Chapel on the seas

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Guillaumus

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Question! What is the status of a chapel on a cruise ship or a military vessel? And I really mean a Roman Catholic chapel. Can a sort of permanent ordained chapel on a ship, with altar, adoration of the Holy Sacrament exist? To which diocese is the priest, pastor, rector attached?
 
In the armed services, this falls under the auspices of the Archdiocese for the Military, USA.

milarch.org/site/c.dwJXKgOUJiIaG/b.6287817/k.3DFD/Home__Archdiocese_for_the_Military.htm

Military vessels do not have permanent Catholic chapels. They do have general chapels that are free for the use of ALL denominations, however, and Catholics use these. That said, a small blessed altar is usually made available, and military chaplains also have special portable Mass kits that give them all the required items to say Mass, even in the middle of a battlefield. I’m not sure if adoration would be possible under these circumstances, or whether the hours of duty on ship-borne service would even permit such a thing.
 
Rolltide said:
In the armed services, this falls under the auspices of the Archdiocese for the Military, USA.
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To add a little more, something to keep in mind is that Military Dioceses are not based around a geographic area, but a specific group of people.
That said, a small blessed altar is usually made available, and military chaplains also have special portable Mass kits that give them all the required items to say Mass, even in the middle of a battlefield.
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If you like to see a fictionalized depiction of a priest on the battlefield with such kits, I believe there is a short scene in the movie *The Longest Day * (which is about the D-Day Invasion) in which a what appears to be a soldier is guarding the contents of the large container as if his life depended on it. The other soldiers wonder what could be inside this container that it is so important and at this point its revealed that this person is a Catholic priest and he is carrying a Mass Kit.

I might however be referencing the wrong movie.
 
Danquayle76 said:
To add a little more, something to keep in mind is that Military Dioceses are not based around a geographic area, but a specific group of people.
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My question is larger then solely the military. I am aware of the existence military ordinariates and non-territorial dioceses. 🙂

And I am most intriged if there are permant altar, a chapel, which, being on is ship, is “moveable” (not the altar, this needs to be fix, but the ship obviously).
 
Guillaumus said:
My question is larger then solely the military. I am aware of the existence military ordinariates and non-territorial dioceses. 🙂

And I am most intriged if there are permant altar, a chapel, which, being on is ship, is “moveable” (not the altar, this needs to be fix, but the ship obviously).
Click to expand...
Well, in the U.S. Military this would not be a possibility due to the First Amendment. However, I am unaware of any Catholic powers that have ever set something like this on a military ship.
 
As a side note, those wishing to practice religion in Antarctica have several options:
  1. The Chapel of the Snows. This chapel is at McMurdo Station, and is non-denominational. However, Catholic Masses are regularly held there.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapel_of_the_Snows,_Antarctica
  1. Trinity Orthodox Church. The Russian Orthodox Church has their own tiny (and beautiful) chapel on King George Island near the Russian Antarctic base. It is manned year-round by two Orthodox priests. There have even been baptisms in the Antarctic ocean (BRRRRRRR!), and at least one wedding conducted there!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_Church,_Antarctica
  1. St. Ivan Rilski Chapel. This is a tiny Bulgarian Orthodox chapel, located on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. However, there is no regular priest that tends to it.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Ivan_Rilski_Chapel
  1. St. Francisco de Asis Catholic Chapel at Esperanza Base on the Antarctic peninsula
  2. The Chapel of Santisima Virjen de Lujan at the Argentine Marambio base on Seymour-Marambio Island. While it was designed as a Catholic chapel, it permits worshipers of all denominations to use the facility if they so request.
  3. Santa Maria Reina de la Paz Church, a Catholic church at the Villa Las Estrellas, South Shetland Islands
  4. A permanent Catholic chapel made entirely of ice at Belgrano II Base, Coats Land. This is the southernmost exclusively Catholic chapel in the world.
The Worldwide Antarctic Program has also proposed building a Catholic chapel at Mario Zucchelli Station, Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica.
 
I remember vaguely that a French king ordered to construct a ship in order to impress the English king. The ship had a chapel, a mill,…
 
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