Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی
Catholic maritime ministries urge prayer for seafarers trapped amid US blockade
“We have organized prayers of intercession, and many of our chaplains are trying to reach out to see how we can advocate,” said Sister Joanna Okerke, the U.S. national director of Stella Maris, the Catholic Church’s maritime apostolate, the name of which invokes the Marian title of “Our Lady, Star of the Sea.”
At times referenced as the Apostleship of the Sea, the initiative traces its origins to 1920s Scotland and has enjoyed the support of numerous popes, including St. John Paul II — who provided updated norms for the work in 1997 — and, most recently, Pope Leo XIV. The apostolate is overseen by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
In the U.S., Auxiliary Bishop Frank Schuster of Seattle is the bishop promoter for Stella Maris.
An estimated 20,000 seafarers are currently stranded in the Persian Gulf, according to the International Maritime Organization, the United Nations agency tasked with ensuring maritime safety, security and environmental compliance.
IMO secretary-general Arsenio Dominguez shared that figure in an April 16 interview with CNN, describing the seafarers’ situation as “terrible.”
“It is the mental health, it’s the fatigue that these innocent seafarers are actually going through,” he told CNN host Richard Quest.
The U.S. blockaded the strait, continuing to do so despite a ceasefire and a brief respite in the stranglehold on marine traffic. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at an April 24 press briefing that the stoppage would remain in place “for as long as it takes.”
The blockade has made an already difficult and dangerous profession more deadly, said Sister Joanna, a member of the Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus order.
“This issue is affecting many people,” she said. “Many are still at sea, and their families are worried. This is disintegrating families.”
Doreen Badeaux, secretary general of the nonprofit Apostleship of the Sea of the United States of America, told OSV News that concerns about the stranded seafarers were discussed at the group’s conference earlier in April.
“It’s the tremendous stress that they’re under,” recounted Badeaux, whose organization serves as the professional and educational association for Catholic maritime ministers, cruise ship priests, mariners and others who support maritime ministry.
Father Paul Makar, a Ukrainian Catholic priest from the Archeparchy of Philadelphia who is in training for Stella Maris ministry, told OSV News that it’s essential to provide the stranded sailors “with at least some sort of relief.”
The priest — a former naval officer and licensed merchant marine engineer — said the crews caught up in the blockade are grappling with an array of stressors compounded by the conflict.