Catholics and sailing

[Badger]

With the obligation to attend mass and the less demanding obligation but joy of sailng our boats, I wondered how any others found the right balance. I know in most ports you can find a Catholic church for a 6.00pm Saturday mass ( which counts as a Sunday) and then sail all day sunday. It's always a compromise but anyone got any views ?

 

[Guest]

Could you convert to being a Protestant? Or find a sailing priest or even better a nun and carry him/her on board? Does the Catholic Church not have some policy about ships at sea?

 

[Colvic Watson]

That has got to get the prize for the most esoteric post of 2007!

You could jump overboard and claim to be following in our Lord's footsteps... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif


I am terribly sorry, that really was a dreadful joke /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[silver-fox]

Sailing after mass with these new drink sailing rules.... I don't think so!/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[KenMcCulloch]

You might read Daniel Dennet's excellent 'Breaking the Spell' which could help you break away from the embrace of the church. As well as being one of the leading thinkers of our time Prof. Dennet is a sailor too.

 

[kengill]

Become ordained! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[Nickel]

It is quite tricky at times. Not helped by the diocesan web pages for Mass times being not always up to date. That said I usually enjoy visiting other parish communities - Lymington has a nice Saturday evening Mass. I really love Mass at Sainte Trinite in Cherbourg, just out of the Marina and across the park. Failing all, our home parish has a Sunday evening 7.00pm which is a useful backstop.
But when it comes right down to it, I do think that tide and weather don't even wait for Mass times, and if I'm at sea all day Sunday, I'll just catch up in the next port I make. One obviously has to be honest to oneself with this! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
That said, I also find sailing a spiritual opportunity [most of the time!]. I think the hand print and the breath of the creator is more clearly seen from the cockpit of a boat than from most other places!

 

[Lakesailor]

I think many have the same problem with Corrie and Eastenders.

Couldn't you video Mass?

 

[Woodentop]

Take your own priest with you.
Titles like "Chaplain to the Fleet" or "Personal Chaplain" add to the fun.
I am not sure what minimum boat size makes this practical - depends on the sailing skills of your priest.

Since most priests are already booked for Sunday, I suggest you contact a monastery and borrow a monk for the day so the Holy Offices can be performed and obligations met.

Speaking as one who has heard Mass in the back of a 1 Tonne Land Rover on a potholing expedition and some other odd places during outdoor weekends,I know that there are a number of active priests who enjoy the challenge.

Perhaps even now, on their forum, they are bragging about the worst heavy weather they ever said the Mass in.

Sermons are a separate subject.

 

[LymingtonPugwash]

Take the easy way out......
Just do what you want to do on the Sunday, then when you have a minute to spare during the week pop into the nearest church for confession..... a 5 minute confession session for absolution or whatever they call it, must be infinitely more bearable than sitting through a one hour mass AND missing the tide! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[graham]

[ QUOTE ]
I think the hand print and the breath of the creator is more clearly seen from the cockpit of a boat than from most other places!


[/ QUOTE ]

Agree absolutely. Sailing on an empty sea under a starry sky has to be communing with God in his own natural cathedral.

I dont know if this exemption would stretch to a Sunday morning race around the cans though.. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Rabbie]

Abandon beliefs in imaginary beings and enjoy what life and nature has to offer, especially afloat, without worrying.

 

[oldharry]

[ QUOTE ]
Abandon beliefs in imaginary beings and enjoy what life and nature has to offer, especially afloat, without worrying.

[/ QUOTE ] ..... but I dont believe in fairies, hobgoblins, UFOs and things. But God is - awesome! Particularly when viewed from a small boat.

 

[Colvic Watson]

[ QUOTE ]
I think the hand print and the breath of the creator is more clearly seen from the cockpit of a boat than from most other places!

[/ QUOTE ] Eloquent and true. We spend most weekends on the boat and go to church midweek. There is something about the sparkles on the water or the colour of an evening sky or the intensity if a force 7 that shows the face of God.

 

[2Tizwoz]

Do you use the Apostleship of the Sea

 

[LymingtonPugwash]

[ QUOTE ]
But God is - awesome! Particularly when viewed from a small boat.

[/ QUOTE ]

Psalm 19, verse 1
THE HEAVENS declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows and proclaims His handiwork.

Job 9, verses 4-13
4 God is wise and powerful-- who could possibly oppose him and win?
5 When God becomes angry, he can move mountains before they even know it.
6 God can shake the earth loose from its foundations
7 or command the sun and stars to hold back their light.
8 God alone stretched out the sky, stepped on the sea,
9 and set the stars in place-- the Big Dipper and Orion, the Pleiades and the stars in the southern sky.
10 Of all the miracles God works, we cannot understand a one.
11 God walks right past me, without making a sound.
12 And if he grabs something, who can stop him or raise a question?
13 When God showed his anger, the servants of the sea monster fell at his feet.

I agree..... God is Awesome! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Vara]

Re: Catholics and sailing, a poll.

 

[trouville]

Re: Catholics and sailing, a poll.

In Italy its very good to be catholic. I visited the church of England vica while in Rome we drank tea and spoke of many things as he was newly posted out he lives in a very nice part of Rome in a very very nice house.I dident stay to lunch.

Then i walked across town about a 40 min walk where i joined the catholic lunch on the table were bottles of the best local wine the best local salad vegitables and fruit all prepared by a very good cook!The conversation wasent much but the food and wine were and still are i expect fantastic,of course as the bottles only about a quater full you have to discreatly swap it for another,that way you will never have seemed to have taken more than a half bottle of so which is fine for a working preist.And so guest.

In Sicily its even better!After luch you can find a shady place to sleep during the heat of the day then be invited to evening dinner before wandering back to the boat,Sicilan wine is really good but the best dosent travel.I made a couple of liters of vingar the reast i gave to Neptune who promptly expresed his anoyance at being given sour wine!!It blew ill never forget since then ive never been south of Sicily it really can be rough.

 

[savageseadog]

Most of my passengers find the heads very useful for praying.

 

[Lakesailor]

Re: Catholics and sailing, a poll.

I have voted yes although I can't say that people's personal beliefs worry me.

I really can't understand how rational and reasoning people can attribute the powers that they do to some ethereal spirit.
That goes for any magical and mystical sect as well (crystals, Sheng Fui, Rosicrucians or whatever), but that's their personal choice.

What does worry me is the persistant trouble in the world which can all be traced directly back to religious beliefs.