Stella Maris, an anchor for Manila fishermen and their families

The Church worldwide celebrates Sea Sunday on July 9. Sr. Victoria Sanchez, of the Sisters of Jesus the Good Shepherd, tells how through faith and prayer the Stella Maris Center helps keep sailors and those who are stranded for months with a loved one working on merchant and fishing boats. Out of 1.6 million sailors in the world as many as 400,000 are Filipinos.

Manila (AsiaNews) - Those who live the sea for work "stay 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 at a distance and to anchor themselves to God through prayer," says Sr. Victoria G. Sanchez, "Shepherdess" of the Sisters of Jesus the Good Shepherd and staff member of the Stella Maris Manila Seafarers' Center in Manila.

Sr. Victoria has been working for 12 years at the center in the Philippine capital and is convinced that "through prayer we can make everyone feel united and close with those who live by sea. With those who stay ashore, we also carry on regular meetings and spiritual and charitable activities creating a true maritime community ashore as well." 

His testimony takes on special significance 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 through whom much of the goods we feed ourselves or make use of every day reach us," writes the prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development, Cardinal Michael Czerny.

There are more than one million workers on ships throughout the world's seas carrying goods. "Sunday is the day of the Eucharist and the 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 forcibly distanced from their communities. For the whole Church, celebrating the Risen One means not forgetting anyone, not even those in the midst of the sea."

Some of the most difficult challenges sailors and fishermen face are loneliness from being away from home and their loved ones, but also pressure from family members to send money home, premature dismissals due to personal health problems, illness or physical injury, maritime piracy and limited shore leave.

'Sea Sunday' also underscores how the seas and oceans are dangerous places to work: in the past 10 years, 1,036 ships have been wrecked around the globe.

It is to reverse this course that every day Sister Victoria G. Sanchez and the staff of Stella Maris in Manila spiritually assist sea workers and their families, "At sea, life is very complicated by the distance of affection and narrow spaces."

"Many try to send remittances home, but they are delayed by distance. Or they are not even there because to make ends meet, some fishermen have no earnings for months. On the other hand, there are the wives of the sailors who are in fact parenting alone. For them we celebrate Holy Mass every day in two large dormitories of the organization where the most destitute families are housed."

"We are a synodal Church, in which we walk together, those who go to sea and those who stay ashore. We are all united by prayer," says Sister Victoria. "We must go forward together, sail 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 worldwide. Among them about 400,000 are Filipinos, who send home billion in remittances each year.

Sr. Victoria's center also organizes an actual seminar for sailors, "in preparation for life aboard fishing and merchant vessels, making them aware of their rights to avoid abuse, illegal recruitment and human trafficking," the nun explains.

In Manila also, the Good Shepherd Sisters organize prayers in the hospital or at home together with family members for those who fall ill. "We always want to find new ways with which to be closer to those who live by the sea, in an ongoing exchange that makes their work less distant from the path and faith of all," Sister Victoria concludes.