During ICMA’s recent “Introduction to Maritime Ministry” training course held in Poland, our team had the opportunity to interview Capt. Grzegorz Rutkowski, PhD, a veteran mariner and now professor at Gdynia Maritime University. A former ship captain with 27 years at sea—18 of them in command—Capt. Rutkowski now teaches in the nautical faculty at the university and specializes in offshore technology. In our conversation, he offered a deeply personal and symbolic reflection on the spiritual meaning of Polaris, the North Star, especially for Catholic seafarers who honour the Virgin Mary under her traditional title, Stella Maris—the Star of the Sea.
Capt. Rutkowski shared that he was born in May 1971, around the feast of Santa Maria, and feels a lifelong connection to the Virgin Mary as a personal guide. Growing up in a Polish village where small chapels to Mary stood at nearly every crossroads, he was immersed from a young age in the sense of Mary’s presence as a protective and directional force. This sentiment, he explained, holds special meaning for seafarers, who are constantly in search of fixed points of orientation amid the vastness of the sea.
From a technical and navigational perspective, Polaris has always played a central role in guiding sailors at night. “If you don’t have the sun, if it’s nighttime, Polaris becomes your fixed point,” he said. “It shows you true north, and from there you can determine your direction and your destination.” For Capt. Rutkowski, this clarity in navigation resonates with the spiritual guidance seafarers seek from Stella Maris. “She is like Polaris,” he reflected, “a light that leads you through the darkness, showing you the way to your final destination—ultimately, to God.”
Drawing from centuries of tradition, Capt. Rutkowski pointed out that the comparison between Polaris and Mary is not just poetic but deeply rooted in the lived experience of generations of seafarers. He noted that even Pope John Paul II, himself Polish, recognized the symbolism of Mary as Stella Maris, a guiding light for those at sea. “In our place,” he said, “we believe that for us as seafarers, we need to see the proper direction—the final destination—and this is what we believe Santa Maria gives us.”
Capt. Rutkowski’s reflection offers a beautiful intersection of science and faith, of precision and prayer. It reminds us that for the Catholic seafarers who sail the oceans, navigation is more than charts and compasses. Whether through Polaris or Stella Maris, the message is the same: there is a way through the darkness, and we are never truly alone on the journey.