As the U.S. and Iran face off over the Strait of Hormuz, Catholic maritime ministry leaders are calling for prayer and support for the thousands of souls trapped at sea amid the war.

“We have organized prayers of intercession, and many of our chaplains are trying to reach out to see how we can advocate,” said Sr. Joanna Okerke, the U.S. national director of Stella Maris, the Catholic Church’s maritime apostolate, the name of which invokes the Marian title of “Our Lady, Star of the Sea.”

At times referenced as the Apostleship of the Sea, the initiative traces its origins to 1920s Scotland and has enjoyed the support of numerous popes. It is overseen by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

Advertisement

An estimated 20,000 seafarers are currently stranded in the Persian Gulf, according to the International Maritime Organization, the United Nations agency tasked with ensuring maritime safety, security and environmental compliance.

IMO secretary-general Arsenio Dominguez described the seafarers’ situation as “terrible.”

“It is the mental health, it’s the fatigue that these innocent seafarers are actually going through,” he told CNN host Richard Quest.

Dominguez is “very grateful to the countries in the region, because they continue to provide the essential supplies, even with the challenges that exist.” But, he warned, “the longer that this conflict goes on,” the more the situation at sea “becomes a crisis.”

Advertisement

Iran officially closed the Strait of Hormuz — a key maritime chokepoint connecting the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman — on March 4, days after the U.S. and Israel launched joint Feb. 28 attacks on Iran. Both Iran and the U.S. have blockaded the strait, continuing to do so despite a ceasefire and a brief respite in the stranglehold on marine traffic. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said April 24 the stoppage would remain in place “for as long as it takes.”

At least seven seafarers were killed in March as ships came under attack, with Dominguez issuing a March 6 statement calling the blockade “unacceptable and unsustainable.”

At the outset of the war, Bishop Luis Quinteiro Fiuza, interim president of the Apostleship of the Sea, wrote to the Stella Maris bishop promoters worldwide, expressing “deep concern about the current military operations and heightened tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and their direct impact on seafarers.” 

“These are civilian men and women who are not part of the conflict, yet through their daily work they sustain families, support global trade and serve the common good. Despite this, many now find themselves operating in conditions of heightened tension, facing fear, uncertainty and real danger.”

Fr. Paul Makar, a Ukrainian Catholic priest from the Archeparchy of Philadelphia who is in training for Stella Maris ministry, said it’s essential to provide the stranded sailors “with at least some sort of relief.”

Advertisement

A former naval officer and licensed merchant marine engineer, Makar said the crews caught up in the blockade are grappling with an array of stressors compounded by the conflict. Already working long hours, other anxieties he named were storms, piracy, safety issues and “ship abandonment” — where vessel owners withdraw support for ships, leaving seafarers stranded and uncompensated far from home. 

Now, said Makar, seafarers impacted by the blockade are “worried about where they’re going to get their next meal from, and whether they’re going to have air conditioning and enough fuel. There are some ships out there that have not been able to receive fuel.”