SEATTLE – As Lent began, Deacon Jose DeLeon visited ships at the ports of Seattle and Tacoma to conduct Communion services for crew members and distribute ashes.

“I think we had a good start for Ash Wednesday,” said Deacon DeLeon, who is assigned to three parishes in south Seattle — St. Paul, St. Peter and St. George — and serves at the Seattle Seafarers Center, an ecumenical ministry to those who staff the ships serving local ports.

Deacon Jose DeLeon with the Seattle Seafarers Center distributes ashes to crew on board the bulk carrier Catalina. (Courtesy Deacon Jose DeLeon)

Staff and volunteers of the Seafarers Center visit 30 to 50 ships per month. Visits are at the discretion of each ship’s captain.

Earlier this year, Father Matthew Oakland, pastor of Holy Rosary Parish in West Seattle, boarded a cargo ship at the Port of Seattle to celebrate a memorial Mass for those grieving the death of a shipmate.

“It was sad, but it was beautiful to gather with them,” Father Oakland said. “You get to bring Christ to someone in great need.”

Father Matthew Oakland, pastor of Holy Rosary Parish in West Seattle, brought rosaries to seafarers onboard a cargo ship as part of his visit to celebrate Mass for them. (Courtesy Father Matthew Oakland)

More than a dozen crew members from the Philippines (the ship’s officers were Chinese) attended the January 20 Mass, the first liturgy that Father Oakland celebrated on a cargo ship. For the Gospel reading, Father Oakland chose Luke’s story of Jesus calming the storm at sea, which he said served as a reminder that Christ alone brings people peace.

Besides bringing the comfort of faith to the crew, Father Oakland brought the comfort of three giant boxes of homemade food, cooked by Carmelite sisters at Holy Rosary who are from the Philippines. Father Oakland also brought the crew rosaries (some took extras to send to family) and blessed their rooms.

(Courtesy Father Matthew Oakland)
(Courtesy Father Matthew Oakland)

“We are always thrilled to have other clergy come alongside us,” said Cristi Chapman, executive director of the Seafarers Center.

Father Oakland was asked to celebrate Mass, Chapman said, because other chaplains were at a memorial service at the Port of Tacoma at the same time. Father Oakland said it took about a week to organize the visit — he had to get a COVID test, work with the vessel’s shipping agents and coordinate schedules.

He plans to continue reaching out to the seafarers as the pandemic subsides.

“It’ll be nice to do more Masses and ship visits when we’re able to move more freely,” Father Oakland said.

The Seafarers Center has helped some 6,000 seafarers get COVID vaccines, after ships diverted to Seattle to get their crews vaccinated, Chapman said.

When visiting ships, the Seafarers Center provides crew members with “ditty bags” containing toiletries, candy and handknitted caps. Parishes around the archdiocese, including Holy Rosary, Our Lady of Guadalupe in West Seattle and St. John the Baptist in Covington, have helped fill the ditty bags.

“People seem really, deeply engaged in that part of our ministry,” Chapman said.