April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
WORLD TRAVELER
Priest vacations as cruise ship chaplain
A priest of the Albany Diocese for almost half a century, Father Gaffigan has spent his spare time traveling as a cruise ship chaplain for 42 years.
Aboard the vessels, he celebrates daily and Sunday Masses, as well as Protestant services and a Saturday ecumenical service. He also volunteers to keep track of travelers on land tours.
At 76, he says he'll continue cruising "as long as I have my health."
Father Gaffigan still recalls his first cruise ship service, when he and his brother, also a priest, donned yarmulkes and recruited Jewish passengers to read Hebrew passages. They got in trouble for lighting candles on the Sabbath.
Over the years, Father Gaffigan has learned to let rabbis or Jewish laypeople step in to lead the Jewish parts of the service, but he likes to deliver ecumenical homilies.
He often breaks the ice through jokes - like the old one about Jesus, a carpenter, and His friend "Ben," a tailor, forming a company and naming it Lord and Tailor.
Pick me
Father Gaffigan has sailed about three times a year with the same company for the past 16 years, traveling throughout South America, Europe and Hawaii. He applies for each trip - the company rates its chaplains - and pays his own airfare.
More than 60 cruises later, he has racked up memories both good and bad. During one trip, a Catholic passenger died in his sleep; Father Gaffigan spent the remainder of the cruise counseling the widow.
"You never know what could happen," Father Gaffigan said, adding that he always carries holy oils with him.
On another trip, a traveler noticed her passport went missing while she was touring Russia. She wasn't Catholic, but Father Gaffigan asked if he could pray for the intercession of St. Anthony, often invoked for lost objects. They found the document back on the tour bus.
One ship stopped in Boston, where a couple from the Albany Diocese at whose wedding he had officiated took the priest on a tour of Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox baseball team.
Father Gaffigan even meets spiritual seekers when he's relaxing in shipboard hot tubs. If the subject of careers arises, he tells travelers his vocation, and they often ask for advice.
"I tell them I'm a priest and they just start unloading," he noted. "I let them do the talking."
Rewarding
A couple once asked for his email address to keep in touch, but Father Gaffigan explained that his parish couldn't afford a computer. He found a check for $2,800 from the couple in his mailbox when he returned home.
Father Gaffigan said the most fulfilling aspect of being a cruise ship chaplain is celebrating a Sunday evening Mass for crew members, who sign nine-month contracts to work on the ships and often leave family behind for those long stretches of time.
Father Gaffigan has served in eight parishes in the Albany Diocese, priding himself on conducting door-to-door censuses in each community.
He retired in January from leading Holy Mother and Child parish in Corinth/Lake Luzerne and moved to Holy Trinity parish in Johnstown, where he celebrates a Sunday Mass and continues door-to-door visits.
Father Gaffigan also fills in for priests in Broadalbin and Northville.
"I could have [totally] retired at 70, but I enjoy what I'm doing," he said.[[In-content Ad]]
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