Skip to content
The Catholic Leader
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
The Catholic Leader
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Centacare ministry helping overcome seafarers’ loneliness though their ministry to the high seas

byMark Bowling
20 June 2019 - Updated on 1 April 2021
Reading Time: 6 mins read
AA

Sea mission: Centacare’s Barry Guest who goes on board vessels as they dock at the Port of Brisbane.

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Sea mission: Centacare’s Barry Guest who goes on board vessels as they dock at the Port of Brisbane.

SHIP captain Dmytro Krylov relishes the few hours he spends on dry land and away from his vessel, visiting the Brisbane Seafarers’ Centre.

“It’s a time to relax and enjoy a fresh breeze,” the 35-year-old captain of the container ship Harrier Hunter said.

For four months at a time, Captain Krylov is out at sea, in command of his vessel with 22 crew on board, as it plies the world’s busy shipping lanes.

“I pray for my crew and my cargo, every day,” he said. 

Captain Krylov belongs to Ukraine’s Orthodox Church and said he brought his religious icons on board with him – it helped him keep his faith under the pressures of his often lonely job.

His Polish chief engineer Jacek Szaudel, 41, is also enjoying the respite of a short shore break. 

“My grandfather was a seaman, my father was a seaman, so this is the life for me,” he said.

After their ship docked in the Port of Brisbane recently, both men were greeted by volunteer Dave Kreis, who drives the Seafarers’ Mission mini-bus, and brought to the Stella Maris Mission to Seafarers Centre in the nearby Bayside suburb of Wynnum.

The centre is a part of the worldwide Catholic Apostleship of the Sea Ministry, funded and operated in Brisbane by Centacare Pastoral Ministries.

“It’s an important ministry,” Apostleship of the Sea – Stella Maris Centre manager Lloyd West said. “Everyone should appreciate what seafarers do for us all.

Related Stories

New chapter for unique Catholic ministry caring for people living with a mental health issue

New prayer book aims to help children grow spiritually

Gratitude is overflowing as Fr John Chalmers retires from Centacare

“If we didn’t have a ship coming in we’d have no TVs, no washing machines, no commodities, and going out is our coal and wheat.”

At the Seafarers’ Centre, visiting sailors are able to change small amounts of money and go shopping. They often receive small, donated items like hand-knitted beanies, and toiletry items, and perhaps most importantly, they can log on to the centre’s wi-fi service.

It’s a chance to contact their families on the other side of the world.

“Sometimes it’s hard, but this is my work – no other choice to earn a good salary,” Captain Krylov said, as he messaged his wife and two children. “Of course I miss them very much.”

Time out: Captain Dmytro Krylov and chief engineer Jacek Szaudel, visiting Brisbane’s Seafarers’ Centre.

Following four months at sea, Captain Krylov spends four months at home with his family.

It’s always the best of times, he said: “We go to church – my wife and children – every Sunday.”

From a young age, Captain Krylov said he had dreamt of going to sea.

 He became a sailor at 18, studied hard at a maritime academy, moved up the onboard ranks quickly and became a ship captain with a highly-regarded German-based shipping company.

“I was lucky, I found a good company. I travel, see the world and get paid well,” he said.

Mr West said visiting seafarers appreciated the hospitality they were offered when they arrived. 

“The main thing is for them to get off that floating steel box,” he said. “They come here (to the Seafarers’ Centre) and often they go for a walk on the waterfront, and you might wonder why do they want to go to the waterfront?

“It’s because they’ve got their feet on the grass, they haven’t got the drum of the motor from the ship. Getting off the ship is very good for their psychological state of mind.”

The Seafarers’ Mission also visits crew who stay on board their ships. 

Centacare’s Barry Guest is a pastoral worker who goes on board and offers words of encouragement, sometimes practical advice.

“We try to go out ship-visiting five days a week,” Mr West said.

“We have a chat with crew members, listen if they have problems to discuss, and if we can help we will refer them to somebody.”

Mr West said issues of loneliness and isolation was common. 

Crew members may also have complaints about pay and conditions. It may be that a SIM card for their phone can help crewmen bridge the gap with their far-away families. 

Sea mission: Centacare’s Barry Guest who goes on board vessels as they dock at the Port of Brisbane.

“It’s a way of helping them out, by keeping them in contact with home,” Mr West said.

“If a seafarer doesn’t have the right mindset it can be very demoralising.

“If you are on board for up to nine months and start to get in a lonely place it is very hard to get out of it.”

Mr West said there were helplines on apps and websites that they encouraged sailors to use.

Captain Krylov said sailors could have many fears during their long sea journeys – not the least of which is the threat of pirates stealing on board.

“It’s a very real threat, even today,” he said.

“I’ve never seen piracy up close but we are aware of the threat. It happens quite a lot off the west coast of Africa.”

Pirates operate in the Malacca Straits between Malaysia and the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

Mr West said he appreciated the contributions of small items that some Brisbane parishes had made – he singled out the Capalaba- Alexandra Hills parish – to help the Seafarers’ mission. 

He’d like to encourage other parishes to join in.

“Right now we need clever knitters who can knit beanies,” he said. “They are a very popular item with seafarers. Even when it is warm here, it can be very cold out at sea and in another hemisphere.”

Centacare is also looking for mini-bus-driving volunteers to assist with seafarer pickups from the Port of Brisbane.

It is International Seafarers Day on June 25,  and next month marks Sea Sunday on July 14, the day when the Church sets aside to remember and pray for seafarers and their families, and give thanks for their lives and work.

Previous Post

Pope gives reminder on climate crisis as Catholic advocate speaks out in Queensland against Adani

Next Post

James Anderson is uncovering the mystery of the historic book in his late father’s hanky drawer

Mark Bowling

Mark is the joint winner of the Australian Variety Club 2000 Heart Award for his radio news reporting in East Timor, and has also won a Walkley award, Australia’s most-respected journalism award. Mark is the author of ‘Running Amok’ that chronicles his time as a correspondent juggling news deadlines and the demands of being a husband and father. Mark is married with four children.

Related Posts

News

New chapter for unique Catholic ministry caring for people living with a mental health issue

11 March 2021 - Updated on 6 April 2021
Education

New prayer book aims to help children grow spiritually

9 March 2021 - Updated on 6 April 2021
Fr John Chalmers
People

Gratitude is overflowing as Fr John Chalmers retires from Centacare

22 December 2020 - Updated on 16 March 2021
Next Post

James Anderson is uncovering the mystery of the historic book in his late father’s hanky drawer

Sr Stan loves the unwanted – visiting religious sister overcoming hatred and evil with care

Ipswich Catholic community celebrating a colourful world of diversity united in one faith

Popular News

  • March for Life set to attract big crowd opposed to abortion, euthanasia

    March for Life set to attract big crowd opposed to abortion, euthanasia

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Jimmy Lai, Hong Kong Catholic media tycoon, sent to prison

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Was the Sudarium of Oviedo really wrapped around Jesus’ head after his death?

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • What is the difference between a Sacramental and a civil marriage?

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Pope prays for peace and reconciliation between Moscow and Kiev as military tensions rise

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Search our job finder
No Result
View All Result

Latest News

Health crisis: Referencing the Vatican document, the bishops said “it is morally acceptable to receive COVID-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process”.
Coronavirus

Australian Bishops urge Catholics to get vaccinated amid push for more vaccine options

by Staff writers
20 April 2021
0

CATHOLICS in Australia are being encouraged to receive a COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available to them,...

Germany's Cologne cathedral on the banks of the Rhine River. In the wake of reports on how clergy sex abuse was handled, Catholic laypeople in the Cologne Archdiocese have demand a local synod.

Catholic laypeople in Cologne Archdiocese demand local synod

20 April 2021
March for Life set to attract big crowd opposed to abortion, euthanasia

March for Life set to attract big crowd opposed to abortion, euthanasia

19 April 2021
Sudarium of Oviedo: Was it really used to cover the face of Jesus after his death?

Was the Sudarium of Oviedo really wrapped around Jesus’ head after his death?

19 April 2021
Pope prays for peace and reconciliation between Moscow and Kiev as military tensions rise

Pope prays for peace and reconciliation between Moscow and Kiev as military tensions rise

19 April 2021
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929. Our journalism seeks to provide a full, accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local, national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader
Accessibility Information | Privacy Policy | Archdiocese of Brisbane

The Catholic Leader acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this country and especially acknowledge the traditional owners on whose lands we live and work throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyReturn to Shop
    Continue Shopping