Driven by an insatiable demand for consumer goods at bargain prices, we import millions of tons of food, clothing and durable goods annually. These imports arrive at our shores on merchant ships, crewed by seafarers from undeveloped nations struggling to feed their families.

The standard crew contract calls for ten months or more service at modest wage rates and few benefits.  For those ten months, the seafarer works and lives in virtual isolation, either in the middle of the ocean or in foreign and often unwelcoming ports of call.  In those ten months, he is cut off from home and family, television and daily newspapers.  In ten months, he’ll run out of toothpaste and other necessities, and he will barely have any time or opportunity to shop, to see a dentist or even to call home.

So our port chaplains board the merchant ship to offer pastoral care, hospitality, social assistance, advocacy and prayer for these migrant workers of the sea. The seafarers are not disposable assets.  They're real people no less than ourselves, and they are entitled to our care, compassion and community support.

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