Stella Maris

Victoria BC Canada

Mission Statement

Bring the presence of Jesus Christ to seafarers and dock workers, giving hope, consolation and support according to the teaching of Christ in the Catholic Church.

If you are a seafarer visiting Victoria or Vancouver Island, you are welcome to
contact us

Our Volunteers speak
English, Filipino, Bahasa Indonesia, Ilocano,
Arabic, Hokkien Chinese

A Catholic Ministry

What does it mean to be a Catholic ministry? The word "catholic" means whole or complete. This means it is for the whole world and not just a few. Our volunteer ministers are from many nationalities and speak various languages and are totally committed to Jesus Christ.

We minister to every people without discrimination, conversing with them in their language and respecting their culture.

Stella Maris News: 2025-11-01: God has a Sense of HumorGod has a sense of humor. Last Saturday, after bringing communion to our friend after the Saturday morning mass, I asked my wife why, with the many Fili…

Stella Maris News: 2025-10-18: Cruise Season EndsThe season ended last week, Oct 18th. We had quite a good season and we will be planning for the coming year. Thank you for your prayers, it has opened more …

Stella Maris News: 2025-09-17Even as I am on vacation, our volunteers continue to bring some crew to the Cathedral. I am starting to realize, we still need more volunteers. Please pray and discern if the Lord is calling you to…

2025-08-30 – A Night of Blessing and Brotherhood on the Discovery PrincessWhat a night! We were so incredibly blessed to get a special tour of the Discovery Princess cruise ship here in Victoria, BC. We got a rare glimpse into the heart of a modern cruise liner, when our…

2025-08-25 Mass for SeafarersWe had the anticipated mass as scheduled. Fr Alfredo celebrated. There were 10 who attended from two ships. Some of those who were supposed to attend were not given permission to leave the ship be…

Stella Maris News 2025-07-11 Mass for Seafarers: Memorial of St BenedictThe Lord is gracious!!! The mass went well. About 20 crew and two guests from one of the ships joined us. The Lord provided and guided us through this event, from booking the priest, location, cont…

Preparing for Mass for Seafarers: Stella Maris News: 2025-08-18We were able to join three crew members for dinner at a restaurant by St Timothy’s (James Bay Thirfty Foods). It was an interesting experience because we got to know more about them. We were …

Stella Maris News 2025-06-30: Planning for Mass and Visit to Beecher BayWe have confirmation of the location for the July 11th mass. Thank God. Praise God also for someone who will donate pancit to feed approximately 60 people after mass. We are still praying for…

2025-05-12 to 2025-05-17 Extremely Busy Week (Stella Maris News)Last week was quite hectic. I went to Vancouver for a conference of seafarer ministries and met a few organizations that we might tie up with. The topic we discussed at the conference was Suicide p…

Bringing Crew to Mass for Pope FrancisWe were able to bring eight crew members of the Koningsdam to attend the mass celebrated by Bishop Gary in memorial of Pope Francis. While they have mass on board, they said it was different to hav…

Christmas Eve Party on Board a ShipIt has been a while since the last news. I invited myself to the Christmas party of the Cable Innovators, but had to leave early due to the Christmas Eve mass at the Cathedral. A parishioner also d…

Homily 2024-10-04: 26th Friday in Ordinary Time (Memorial of St Francis of Assisi) – Mass for SeafarersJob 38:12-21, 40:3-5; Psalm 139; Luke 10:13-16 In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. We have heard comments that Job was patient in his suffering. But if we read the Boo…

2024-12-05 Visiting Two Ships in One WeekendLast week, I visited a ship that regularly docks in Victoria en-route to Port Angeles and my contact hosted a Filipino dinner for me onboard. Nothing fancy, just home cooked lumpia and okoy (bean s…

2024-08-19 Mass and Dinner for SeafarersWe had the mass and dinner for the 28 seafarers. We were expecting 20 but on Thursday night, we were informed that 28 were coming. Thankfully, the Knights of Columbus (again) came through with the …

2024-06-28: The Desire to Touch GodWe had quite an excellent dinner at the Al Iman Mosque in Victoria where the community hosted a dinner for Seafarers through the leadership of Imam Mustafa Abousaleh. About 15 crew members enjoyed …

2024-06-22 Introducing the Ministry to SeminariansLast week was busy for me personally as we hosted the seminarians that came for Fr Joseph’s ordination. However, our volunteer, Ray still went to Ogden Point and also to St Timothy’s. A…

2024-06-14 We are Unworthy ServantsThe visit to the Norwegian Bliss went well. Things got hectic though before our visit as all of a sudden, on Thursday, we got requests from a few to buy some things for them. These opportunities sp…

2024-06-12 Catholic Ministry: Being PresentThe past Friday was slow at Ogden Point, but we were able to hand out some snacks to the excursion coordinators. There were a lot more people at St Timothy’s where we were able to meet some o…

2024-05-31 Simple Acts: Huge ResponseAs I mentioned in my previous posts, I had been giving small snacks to the Excursion coordinators and they were appreciative of this. Last week, I gave some to the Excursion coordinators of the&nbs…

2024-05-22 God of the UnexpectedThe Imam came to Ogden Point and I introduced him to the person who requested for his presence. They are now planning a dinner for seafarers and are inv…

2024-05-17: Ministry of Small GesturesThe Imam got back to me and I introduced him via email to the person who requested for him. It is extremely encouraging that the Lord is opening this door to us. We will see where the Lord wil…

2024-05-10 and 2024-05-11: Ministry is for the Glory of GodLast week, someone at the Norwegian Bliss was asking if they can have an Imam visit them. I have initiated contact with the Imam at the mosque. Hopefully, they will respond so we can also serve oth…

2024-05-03 Catholic Ministry: One Person at a Timestella maris, catholic miniistry, Ogden Point

2024-04-27 There is Nothing Ordinary when We Serve GodI did not write anything last week as there was nothing much out of the ordinary that happened, or so I thought. But last Friday, the Lord corrected me and taught me there is nothing ordinary when …

2024-April 13 and 14: Ogden Point and Beecher BayWe went to Beecher Bay on April 14 (Saturday) to meet the crew of the KJ Gardner, which we regularly visited from December of 2023 to I think February of this year. It was a long but scenic drive f…

Dinner with Seafarers - 2024-April 03

The first Cruise ship for the season arrived. It was a blessing to host dinner for some of the crew with our Bishop celebrating mass for them.

Dinner with Seafarers - 2024 January 20

We hosted a dinner for some of the crew of the two ships docked at Ogden Point. Bishop Gary attended and two guests from Western Stevedore also attended. Please scroll through the pictures.

2024-02-06 Fellowship: Stella Maris NewsThere were crew changes for the two ships the past two weeks and last Saturday, I spoke with the captain of one of the ships. He spoke of his time back home and showed pictures of his family and ch…

Receiving an Unexpected Gift 2023-12-23

Visiting World's Largest Cable Layer - 2023-12-09

Dropping Goodies to the Two Ships 2023-12-16

On board the Ocean Cleanup - 2023-11-18

Visiting Two Ships
- 2023-11-25

After Cruise Season: Visiting Cable Layer Ship 2023-11-15

End of Season - Taking 4 Seafarers to the Cathedral - 2023-10-27

Boarding Another Ship with 40 Filipinos - 2023-10-09

Ship Delayed: Still Ministering 2023-10-13

2023-10-05 Bringing 6 Seafarers to the Cathedral

2023-10-09 Thanksgiving Visit to Filipino Seafarers

2023-09-22 Boarding a Tugboat and Expanding to another Site

2023-09-29 St Charbel Visits our Ministry

2023-09-08 On Board the Norwegian Bliss with our Spouses

2023-09-01 Taking two Crew members to the Cathedral

2023-08-04 Dinner for 20 Seafarers from 2 Cruise Ships

2023-07-14 On Board the Norwegian Bliss

At Ogden Point: 2023-05-12

one of the ships

New Volunteer

Before going home

Ukrainian Easter Blessing of Food (2023-04-15)

At Esquimalt Graving Dock

Before the food is blessed

Ukrainian Priest visits Ukrainian Crew at Ogden Point (2023-02-13)

Fr Yuriy of St Nicolas the Wonderworker Ukrainian Catholic Church visited the crew of the CSL Tecumseh.

Stella Maris Victoria Hosts Crew of 3 Ships (2023-02-03)

We hosted 21 of the crew of the three ships docked at Ogden Point for dinner at St Andrew's Cathedral. These are some of those who attended the dinner.