AOS Sailing Onward

“Think globally, act locally” these are the words of His Excellency Most Rev. John Hung, the Archbishop of Taipei and the President of the Chinese Regional Bishops’ Conference (CRBC), in one of his interviews. True enough with regards to the Catholic Church’s concern to the international seafarers’ visiting the ports of Taiwan. The societies have been benefited by the unique contributions of the 1.5 million seafarers around the globe. The church identified them as “invisible people”. The 2010 Sea Sunday message emphasizes that the seafarers are workers different from the ones on land, because people do not see them going to work every day. Their contract requires from them to leave wife, children, family and friends, for a long period of time. They sail from port to port often in isolated places with little time to go ashore before they sail out again. The perimeter of the vessel is the limit of their world, the confine space of the cabin is their home and they share their work with people of different nationalities and religions, often using a “Babel of languages” to communicate. For seafarers loneliness is a constant companion, injustices are frequent. Moreover in these times of economic crisis crews are easily abandoned in foreign ports, pirates attacks are becoming more frequent and when an accident occurs criminalization and detention are sometimes the price they pay on behalf of the vessel owner or the charter.

2010 has been designated as a “Year of Seafarers” by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Different Maritime Organizations, Seamen’s Unions, and Seafarers’ welfare providers (including the Catholic Church’s Apostleship of the sea) are campaigning for the ratification of the ILO's Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 which provides comprehensive rights and protection at work for the world's 1.5 million seafarers. The new labour standard consolidates and updates more than 65 international labour standards related to seafarers adopted over the last 80 years. The Convention sets out seafarers' rights to decent conditions of work on a wide range of subjects, and aims to be globally applicable, easily understandable, readily updatable and uniformly enforced. It has been designed to become a global instrument known as the "fourth pillar" of the international regulatory regime for quality shipping, complementing the key Conventions of the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

Welfare program for the seafarers is new to Taiwan society. The five major ports have basically no facilities provided for seafarers’ welfare by the ports’ authorities. The government has ratified a national seafarers’ law with a provision for the seafarers’ welfare. But the pertinent authority, which is the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) has not given importance to it in the past.

The Church in Taiwan has considered it the least of its concerns because of the shortage of local priests and trained chaplains to handle this apostolate as well as the absence of funds for this purpose.

The 2010 Sea Sunday Message has identified the simple needs of these seafarers: a warm welcome in a foreign country, a van to transport them to the city, a telephone or a computer to connect with their families and loved ones, a priest to celebrate the Holy Mass – if they are Catholic – or bless them, a friend to listen to their stories and problems, a volunteer or a pastoral agent to visit them in hospital or in jail. The Catholic Church’s mandate is to provide pastoral care to the Seafarers based on the vision of the Apostleship of the Sea which was originated by a small group of committed people in Glasgow, Scotland in October 4, 1920 and was adopted as a section of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People.

Following the universal mandate of the Church on the pastoral care of seafarers, the Church of Taiwan is responding locally by establishing a comprehensive pastoral plan for the welfare of the international and local seafarers in every port of Taiwan through the authority of the local ordinaries and in collaboration with civil authorities, International and local welfare providers.

The creation of a National Seafarers’ Welfare Board (NSWB) composed of the different Government / shipping agencies, Seamen’s Union and the Apostleship of the Sea of the Catholic Church marks a new beginning of a collective welfare program for seafarers in Taiwan.