Christmas on the Docks in Hull, England
 Fr
Roland Doriol SJ spent 22 years at sea as both priest and
ship’s electrician. After coming ashore in 1998 he became
AOS chaplain in the port of Cebu, Philippines. During
Christmas of 2006, he spent time with his
international colleague David Burke, AOS lay chaplain to
the port of Hull, Great Britain. In his own words, Fr Doriol reflects on the experience.
Each year, Christmas reveals a different perspective but
it always has the ability to reach out into unfamiliar
places and situations. From far away, we may observe that
the stars are fixed and in the same place but some strange
chemistry causes them to move or to flicker and move us as
well in surprise and astonishment. Christmas is given to
ponder and wonder all this, I guess!
As I walked around the docks and ships in the port of
Hull with David Burke, he invited me to discover every
corner of “the port he is beginning to love”. We met
seafarers making themselves ready for the celebration or
welcoming Dave during his daily visits, joking and promising
Christmas gifts: a woollen cap for the cold season filled
with gifts for everyday use such as chocolate, toiletries, a
Christmas card and a prayer card.
During my six days with Dave, spending time at the centre
or roaming around the docks and gangways, I have shaken
hands with many seafarers:
- Herbert preparing for his wedding in two months time
in the Philippines;
- the chief cook from a Thai vessel who showed me a
postcard received from his wife which is to be a
signpost at the door of his cabin;
- Isa the Portuguese entertainer on a P&O ferry, born
of a Jewish mother and a Muslim father who attended our
Eucharist on board because “God will always invite us to
the truth”;
- Robert taken with emotion during the reading of
Paul’s letter to Titus inviting us to believe “that
God’s grace has been revealed”;
- the Indian captain with his true life story which
was a litany of reasons for stress now on ships;
- Win the Myanmar Chief officer who called me by my
first name right away after shaking hands;
- the young Thai crew on duty, reluctant to walk in
the cold weather to the centre;
- the Thai cook who generously filled the bowl with
his smelly soup for a taste and ice-breaker, his secret
language and show of friendship beyond his limited
English;
- Roger the German Captain who managed to watch and
listen to our Eucharist in the crew mess at a short
distance, seemingly busy in the small kitchen on
Christmas morning.
Alongside with Seafarers Through the Year.
 Many
ships stayed in port, we visited some during the Christmas
weekend and Boxing Day, thus giving relief to human engines
and mechanical ones as well. It was enough to allow a
handful of Filipino seafarers from those regular feeder
container ships to stroll along the deserted streets, where
all shops and malls were closed, and to enjoy a baptism
party with their “kababayan” who work as nurses in hospitals
there.
It is a break also for these seafarers from the daily
pressures of work of lashing and unlashing the containers
during short stays in Hull, Rotterdam or Zeebrugge. There is
no other option in order to maximize the fast turnaround of
these ships, day and night on duty. This work brings more
fatigue than financial compensation or a Christmas bonus !
At night, a part of the centre is left open for late
comers and those addicted to using computers, telephones and
webcams with a cup of tea or coffee. There is a “secret”
access code to the part of the centre that is open 24 hours.
This access code is posted on the door!
Through the year, “hellos”, “goodbyes” and “miss yous”
resonate with blessings and wishes to somebody in another
part of the world spoken by these men from Ukraine or Poland
or from the lonely Lebanese among them. They bridge the gap
of half the world between them and their loved ones.
Eucharist Onboard.
Without my days spent climbing gangways and getting
invitations for tea or lunch on ships, the real invitation
for a Eucharist onboard would have kept these seafarers at a
distance. Perhaps they would have been afraid or even shy in
welcoming a liturgy which they are used to seeing from afar
in churches. The right approach and language, promises and
jokes and telephone numbers, are the daily bread of our
visits to seafarers onboard, whether their ships come
regularly every couple of days or they are arriving from far
away and for the first time in Hull.
 At
the time of our Eucharist with Filipinos on Christmas Eve,
it was already midnight in their country. The Christmas
liturgy invites us always to believe in “today”. This is
true especially during this midnight Mass where angels seem
also to know better the value and the secret of this
“today”. Is there also a “today” in heaven? And so, is this
eternity? when we are afraid of what is happening or when we
rejoice in a prayer and a blessing becoming true, in flesh
and bones, like the shepherds!
Christmas is truly for these “outsiders” first, the
shepherds, the magi, for those seafarers or travellers
coming from a great distance who are far away from those
churches of their childhood where the families are gathered
without them. They need the presence of a helping hand or
smile during these special moments.
Can it also be true that “today” Christmas is a good news
for those at sea or “all at sea”, lost in their life’s
direction or afraid of what they will find at home when they
return? What kind of blessing is in store for them at
Christmas, or at ordinary times, when they find time, space
and good will with those colleagues who are alongside them
day and night, in time of routine and in time of crisis?
Would it be a dream that some companions will accompany
these shepherds or magi or seafarers in walking the extra
mile to the place where the Child is pondering how it is
that this Child “is with us” and a sign given to us.
The Hardest Question.
Dave introduced me to his “way of proceeding” and to the
friendship he has built up working alongside the seafarers.
He even went to the trouble of a 30 mile trip just to visit
Albertino, a lonely seafarer from Cap Verde who felt
isolated from his crewmates from Ukraine. Dave knew how to
give time, patience and a smile, how to wait for an answer
to the sometimes difficult question: “how are you?”
This is the kind of question asked during our visits and,
needless to say, may bring embarrassment if we are not
seated at table having finished the preliminary talk about
the weather or transport or telephone cards and when the
seafarer is not pressured by duty or sleep or phone calls.
Many thanks, Dave, for finding ways and means to let this
question surface and touch hearts. Maybe only angels, during
the Christmas season know how to ask questions without
embarrassment!
“Do not be afraid. Let us go and see and walk. I am with
you and this is today”!
Photographs: (1) Fr Doriol (2) David Burke offers a
Christmas gift to a seafarer. (3) Fr Doriol and crew
celebrate Eucharist onboard. |