On Friday, 22 November 2002, the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral
Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples published a press release on a
renewed pastoral presence among seafarers. The Council usually defined
seafarers as those in merchant navies and those in the fishing sector,
small scale and industrial and the leisure cruise industry. This time
they added the category of yachtsmen and yachtswomen who participate in
competitive regattas. The reason for this is that the events bring
together hundreds of persons on the yachts, their families, support
groups and journalists. The regattas may require them to live away from
home for periods ranging from three to six months. This kind of event is
going to become more common in the years ahead.
The Council wants to help diocesan bishops determine the most
suitable forms of pastoral care for maritime personnel.
In order to fulfil the mission entrusted to it by the Popes and
reaffirmed most recently in the Apostolic Letter Stella Maris,
1997, the Apostleship of the Sea has, for more than 80 years,
carried out its programme to ensure for seafarers and their families the
specific practical, spiritual and pastoral support they need.
Seafarers: merchant navies, fishing, leisure cruise industry
The final Document of the XXI World Congress of the Apostleship of
the Sea, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 29 September to 5
October 2002, bears witness to this. That Congress was convoked
by the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and
Itinerant People to examine the problems which the process of
globalization presents to seafarers and their families, in merchant
navies, in the fishing sector—both
small scale and industrial—and in
the leisure-cruise industry. Additionally, the Congress proposed
suitable objectives and pastoral plans in order to respond to new
situations.
New category: yachtsmen, yachtswomen in competitive regattas
There is however a further category of professional seafarers who can
be included among the "migrants and itinerant people" for whom
this Council has care and to which events like the Vuitton and Americas
Cup draw our attention. Competitive regattas bring hundreds of yachtsmen
and yachtswomen, together with their families and support groups and
accredited journalists, and require them to live away from home,
sometimes for periods ranging from three to six months. In the case of
the current Vuitton and Americas Cup regatta we are talking of Auckland,
New Zealand, a very long way from home for the majority of participants.
And it appears that this type of international event is destined to
become more frequent in the years ahead.
Need to organize pastoral care for regattas
The Church is already present at such events, in a particular by way
of the existing parishes in the harbour towns where the events take
place. Christians participating in the sporting event can attend these
parishes. Nevertheless a number of questions need to be asked: do the
people involved know where they can turn for the advice and support they
may need, given the unfamiliar situation in which they find themselves?
How visible is the Church in such situations? Is everything left to
'chance', or are there planned programmes drawn up with the same kind of
thoroughness seen in the preparation of the competitions themselves?
In these situations there are people, many of them Catholics, who
need the precise pastoral attention for which the Apostleship of the Sea
was founded. This could be a first step towards greater attention to the
rapidly expanding world of yachting and coastal leisure-craft
navigation. Today, this sector too must be reached by the Apostleship of
the Sea.
The worldwide network of the Apostleship of the Sea seems well suited
and equipped to work in this direction. However, a "programme drawn
up with the same kind of thoroughness seen in the preparation of the
competitions themselves" needs in the first place a study of the
actual regatta environment, and so we are beginning to do this with the
current Vuitton and Americas Cup.
Phases to be taken by the Maritime Sector of the Pontifical Council
The President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of
Migrants and Itinerant People has therefore entrusted the task of
conducting this inquiry to the head of the Maritime Sector of the
Pontifical Council.
Contact with those familiar with events
The first phase of the research (November-December 2002) will
consist of contacting people who can help in understanding the
environment because they are close to the various competing teams and
those accompanying them, and would therefore be able to report on what
actually happens on the pastoral level. Those concerned will be the
local parish priests and chaplains—of
the Apostleship of the Sea and of other member groups of the
International Christian Maritime Association (I.C.M.A.)—and
the journalists who in the past have covered such events or are
now doing so.
Dialogue with local church, record management, media, support groups
The second phase will involve opening a dialogue during
the Vuitton Cup Final (January 2003) with the Local Church,
the Record Management, the Media and the Support
Groups, introducing them to the Apostleship of the Sea and
its ministry among seafarers and itinerant people.
It is hoped that the information, suggestions, proposals or offers of
help received during these two phases can enrich the reflection already
begun by this Pontifical Council on how to proceed with helping diocesan
Bishops in particular to "determine the most suitable forms of
pastoral care for maritime personnel" (Stella Maris,
art. XII, 2.1). It will also help the worldwide leaders of the
Apostleship of the Sea "to offer assistance to all who are involved
in this pastoral work" (ibid., 1.4).
May Mary, Star of the Sea, guide all seafarers so that in their
travels they may experience the fraternal support of Apostleship of the
Sea.
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