Priests help with rescue and support after ship sinks

Michael Otto — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:17:35 +0000

ROME (Zenit) — Catholic chaplains have been closely involved in rescue and support efforts as 21 passengers from the Costa Concordia cruise ship remain unaccounted for.
The the giant vessel hit rock and began sinking on Friday off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy.
As friends and family of the missing still await news of their loved ones, the public eye is turned on the tragedy, and particularly the national soul-searching in Italy related to the captain’s response to the wreck.
Among those intimately involved in the disaster are personnel from the Church’s ministry to seafarers. Fr Raffaele Malena was the chaplain on board and lived the wreck firsthand.
Another priest, Fr Lorenzo Pasquotti, parish priest on the island of Giglio, helped the survivors as they landed on the island.
And Fr Giacomo Martino, the director of maritime ministry for the Church in Italy, has been coordinating assistance to the survivors.
The onboard chaplain called the headquarters of the Apostleship of the Sea when the wreck happened, reporting his intention to “stay close to the crew and the passengers to comfort them at this moment of great confusion”.
Speaking with Vatican Radio, the chaplain has in fact given a different account of the crew’s reaction than that which has circulated in some press reports.
“The problem of the evacuation was the panic; the crew behaved well,” he said.
The priest shared his impression of the first moments. “There were so many children,” he said. “I took a little girl in my arms. I asked that she be sent first with her mother, and her evacuation took precedence.”
Fr Malena also praised the residents of Giglio, saying “all wanted to give a hand, they opened the inns, they gave us something to eat, blankets and everything they had”.
• Shock recovery
Fr Martino told Zenit that the crew has probably not yet assimilated the blow entirely, “and the accusations flying in the media against them make them feel shipwrecked once again”, he commented.
He stressed that “speaking with many people, I see that what has been said by some of the media about incompetence is not true. Simulations of shipwrecks are made, but it is quite different when there is a real shipwreck and panic spreads.”
Fr Martino also spoke about the role of chaplains on cruise ships.
“He acts as a man of God, without making distinctions between the passengers and crew, even if his main task is in the sector of the crew,” the director said. These “workers count on the presence of a chaplain, even if they are of other religious confessions”.
“Even in Ramadan, for example, although not automatically, I am sometimes asked to say the final prayer,” he commented.
[Reporting by H. Sergio Mora]

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Columbans give calendars to prisoners

NZ Catholic Staff — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 20:28:46 +0000

NZ CATHOLIC staff WELLINGTON — One way the Columban Mission reached out to the marginalised at Christmas was by donating 800 Columban Calendars to prisoners around New Zealand. The calendars were given to Catholic prison chaplains to offer to prisoners. Although 2012 marks the 90th edition of the Columban Calendar, mission coordinator Fr Michael Gormly,

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Joint ceremony commissions chaplains

Michael Otto — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 12:00:00 +0000

TE KAUWHATA A combined Catholic-Anglican ceremony was held in the Pacific Islands fale at Spring Hill Prison, Te Kauwhata, on March 13 to commission the two chaplains for the prison. Catholic Bishops Denis Browne and Pat Dunn conducted the service with Anglican Archdeacon Eru Beattie. The Catholic chaplain, Greg Murphy of Huntly, was commissioned for

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chaplains – NZ Catholic Newspaper

Priests help with rescue and support after ship sinks

Columbans give calendars to prisoners

Joint ceremony commissions chaplains