To all AOS Chaplains, Pastoral Team Workers, Colleagues and Friends,

Peace of Christ!

A little over a month ago, the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and then collapsed into the Gulf of Mexico, rupturing the wellhead and spilling 5,000 barrels a day of oil into the sea. Eleven maritime workers were declared missing in the disaster and are presumed dead. Several options had been used to stop the spillage but no immediate solution has been reached.

To date, at least six million liters of petroleum have already been spilled, according to U.S. Coast Guard estimates, making it one of the worst U.S. oil spills in decades. Tens of thousands of fishers and their families who make their living by the sea will be adversely affected. Animals, including birds and marine life, as well as plants living along the southeast coast of U.S.A. are all at risk. The impact that this disaster will bring to our environment, the lives of fishers and their families and to the world is already unthinkable.

The Apostleship of the Sea in particular has always been very much concerned about the seas and oceans as much as we have been for the People of the Sea who get their living from these sources and are closely bound to their environment.

During the 20th World Congress of the Apostleship of the Sea held in Davao City, Philippines, 1997, Archbishop Giovanni Cheli said:

The suffering caused by the human and ecological costs of market economy excesses on fishing and merchant maritime world are unbearable, first of all to the people of the sea. The seafarers, fishers, their families and all the people of the sea... make them the first ones to see and experience if something is going wrong… and that, they are among the victims, if not the first victims, of this state of affairs. Our use of the land and the seas and everything they contain always remains in the context of a response to God's invitation to cooperate in his Creation. This is not a right to use and abuse without any restrain and discipline.

This was reinforced and clarified by Pope Benedict XVI in his latest encyclical, Caritas In Veritate - “The Church has a responsibility towards creation and she must assert this responsibility in the public sphere. In so doing, she must defend not only earth, water and air as gifts of creation that belong to everyone. She must above all protect mankind.”

As members of the Apostleship of the Sea, we are now faced, more than ever, with the challenge of putting our mandate into practice. We have been given the task to provide pastoral care to the seafarers, the maritime workers and the people of the sea. And now, we need to be at the forefront of this endeavour to attend to those affected by this catastrophe.

Let us remember that the Motu Proprio (Stella Maris) spells out very clearly the guideline for the Apostleship of the Sea in providing pastoral assistance for people involved in commercial shipping and in fishing – as well as their families, port personnel and all who travel by sea.

This statement is only the first step in fashioning an ongoing response to this challenge.

I am inviting all members of AOS, our fellow workers in this ministry and friends, to join us in a continuing effort –

1. To have a proactive stance in reaching out, advocating and providing pastoral care to those affected by the disaster – more specifically to the maritime workers, the fishers and their families.
2. To be one in prayer for an immediate resolution of the crisis and that its effect will be minimal and contained;
3. To understand and act on the moral and ethical dimensions of the environmental crisis;

May our blessed mother, The Star of the Sea, be with you always! God bless!

Rev. Mr. Albert M. Dacanay
Regional Coordinator