The old man & the sea

That’s all I can stands, cuz I can’t stands no more, said the famous sailor Popeye. It is times like these, when those at sea are all at sea, that modern day ‘fishers of men’ are trying to make life a little more bearable.
“Don’t look for me in the good times,” says Fr Xavier Pinto, who serves as India’s national director of the Catholic agency ‘Apostleship of the sea’, that offers ‘practical and pastoral care’ and the ever important-listening ear to those at sea, irrespective of religion or nationality.

Be it victims of piracy, wrongful imprisonment, drowning, depression or illness on board to issues of rights of fishers, the agency, through its chaplains and volunteers, has served as an advocate for those in distress at sea and their families. Having served as the Vatican agency’s coordinator for South Asia, Pinto was at the forefront of providing relief to Tsunami victims, particularly the fishing community.
With their ‘parishioners’ constantly on the move, the agency has a vast network of chaplains and volunteers in ports across the globe that welcome those at sea, offering them a chance to communicate with their loved ones back home, discuss issues or difficulties through crisis intervention or even get them out of sticky legal issues.
We aim to make those away from home feel at home, Pinto says. Providing services to Merchant Navy employees, those on board cruise ships and taking up the cause of the mostly unheard voices of the fishing community, members on this mission have a tall order to follow.
“We’ve won some battles, but we haven’t won the war,” Pinto, a ‘fulltime champion of seafarers’ says of the many cases he has assisted in. Among the many causes fought, is the one of Goan sailor Randolf Monteiro. Diagnosed with a terminal illness, Monteiro was offloaded abroad. Pinto shares how he assisted the family to arrange for Monteiro to be sent to India for treatment and ensured that the finances were taken care of by the company. He provided the moral support to the family during those tough times and continues to keep in touch with them even after Monteiro succumbed to the illness.
“My brother-in-law was diagnosed with leukemia soon after he was employed by a shipping company. We didn’t know what to do. There was nothing we could do to comfort him from here. A friend informed us about the organization that Fr Xavier is a part of. We contacted him and even though he was out of town at the time, he used the network to get arrange for some help. When Randolf was brought to Mumbai, it was difficult to get platelets for his treatment. Again, Fr Xavier used his network to arrange for whatever was needed. He informed us about how the company could help with the expenses. Luckily for us, the company was helpful and prompt. There have been a lot of people who have had problems when dealing with the company in similar situations,” shared Joana Monteiro, Randolf’s sister-in-law.”
With its considerably large fishing and seafarer community, the agency has a tight ship to run in the state from its base at Mormugao port. Stating that the monsoon ban has served as a huge boon for Goa, Pinto laments that with CRZ violations and land grabbing make the situation for the fishing community far from ideal.
“Kerala as a state appears to have got the balance between development and environmental sustainability right. Our authorities in Goa need to realise that development along the coast is good, but not the destructive kind,” says Pinto, before he heads off to yet another assignment, this time along the coast of Mauritius.