Manual for Chaplains and Pastoral Agents of the Apostleship of the Sea (2007)

Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People - Manual for Chaplains and Pastoral Agents of the Apostleship of the Sea

This practical Manual offers guidance to chaplains and maritime pastoral agents and also to those who, for the first time, are given the responsibility of the pastoral care of people `who go to the sea in ships'. Based on Pope John Paul II Apostolic Letter Motu Proprio Stella Maris and on the 1990 Chaplain’s Manual, it has also drawn from the International Christian Maritime Association (ICMA) Ship Visiting Manual and from the Apostleship of the Sea (AOS) long tradition of service to the men and women of the sea, as well as from the experience of chaplains, pastoral agents, ship visitors and volunteers.

This manual considers also the latest conventions and regulations of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO). They are the two United Nations’ agencies, concerned with the development and implementation of seafarers’ rights, working conditions and safety standards onboard ships.  

Approved by our Pontifical Council, a central ecclesial pastoral organism which also embraces the pastoral care of the maritime world, this Manual will serve ordained chaplains, pastoral agents, ship visitors and also volunteers of the Apostleship of the Sea ashore and on board ships at sea.

AOS-Manual-for-Chaplains-and-Pastoral-Agents.pdf