The lonely life of seafarers: Apostleship of the Sea responds to SOS

(Vatican Radio)Working at sea for weeks or months at a time is a lonely business for a seafarer. The psychological stress can sometimes be so great that some cannot come to grips with it. That’s the case of one young officer aboard a container ship recently bound for Singapore.

Tracey McClure heard about his tragic story from Fr. Yu Chung Romeo, the Regional Coordinator for the Church’s Apostleship of the Sea for East and South East Asia, a participant at this week’s Vatican conference on pastoral care in the maritime world.

Fr. Yu Chung, a Filipino Chinese living in Singapore told her “Last week there was this guy who jumped overboard because he was so depressed; he had some family problems and he could not take it anymore so he just jumped overboard.”

Fr. Yu Chung was contacted by the shipping company’s foreign owner to go on board to see if there was anything he could do to help.

“The Filipino crew over there were traumatised by the event. They saw this second officer jumping overboard…he committed suicide – his body was never found. They tried actually to look for him for about three hours in the Indian Ocean but he was not found. So the shipping agency in Norway contacted me and I went on board, so I celebrated mass for them…and did some counselling to the crew and after the mass, the celebration of the Eucharist, we prayed for the repose of this fellow and the crew were better; they felt better…the sense of guilt was gone.”

One of hundreds of international delegates to the Vatican congress examining how they can apply the New Evangelisation to their ministry, Fr. Yu Chung says:

“We start from the basics again. When we celebrate mass on board and we try to reflect on the Word of God and (on) how the Word of God can be the source of their strength while they’re on board because they have little opportunities to celebrate the Eucharist. So when the chaplain goes on board, it’s a time that they are able to connect with the Word of God and that is a source of strength for them.”

In the interview, Fr. Yu Chung explains the strict regulations that some ports adopt can aggravate the depression that many seafarers suffer and present serious challenges to his ministry.

Listen to Tracey McClure’s extended interview with Fr. Yu Chung Romeo: