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Leghorn will light a« Stella Maris» for seafarers
The life at sea is more and more difficult, as the dramatic reality of suicide reveals.
And the Tuscany diocese is mobilized
In the last months the media has emphasized news of suicides of seafarers on board merchant ships arrived in the port of Leghorn. To be exact three the ascertained cases, while there are strong suspects for other two bodies found at sea.
Beyond the crime news; it become more urgent the need of a pastoral for the sea that take care of those people that live and work on board ships, often in physical and psychological particularly difficult conditions.
The diocese of Leghorn through the initiative of Fr. Belloni Angelo, chaplain of the Apostleship of the Sea, he is trying to create a real pastoral of the sea, as it already happens in other reality. « Go at sea like a seafarer, Fr. Angelo says, to know this reality better he embarked for few months-
« The problem of the affective loneliness for the seafarer-
All that-
To these are added so many other problems« tied up to the reduction of the safety standards and to the aging of ships with consequent increase of wrecks and sinking as well the number of dead at sea-
To meets to the demands of many seafarers that come ashore just for few hours while their ships are in port in Italy and other ports of the world, a structure of reception and assistance denominates Stella Maris or Seaman Club also known « home away from home» has been created; animated by the local Churches Catholics and Evangelical and with the help of volunteers.
Seamen Club Centers usually are located in proximity of the port to be easily accessible by the seafarers, they offer a series of services like the Internet-
And while the search for a location is under way in all earnest to make ready these services, beginning from the next September Fr. Angelo will meet the priests of the diocese of Leghorn to illustrate the plan for a Stella Maris and to involve the single community in the initiative.
Not always sailors travel on the last models of cargo ship or cruise ship!
A newsletter sent all over the world
The name« Seafarer's News» the newsletter sponsored by the national Office for the pastoral of the workers of the sea and of the air of the Foundation Cei Migrantes in collaboration with the associations« Stella Maris». The subscription is free:just register through the Internet: www.aposmar.net , click on Seafarer's News and follow the instructions. The newsletter, will be published in different languages and editions (India, Philippine, Russia-
Freely translated from an article in “Avvenire” 5 July 2005