From Cambodia to El Salvador, Bangladesh to Tanzania, Maryknoll missioners accompany people and communities affected by poverty and extreme poverty. Based on our belief in the value of each human person and their right to a life of dignity, we work to eliminate the roots causes of poverty found in unjust economic structures. We promote the globalization of solidarity, the enhancement of inclusive human security and development that is rooted in social justice and ecological sustainability.
Read our statement Trading in justice: The local impact of global economic decisions.
We work for economic justice with an emphasis on the elimination of poverty and the empowerment of impoverished people. Our foci are globalization and its impact; trade and investment, especially the TRIPS agreement and its impact on the access to agricultural resources and affordable medicines; and the debt crisis, including illegitimate debt, the impact of macroeconomic reforms as a condition for debt relief, proposals for debt arbitration, the impact of corruption on debt cancellation and possible solutions. Other issues that we follow include food security and health care concerns in regards to trade and investment policies, and corporate accountability.
Learn more about our Faith-Economy-Ecology project.
Our newsletter, Encounters, features the challenges posed by the current economic growth paradigm and shines light on the hopeful ways communities are responding to protect human dignity and God's beautiful creation.
Read A Call to Integrate Faith, Ecology and the Global Economy, a statement of principles of more than 80 faith groups.
The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns released this statement on March 31, 2015 after the release of the previously classified investment chapter of the proposed TransPacific Partnership trade agreement.
We are one humanity interconnected with all matter on a tiny planet within a vast, expansive universe. We are challenged now to act quickly to rescue Earth and its inhabitants from destruction and extinction.
In January, Tanzania published its Draft National Energy Policy 2015, which, despite its length, devoted little attention to the challenge of bringing electricity to the country’s roughly 11 million residents who live in poverty in rural areas.
On August 11, the U.S. announced that it would not reinstate Bangladesh to a list of developing countries that receive trade preferences for lower or zero-duty tariffs due to labor rights and workplace safety issues.
The problem of illegal logging in forests in the developing world represents a microcosm of the phenomenon of exploitation of natural resources by corrupt governing elites that wreak environmental damage while simultaneously diverting government revenue away from public goods.
On September 2, a federal district court judge ruled in favor of Oxfam America, Earth Rights International, and a team of pro-bono lawyers who sued the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for dragging its feet on implementation of a critical piece of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reforms.
On July 31, another Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement deadline passed.
Excessive CEO pay at the 30 largest U.S. public fossil fuel corporations rewards short-term actions, with disastrous results for the world’s climate, a new report finds.
Maryknoll and 13 other religious organizations sent a letter to members of a Congressional conference committee to express deep moral concerns related to H.R. 644, the “Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015” (also referred to as the Customs bill), particularly that the final bill could weaken strong anti-trafficking provision in the trade promotion authority bill signed into law June 29.
On June 12, at the height of the Fast Track fight on Capitol Hill, the following opinion piece by Maryknoll Sister Helene O’Sullivan in support of the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) bill’s "No Fast Track for Human Traffickers" amendment was published in The Hill, an influential news source on Capitol Hill.
Public Citizen released this press release on the occasion of the publication of the State Department's annual human rights report on June 25.
In Honduras and Guatemala, corrupt and criminal elites have colluded to enrich themselves by stealing hundreds of millions of dollars in the last few years alone from government agencies that provide social services, and revenue for the government.
The essential role of infrastructure is being rediscovered worldwide as a key component of a comprehensive development strategy. However, in order to be sustainable and deliver real benefits to the communities and the environment directly affected, infrastructure projects need good governance, meaningful civil society participation, and real accountability.
According to the IMF’s April 2015 report "Regional Economic Outlook: Sub-Saharan Africa Navigating Headwinds," Africa’s economies are predicted to grow at about 4.5 percent during 2015, yet African economies face enormous uncertainties and risks.
The following opinion piece by Sr. Helene O'Sullivan, MM was published in the Hill newspaper on June 12, 2015.
Members of Congress need to hear from constituents that the Fast Track authority for the Trans Pacific Partnership is undemocratic.
The proposed Trade Promotion Authority (TPA, "Fast Track") legislation, touted as bipartisan, is opposed not only by most Democrats and some Republicans, but also by civil society groups representing consumers, faith communities, immigrant rights organizations, labor, public health advocates, and environmentalists.
Judy Coode, former communications director for the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns and current project coordinator for the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative, a project of Pax Christi International, reflects on the daily spiritual act of breaking bread and sharing a meal.
Maryknoll Sister Luise Ahrens, who was instrumental in re-establishing the Royal University of Phnom Penh after the reign of terror of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, reflects on our need to make choices in our lives "formed and informed by the Spirit of Jesus."
Dave Kane, a member of the Global Concerns staff, is a returned Maryknoll Lay Missioner who lives and works in Joao Pessoa, Brazil.
This week's reflection is written by Kathy McNeely, a returned Maryknoll Lay Missioner and former staff member of Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns.
Rick Dixon is a Maryknoll Lay Missioner living and working in El Salvador.
This week's scripture reflection was prepared by Christine Perrier, a returned Maryknoll Lay Missioner who served in Peru.
This week's scripture reflection was prepared by Chris Bodewes, who served as a Maryknoll Lay Missioner in Kenya.
Joanne Blaney has served as a Maryknoll Lay Missioner in Brazil for many years and is currently working as the Mission Services Director for the Maryknoll Lay Missioners, based in New York.
Fr. James Kroeger, MM, who served in the Philippines, wrote the following reflection which was published in A Maryknoll Liturgical Year: Reflections on the Readings for Year B, available from Orbis Books.
David Kane, a former Maryknoll lay missioner who served in Brazil, wrote the following reflection which was published in A Maryknoll Liturgical Year: Reflections on the Readings for Year B, available from Orbis Books.
Phil and Kathy Dahl-Bredine, who served as lay Maryknoll missionaries in Mexico, wrote the following reflection which was published in A Maryknoll Liturgical Year: Reflections on the Readings for Year B, available from Orbis Books.
Judy Coode, communications director for the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns in Washington DC, wrote the following reflection which was published in A Maryknoll Liturgical Year: Reflections on the Readings for Year B, available from Orbis Books.
Sr. Luise Ahrens, MM, who served in Cambodia, wrote the following reflection which was published in A Maryknoll Liturgical Year: Reflections on the Readings for Year B, available from Orbis Books.
Former lay missioner Heidi Cerneka served in Brazil; she wrote the following reflection which was published in A Maryknoll Liturgical Year: Reflections on the Readings for Year B, available from Orbis Books.
Fr. Steve Judd, who has ministered to the Andean people for many years, writes this reflection on the readings for the second Sunday of Lent.
CIDSE, an international alliance of Catholic development agencies working together for global justice 
Gapminder.org: For a fact-based world view 
Infographic: The New Economy 
Jubilee USA 
JustFaith Ministries 
Leaps and Bounds 
NETWORK 
On all our shoulders: A Catholic call to protect the endangered common good 
UN Millennium Development Goals Report 2012 
