Morning Star
July-September 2008: Abba, Father!

Messages from:

• Deacon Michael Ho, Associate Port Chaplain, Toronto and Oshawa, Ontario
  
  At the recommendation of AOS-Canada and through the coordination of NAMMA and ICMA, I had the opportunity to participate in two unique programs organized by the International Committee on Seafarers’ Welfare (ICSW). It was the 6th course of its kind around the globe and it took place in Panama City between June 9 and June 13. The first two days was the International Ship Welfare Visitor Training Course. It equipped us with a full appreciation of protocol, personal safety and security issues relating to port facilities and ships. The following 3 days focused on training us seven candidates to become qualified instructors for future Ship Welfare Visitors Courses. Funding of all these training programs was supported by ITF Seafarers’ Trust. There are currently about 50 qualified instructors worldwide. We have committed to conduct at least two of these courses each year for the next four years at the various regions assigned to us. They will be beneficial and helpful to the Chaplains, ship visitors, personnel, and volunteers that are engaged in serving seafarers as well as the maritime industry. Both are accredited programs of The Nautical Institute in U.K. with copyright materials protected by The Merchant Navy Welfare Board.

  • Principal Trainer – Master Mariner Damian Crowley, U.K.
  • Course Coordinator – Marine Engineer Osvaldo Angulo, Panama
  • Participants – Fr. Samuel Fonseca, Regional Coordinator, AOS South America; Deacon Reginald Seymour, AOS New Orleans, Louisiana; Deacon Michael Ho, AOS Toronto, Ontario; Chaplain Mike De Toro, AOS Stockton, California; Rev. Andy Krey, ELCA Savanna, Georgia;; Mr. Kent Williams, ECUSA Vancouver, Washington; Rev. Cadman Sekyi-Appiah, Baptist SCFS, Tema, Ghana
  
  The weeklong stay in Panama was definitely a rewarding trip for me. It started with building up a relationship with ICSW in England. Then I was able to receive the excellent training provided by an expert in the field. I got acquainted with some of my fellow AOS colleagues and also established contacts with a comrade who came from as far as West Africa.

  Besides business, I enjoyed the tour to the world- renowned Panama Canal with its amazing lock operations that so efficiently facilitate the transport of goods between the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. My student in Toronto referred me to a few of her friends who live in the beautiful Panama City and I was invited to get a taste of the local Chinese cuisine at its Chinatown, as well as having been treated to another delicious Panamanian dinner (including the wonderful stuffed yucca fritters and the famous ceviches – fresh white sea bass cooked for 24 hours in chopped onion, lemon juice, minced hot pepper and chopped cilantro salt, all done in the refrigerator) at the palm-lined Amador Causeway, not far from the hotel where I stayed. Believe it or not, I was told that there are over 100,000 Chinese immigrants from Mainland China now living in Panama. They engage in different trades, mostly restaurants, wholesales, and supermarkets. In hindsight, I should have gone to Panama with my wife Isabella so that we could also together accept and thank the hospitality graciously extended by the workers at Casa del Marino which was newly set up near the harbor to serve the People of the Sea.

  I would like to share with you an incident at the Tocumen Airport in Panama City that helped me understand my ministry to seafarers is beyond boundaries. I was checking in at the airport on my way back to Toronto via Miami. I noticed a group of eleven Filipinos with many luggage and boxes were also doing the same thing at another counter. I approached one of them after everything was settled down and he told me that they were being repatriated to the Philippines because their ship m.v. ‘Pogoma’ had changed owner in Panama. Another crew came up to greet me. This AB recognized that I once took him and his fellow sailors to the MTS Mission in Toronto last year. He worked on a Greek ship that berthed at the Sugar Dock then and he remembered that we spent a spirit-filled evening with sharing and laughter at the clubhouse. He introduced me to the captain, the head of the group as well as some others. We talked about our sojourn in Panama and their prospects once they hit home. These seamen might have to go on different ways or join different companies depending on their qualifications, connections and luck. We departed in Miami as my friends had to connect flights for New York, Yokohama, and finally destination Manila – a two day long haul. I wished them all the best with humble prayers and at the same time, I felt so blessed and encouraging for such an awesome event to have the opportunity of serving the seafarers, this time at the airport and on the plane – it was surely an experience above the horizons.

• Fr. David Mulholland, National Director, Mission to Seafarers - Canada
  
  The vision that our common seafaring ministry captures from which basis it works is the unity of our Christian people. Our apostleship is one of loving hospitality and service to people of all faith…marginalized by their continuous absence from home and love ones wherever they come from.
  
  Our vision in working together is to be holy hospitalers serving the pilgrim seafarers on his or her way to the promised land.
  
  Although our ecumenism is centered in a strong allegiance to our own denominational traditions… we, along with our seafarers are comprehensive and open and inclusive to those we serve as they are similarly inclined to us who would serve them.
  
  I see a special area of collaboration for Roman Catholics (Apostleship of the Sea) and Anglican (Mission to Seafarers) Seafaring Ministries in the both of our churches – by speaking, praying and living the sacramental life and delight in the similarities and honour the difference of our faith.