Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns joined a letter with faith-based groups to newly-appointed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to request that he restore foreign aid programs, reopen critical refugee resettlement programs, and fully reinstate USAID. Read this letter as a PDF. February 14, 2025 Dear Secretary Rubio, Congratulations on your confirmation as Secretary of State. This…
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns joined 1,051 faith leaderss and 176 organizations in writing to the Trump Administration asking for the resumption of refugee resettlement, restoration of humanitarian assistance, and assurance that the faith community can take care of newcomers according to their traditions. Read the letter as a PDF. February 13, 2025 Dear President…
Pope Francis addresses U.S. bishops, urging them to uphold the dignity of migrants. He criticizes policies that equate illegal status with criminality while acknowledging a nation’s right to security and calls for compassion, integration, and respect for fundamental rights. Read the letter as a PDF and on the Vatican website. February 10, 2025 Dear Brothers…
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns joined 38 other faith and civic organizations in a letter to President Trump urging him to work on improving relations with North Korea, including by formally ending the Korean war. Read this letter as a PDF. January 29, 2025 Dear President Trump, The undersigned coalition of national organizations write to…
Sept. 5, 2023 Be sure to read Maryknoll Fr. Rick Bauer’s guest opinion piece in The New York Times about witnessing lives saved from HIV/AIDS in Africa thanks to access to treatment and prevention generously given by the United States over the last twenty years through a program called PEPFAR. “As a pro-life man of faith, I…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Jan. 21, 2025 WASHINGTON, DC – In response to the executive orders signed by President Trump on the first day of his second term, the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns offered the following statement from its director, Susan Gunn. “The executive orders signed by President Trump make us ask how will the…
Webinar: “Guantánamo Uncovered” A conversation with the New York Times’ Serial Podcast and staff from the Center for Victims of Torture on Thursday, Jan. 9 at 7pm et. https://mogc.info/GU-1-9-25 Op-ed: Deportation plan must not raid churches, separate families, by Christian leaders published by The Arizona Republic. https://mogc.info/RF-Deportations Statement: “Rabbis Call on U.S. to Stop Transfer…
A Population Reference Bureau report shows a global dearth of primary care and its effects on life expectancy. The following article was published in the January – February 2025 issue of NewsNotes. Roughly 50 percent of the world’s population lacks access to good primary health care, according to the Population Reference Bureau, a non-profit organization…
The UN Climate Change Conference COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, will be remembered as the moment climate advocates stayed strong in the face of weak commitments from wealthy, polluting nations. The following article was published in the January – February 2025 issue of NewsNotes. The global association of 198 member states that gathered in Baku, Azerbaijan…
Sara Kennel, climate advocacy intern, shares the outcomes of the UN conference on biodiversity. The following article was published in the January – February 2025 issue of NewsNotes. In the very last hours of the 16th bi-annual UN Biodiversity Conference (COP16) in Cali, Colombia, a celebration ensued with enthusiastically raised hands, tears, hugs, and chants…
The international body that addresses peace and security currently has no permanent seats for the often underrepresented and historically marginalized continent. The following article was published in the January – February 2025 issue of NewsNotes. On September 13, 2024, the United States declared to the UN General Assembly its support of the creation of two…
The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns joined a letter to Trump nominee for Secretary of Sate, Senator Marco Rubio, requesting he prioritize ending the violent crisis in Sudan through nonviolent interventions. The Sudanese American Physicians Association, an organization made up of physicians of Sudanese descent living and working within the United States, organized a letter…
Indigenous Maasai community leaders met with the Tanzanian president in their ongoing to struggle to defend their land and human rights. The following article was published in the January – February 2025 issue of NewsNotes. On December 1, 150 Maasai delegates from Ngorongoro, Loliondo, and Sale met with Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan at the…
Archbishop Timothy Broglio, USCCB president, Bishop Mark Seitz, chair of the Committee on Migration, and Bishop Jaime Soto, chair of Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., issued a statement of pastoral concern on November 14, 2024. The following article was published in the January – February 2025 issue of NewsNotes. Compelled by the Gospel of Jesus…
President-elect Trump has promised sweeping changes to immigration policy under his new administration starting on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2025. The following article was published in the January – February 2025 issue of NewsNotes. Some of the second Trump Administration’s proposed immigration policies risk severe consequences, including the separation of families and the emotional and…
Peace Advocates from around the United States gathered in Pennsylvania to discuss goals and strategies for bringing about an end to the Korean War and peace with justice on the Korean Peninsula. The following article was published in the January – February 2025 issue of NewsNotes. Korea peace advocates are organizing for an uncertain future….
Sign the petition and join the global call to cancel and remedy unjust and unsustainable debts. The following article was published in the January – February 2025 issue of NewsNotes. On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis opened the ceremonial door, the Porta Sancta, in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome to launch the 2025 Jubilee Year. Jubilee…
In his annual World Day of Peace message, Francis urges the forgiveness of international debt, the abolition of the death penalty, and the reallocation of military funds toward ending hunger. The following article was published in the January – February 2025 issue of NewsNotes. Every New Year’s Day since 1968, popes have issued a World…
