea Sunday Appeal was recently launched by Cherie Blair at Tilbury. Sea Sunday is AoS’s annual, national fundraising and awareness campaign; this year it is taking place on Sunday 12 July throughout Catholic parishes in England and Wales.
Mrs Blair, herself the granddaughter of a seafarer, joined seafarers and AoS volunteers in the Centre for Seafarers to experience the work that modern AoS chaplains do on a daily basis, visiting ships, meeting crews and providing for their welfare needs. It gave Mrs Blair the chance to hear for herself the issues that seafarers deal with in the rapidly changing world of shipping. Mrs Blair commented: “I remember my Grandfather going to sea back in the 60’s on the MV Auriel where he was the Chief Steward’s writer on their regular route between Liverpool and Nigeria. He was away for 6 weeks at a stretch, then home for only 10 days. As a child, those 6 weeks away seemed like an eternity. It’s hard to believe that all these years later, seafarers are now away from home for up to ten months. There’s no doubt that this must be a real sacrifice for the families concerned.”
Mrs Blair was greeted by AoS Chairman of Trustees, Eamonn Delaney, who explained that as most seafarers are now recruited in the Philippines, India, Poland and the former Russian republics, they are almost all Catholics who enjoy the opportunity to meet with a chaplain when time allows. However, turnaround times in port are now as short as eight hours which means that AoS’s policy of providing a frontline service, where the chaplain is on the quay to meet the ship, is proving to be the ideal way to adequately meet the needs of today’s seafarers.
Father Patsy Foley, chaplain to the Port of Tilbury, invited Mrs Blair to accompany him on a visit to MV Clipper, a regular visitor to Tilbury. The ship’s Master and crew are mostly Filipino, with two members hailing from Myanmar. They are all personally known to Father Patsy, but were delighted to meet Mrs Blair, who spent time talking to them about their lives at sea and the families they leave behind. They were proud to hear that Mrs Blair had met their President; they are all very patriotic people. Many, many photographs were taken as Mrs Blair posed smilingly with each seafarer. As she left she commented: “We depend on seafarers for 90% of all imports into the UK. They work long hours, in all weathers, to ensure that we have the things we take for granted in today’s society – but we don’t take them for granted. Apostleship of the Sea will be there to help them wherever and whenever they need it. The Sea Sunday appeal is vital to ensure that AoS has sufficient funds to meet this need. Please remember Apostleship of the Sea on Sunday 12th July.”
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