WASHINGTON—The National Day of Prayer and Remembrance for Mariners and People of the
Sea will be celebrated on May 22. The day is observed in conjunction with
National Maritime Day in the United States of America, which has been
celebrated since 1933 to honor those who serve as merchant mariners and to
recognize the benefits of the maritime industry.

Bishop J. Kevin Boland, bishop emeritus of Savannah,
Georgia, and Apostleship of the Sea (AOS) promoter, is encouraging dioceses to
mark the national day by remembering the men and women of the sea in homilies
and by including special petitions during Mass. When Mass is celebrated on May
22, the text for the Votive Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Star of the Sea,
is also encouraged.

Bishop Boland will celebrate a Mass in observance of
Maritime Day on Saturday, May 20, at 12:10 p.m., in the Crypt Church at the
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. The
Mass is sponsored by the AOS national office and the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church.

Apostleship
of the Sea (AOS) is a worldwide Catholic
maritime ministry that reaches out to seafarers, fishers, their families, port
personnel and all who work or travel on the high seas, regardless of race,
color or creed. The maritime ministry shows the Church’s care and concern to
seafarers who are often away from home for many months because of the nature of
their work and lifestyle. A network of AOS port offices and Catholic chaplains provides
spiritual and practical assistance that accommodate a seafarer’s unique
lifestyle and needs.

In
the United States, AOS is present in 53 maritime ports in 26 states, and in 48 dioceses.
Priest chaplains, deacons, religious and
lay people extend hospitality by providing a “home away from home” for
seafarers. AOS has 10 Stella Maris centers, and over 100 chaplains and pastoral
teams, including priests, religious, deacons and lay ecclesial ministers
providing many services including: Mass, communion, confession and other
sacraments, assistance to seafarers in distress, ship visits, transportation to
visit business centers, a place to relax while on the port, computers with
internet connection at the center, cell phones and phone cards as well as facilitating
seafarers’ access to services that others provide.

In his profound love of the sea and ministry to the
people of the sea, Bishop Boland says, “the needs of the invisible and silent
merchant mariner, fisherman, seafarer spouse and retired seafarer to quality
pastoral care are as needed as an inner-city community needs a pastor who is a
good community organizer, or a new subdivision needs a new parish…the Catholic
Church’s ministry to the people of the sea is not a marginal ministry, but is
an essential ministry of the Church.” He encourages dioceses with maritime
personnel to ensure that there is an active, viable Apostleship of the Sea
ministry, and to ensure that AOS port chaplains and pastoral agents have the
proper training and support for this ministry.

More information is available at: https://www.usccb.org/aos.

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Keywords: U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, USCCB, Apostleship of the
Sea, AOS, Bishop J. Kevin Boland, seafarers, fishers, port personnel, people of
the sea, merchant mariner, fisherman, maritime personnel, ministry, National
Maritime Day

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MEDIA CONTACT:
Norma Montenegro Flynn
202-541-3200

Source:: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops