Confraternities and archconfraternities
Stella Maris (Apostleship of the Sea)
Apostleship of the Sea · AOS · AOS-USA · Stella Maris Catholic Maritime Ministry
The Catholic Church's official international maritime ministry. In the United States it works under the USCCB Committee on Pastoral Care of Migrants, Refugees and Travelers, with AOS-USA at 1500 Jefferson Drive, Port Arthur, Texas 77642-0646.
A few minutes' work
Online form, paid. Volunteering is free, and volunteers give their time. No membership dues figure is published on the pages reached. The cruise ship priest programme asks for a collection or donation but publishes no fee.
Enroll nowPort volunteering is still recruited, interviewed and trained locally, so for that the nearest Stella Maris or Apostleship of the Sea centre remains the first call. Formal membership of AOS-USA, though, is a straightforward online job: open the Become a Member page, pick the category that fits you (cruise ship priest, pastoral, associate, mariner, student mariner, recreational boater, corporate or affiliate), fill in the form on that category's page and pay by card at the end. Each category has its own form and its own fee, and the same form handles renewals as well as new members.
Members have a portal to sign in to.
This is a ministry rather than a devotional confraternity, so joining means volunteering rather than making a promise of prayer. Seafarers and fishermen spend months away from home with little shore leave and almost no pastoral care, so Stella Maris puts chaplains and trained lay ship visitors into ports to meet them: a genuine welcome, SIM cards and phone calls home, lifts into town, Mass and Confession, and practical help when contracts or working conditions go wrong. Lay people get involved through a local port centre or diocesan office, not through a central sign-up. Its separate cruise ship programme exists to screen and approve priests to serve as chaplains on cruise ships, which is a different and much more formal process.
Where it comes from
Founded in 1920 in Glasgow, Scotland, as the Apostleship of the Sea; renamed Stella Maris in 2020 for its centenary. AOS-USA was established by the Bishop Promoter in 1976, and created its cruise ship programme in 2003.
What you promise
For volunteer ship visitors, a regular commitment of time at a port centre, typically a few hours a week, with short training and an experienced companion on early visits. Prospective volunteers are usually interviewed and may serve a probationary period. For priests in the cruise ship programme, the obligations of the Cruise Ship Priest Manual apply.
What the Church attaches
No indulgences and no shared Mass obligations are published for supporters or volunteers; this is a work of mercy rather than an indulgenced confraternity. Stella Maris publishes a Prayer for the People of the Sea which seafarers, chaplains, volunteers and supporters are invited to pray together.
Something physical is involved
Approved cruise ship priests are issued an identity badge, which is why the application asks for a photograph.
Enrollment checked 2026-10-22. Details change without notice and parish practice varies. Confirm before relying on this sheet.