In his Lenten message this year, Pope Benedict XVI, calls us to reflect on justice, on how each person can be given their ‘rightful due’. The port chaplains of the Apostleship of the Sea (AoS) took up this call on Ash Wednesday.

The Holy Father says that each person’s due is not only to receive their physical needs; food, water, medicine, but also to receive that which will help them live their life to the full. This Ash Wednesday, AoS port chaplains, as on every other day of the year, did just this, attending to the physical needs of seafarers; helping them communicate with loved ones, lending a listening ear, and helping them live their life to the full and for those who wanted to, celebrating Ash Wednesday, even in the midst of a busy industrialised port environment. Ash Wednesday is a special day, an opportunity to re-affirm our faith and to celebrate our spirituality, but such times to celebrate are not always a ‘given’.

Seafarers, whilst working on ships, are often unable to celebrate their faith as they would like. They do not have the opportunity to attend services. They are often at sea on special feast days and miss crucial spiritual events. Research by the International Transport Workers’ Federation Seafarers’ Trust (ITF) already shows that seafarers recognise their spiritual needs are just as important as their physical welfare, and the inability for them to practice their faith often has a negative impact on their mental health and wellbeing (taken from ITF/SIRC 2007 report Port Based Welfare Services for Seafarers).

Apostleship of the Sea enables seafarers that visit the UK to celebrate their faiths in the ways they so wish. They enable seafarers of any faith to attend faith services and visit places of worship. For Catholic seafarers, they arrange Mass onboard or off ship, provide faith resources, help to celebrate important feasts, allow access to the sacraments and help seafarers feel they are fulfilled spiritually.