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Episcopal Church Office of Communication partners with Seamen’s Church Institute to tell the worldwide story of piracy and its aftermath

April 16, 2010
Office of Public Affairs
While piracy has topped headlines worldwide, Seamen”s Church Institute is focusing on combating piracy, ministering to seafarers and addressing what complications come next in their lives.

The Office of Communication of The Episcopal Church has partnered with Seamen”s Church Institute in presenting a dramatic video, Wading in the Waters, detailing the plight of seafarers affected by piracy and how Seamen”s Church Institute is responding. The video is available here: http://episcopalchurch.org/multimedia/wadinginthewaters/

“The Office of Communication is proud to produce an important piece about the horrors of piracy and how Seamen”s Church Institute is responding to the needs of seafarers,” commented Mike Collins, director of Digital Media. “It”s an important issue worldwide, and the fact that Seamen”s Church Institute is taking steps to help seafarers following acts of piracy is another indication of The Episcopal Church in action.”

In the compelling video, striking images of the seas are interspersed with TV news reports and seafarers” personal reflections

Seamen”s Church Institute (SCI) is based in New York and is affiliated with The Episcopal Church.

The Journey

In August 2009, Douglas Stevenson, director of SCI”s Center for Seafarers', traveled on the Maersk Idaho – operated by Maersk Lines, Ltd., whose Maersk Alabama was the target of attacks by pirates — for a firsthand witness to the concerns, issues and problems faced by seafarers as they traveled from Cairo, Egypt, to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, through Pirates” Alley, in the Gulf of Aiden off the east coast of Africa by Somalia.

Wading in the Waters follows his journey and then chronicles his efforts to develop the Post Piracy Trauma Assessment and Treatment, a foundational clinical study conducted in conjunction with the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and the New York Psychoanalytic Institute to ascertain the clinical assessment and treatment of piracy attack survivors.

About the Seamen's Church Institute
Founded in 1834 and affiliated with the Episcopal Church (though nondenominational in terms of its trustees, staff and service to mariners), The Seamen's Church Institute of New York & New Jersey (SCI) is the largest, most comprehensive mariners' agency in North America. The SCI and its maritime attorneys are recognized as leading advocates for merchant mariners by the U.S. government, including Congress, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Department of Homeland Security, as well as the United Nations, the International Maritime Organization, the International Labor Organization and maritime trade associations.

The Episcopal Church welcomes all who worship Jesus Christ in 109 dioceses and three regional areas in 16 nations. The Episcopal Church is a member province of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Seamen”s Church Institute: https://seamenschurch.org/

Wading in the Waters: http://episcopalchurch.org/multimedia/wadinginthewaters/

The Episcopal Church: www.episcopalchurch.org

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