Mass onboard in Teesport

When an experienced retreat leader joined AOS for a day’s ship visiting, he found himself offerring spiritual counsel to a frustrated crew.

In December 2006, AOS pastoral workers from all over Great Britain made a retreat at the Benedictine Monastery of Ampleforth. The retreat was led by Fr Bede Leach. It proved to be thought provoking, fulfilling and, in the words of one attendee, “a truly wonderful experience”. As Fr Bede had expressed an interest in seeing the pastoral work of AOS at first hand, he was invited to spend a day with the team in Teesport.

Tony McAvoy, AOS port chaplain for Tees and Hartlepool welcomed Fr Bede to the seafarers’ centre at South Tees. The centre is run by our ecumenical partner Mission to Seafarers and relies on volunteers of different denominations. A tour of the port and some ship visiting followed. Fr Bede was able to see the scale of the operation at Teesport and the wide range of ships that berth there. Typically these include:

• general cargo ships
• bulk carriers
• container ships
• tankers
• car carriers
• roll on roll off freight ferries
• deep sea support vessels
  

On this occasion, a specialist pipe laying vessel, the CSO Apache (above) was also in port and a special request had been made for a visit from the chaplaincy team. This huge ship had come into port for repairs. This was her third time in port in two weeks, extreme weather at sea having forced her to dock on two previous occasions. The situation was causing frustration among crew members despite the fact that they were getting some unexpected shore leave.

Fr Bede and Tony were welcomed onboard by the captain of the ship who was very accommodating and receptive to the work of the chaplaincy. The captain then invited them to spend some time with assembled Filipino members of his crew. A chat with the group led onto a good discussion and an offer from Fr Bede to celebrate Mass onboard that evening, an offer which the crew was delighted to accept.

The Mass was a wonderful occasion with around thirty members of the crew present. Fr Bede offered prayers for the seafarers themselves, for safety in their work and for their families back home. He also spoke of the need to work together and to support each other at all times. At the end of Mass, quite unusually, the assembled group gave around of applause which was described as “spontaneously and rapturous”.

AOS calendars and woolly hats, beautifully knitted by volunteers, were distributed among the crew. Crew members took the opportunity to talk to Fr Bede and Tony individually and there was much shaking of hands and thanks. Finally, the crew posed for a group photo with Fr Bede a copy of which was later delivered to the ship.

The CSO Apache will return to Teesport in due course. The captain and crew know that Tony and his team are onhand to offer pastoral care on an ongoing basis.

click here for contact details of AOS in Teesport