c. 1996 Religion News Service
NEWARK, N.J. (RNS)-Keeping up a brisk line of chatter, the Rev. Mario Balbi tooled his big red Dodge van through the truck-choked streets of Port Newark-Elizabeth, heading for the big Taiwanese container ship, Ming America, tied up at the Maher Terminal.
On this clear, wind-whipped day, the Ming America was first on the Catholic port chaplain’s list of ships to visit. Balbi has been “hopping ships,” as he calls it, for 25 of his almost 50 years as a priest. He averages 1,800 ships a year, and to the crews of each he brings an infectious laugh, an eye for problems, a helping hand and an open heart.
“I go not as a priest, but as a friend,” he said. “Seamen need friends. The maritime industry has changed completely in 20 years. The ships are bigger and the crews are smaller. Cargo that took days to load or unload is now handled in hours.
“Mariners are at sea longer, and in port only briefly, because cranes and computers handle the cargo swiftly. I remember when it used to take a crew of longshoremen 12 hours to load 30 tons of cargo. Now it’s done in a minute and a half. Time is money to merchant shippers. Most of the ships flying the flag of convenience use Third World crews, and often exploit them. There is loneliness and there is stress.”
Driving in a stream of trucks laden with cargo containers, past towering gantry cranes at work dockside, the 76-year-old priest observed that his ministry has had to change with the times.
Services for seafarers and port workers are conducted at their convenience, not his. If a truck driver wants his confession heard, the diminutive Balbi does not think twice about climbing into the man’s cab in the middle of the road to be told his sins and to give him absolution.
“What could I do,” asked the priest, “tell the man to stop by the chapel (Stella Maris) in Corbin Street at 7 o’clock and I’d be waiting for him? Forget it! He has a container to deliver, in California or Canada. The church today has to move.”
Balbi’s work complements the mission of the 162-year-old Seamen’s Church Institute, an Episcopal Church affiliation, which operates the International Seafarers’ Center at Port Newark.
The Catholic port chaplaincy is part of the Archdiocese of Newark’s Apostleship of the Sea, a “Ministry to People on the Move.”
Balbi tries to visit 10 ships a day. He can usually meet that schedule, unless he encounters a problem that calls for his attention, like the time a group of depressed Korean crewmen complained of poor food, particularly the lack of rice and a native spice in their diet.
When the ship’s master shrugged off the complaint, the priest had the men draw up a list of their dietary grievances, then had it faxed to the ship’s owners in Korea. The provisions were on hand when the ship reached Venezuela.
Balbi often encounters more serious conditions. A year ago a Brazilian “tramp” arrived in the winter with a cargo of salt from Chile. He described a tramp as a ship without a home port that goes from place to place looking for cargo to carry.
“The men had no food, no heat, no clothes for the winter, and they had not been paid,” he said.
The captain wanted to leave, but the ship was detained for more than a month because of an oil spill. It took that long to correct the heating problem. During that time the ship was reprovisioned and the crew given warm clothes.
The Russian crew of a Greek tramp two years ago wanted to strike over the ship’s unsanitary conditions and lack of food and water. Balbi persuaded them to remain on board so they couldn’t be accused of being deserters. Then, unbeknownst to the captain, he went into every compartment of the vessel, photographing conditions for International Transport Federation (ITF) inspectors.
“You can see many things on a ship in just a few minutes,” he said. “A giveaway to a problem is tension among the crew. On an unfamiliar ship I go straight to the galley. The kitchen is the heart of the house. If the food is well prepared, and abundant, you’ll find the banter and laughter of a happy ship.”
END GORDON
