PHILIPPINES Stella Maris, an anchor for Manila fishermen and their families

On July 9, the Church celebrates Sea Sunday throughout the world. Sr. Victoria Sánchez, from the Sisters of Jesus the Good Shepherd, told how, through faith and prayer, the Stella Maris Center helps keep sailors in contact with those who stay on land for months while a loved one works on merchant and fishing ships. Of the 1.6 million seamen in the world, some 400,000 are Filipinos.

Manila () – Those who go to sea for work “remain away from their loved ones for several months, in some cases even a year. It is important to encourage them to be faithful to each other, to support each other even in distance, and to anchor oneself in God through prayer”, says Sr. Victoria G. Sánchez, “Pastorcita” of the Hermanas de Jesús Buen Pastor and staff member of the Stella Maris Manila Seafarers’ Center.

The sister Victoria has been working in the center of the Philippine capital for 12 years and is convinced that “through prayer we can make everyone feel united and close to those who live at sea. With those who stay on land we also carry out regular meetings and spiritual and charitable activities, creating a true maritime community also on land”.

Their testimony acquires a special meaning on the occasion of “Sea Sunday”, which the Church celebrates this year on July 9. “Today, the attention of every Christian community is directed to those thanks to whom most of the goods with which we feed ourselves or use every day come to us”, wrote the prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development, the Cardinal Michael Czerny. There are more than a million workers on the ships that transport goods across the world’s seas. “Sunday is the day of the Eucharist and of weekly Easter – Cardinal Czerny continued in his message for Sea Sunday – and there are many who do not have access to it because they are necessarily far from their community. For the whole Church Celebrating the Risen One means not forgetting anyone, not even those who are in the middle of the sea”.

Some of the most difficult challenges faced by sailors and fishermen are the loneliness of being away from home and loved ones, but also pressure from their families to send money home, premature layoffs due to personal health, illness or physical injury, maritime piracy and limited permits to go ashore. And it is precisely on “Sea Sunday” when it is also necessary to remember that the seas and oceans are dangerous places to work: in the last 10 years, 1,036 ships have wrecked around the world.

To reverse this trend, Sister Victoria G. Sánchez and the staff of the Stella Maris in Manila spiritually assist sea workers and their families every day: “At sea, life is very complicated due to the distance of affection and tight spaces. Many try to send money home, but are delayed because of the distance. Or they don’t even arrive because, to make ends meet, some fishermen have no earnings for months. On the other hand, there are the wives of sailors, who they are in fact parents of families. We celebrate Holy Mass for them every day in two large dormitories of the organization where the most destitute families stay”.

“We are a synodal Church, in which those of us who go to sea and those who stay on land walk together. We are all united by prayer,” says Sister Victoria, “we must move forward together, navigate together, leaving no one behind Let no one think that they have nothing to offer to this communion with the sea and the Lord”.

Despite all the difficulties, there are 1.6 million sailors around the world. Among them, some 400,000 are Filipinos, who each year send home $6 billion in remittances.

The center of the sister Victoria also organizes a seminar for sailors, “as preparation for life on board fishing and merchant ships, making them aware of their rights to avoid abuse, illegal recruitment and human trafficking,” explained the nun. In Manila, the Hermanas Pastorcitas also organize prayers at the hospital or at relatives’ homes for the sick. “We always want to find new ways to be closer to those who live by the sea, in a continuous exchange that makes their work less out of the way and everyone’s faith,” the sister concluded. Victory.