African Migrant Laborers Need Jubilee
Burdensome public debt in the continent has induced African youth to migrate for employment driving greater risks of exploitation and modern slavery.
Migration
Maryknoll missioners have worked with migrants and people on the move for decades. They have served Burmese refugees in Thailand, Filipino and Thai workers all over Asia, Burundian and Rwandan refugees in East Africa, and have accompanied Guatemalans, who, after years in Mexico, returned home to start anew in a more peaceful country. Our faith compels us to stand in solidarity with migrants.
In the United States, we are profoundly affected by the contribution of migrants in our society, and we have a responsibility to treat them, like all the rest of God’s creation, with dignity and respect. Maryknoll missioners work in ministries serving migrants on the U.S.-Mexico border. In our work on U.S. migration policy, we focus on access to asylum and humanitarian protection, refugee aid and resettlement, and access to citizenship.
Maryknoll Joint Leadership Statements on Migration: Toward Global Solidarity (2006) and Statement on the Migrant Caravan (2018)
Policy Brief: Justice for Immigrants and Refugees in U.S. Policy
Maryknoll OGC Joins Letter to Secretary of State Rubio urging Reinstatement of Foreign Aid
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 OGC Joins Letter to Trump Administration Urging Renewal of Refugee Resettlement
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…
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns Responds to Trump Day One Executive Orders
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…
Defend Justice for Immigrants
Jan. 13, 2025 With less than one week until the start of a new Trump presidency on Jan. 20, we are preparing to respond to major changes in policies that…
USCCB Statement of Solidarity with Immigrants
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…
Immigration Concerns Under Trump Administration
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…
Fourth Sunday of Advent
This reflection was originally published in the 2024 Advent Reflection Guide: One Family of God. “And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” LUKE 1:43 Sometimes an encounter with a person fills me with wonder and gratitude and opens my heart to a long-lasting friendship. It…
Third Sunday of Advent
This reflection was originally published in the 2024 Advent Reflection Guide: One Family of God. God indeed is my salvation; I am confident and unafraid. ISAIAH 12:2 What should we do? A people “filled with expectation” pose this question to John the Baptist. How often do our own hearts burn with the same question? Look…
Second Sunday of Advent
This reflection was originally published in the 2024 Advent Reflection Guide: One Family of God. A voice of one crying out in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight God’s paths… Isaiah 40:3 A voice of one crying out in the desert… What is the prophet Isaiah trying to say to his…
First Sunday in Advent
This reflection was originally published in the 2024 Advent Reflection Guide: One Family of God. But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads, because your redemption is at hand. LUKE 21:28 The first scripture readings for the Season of Advent tell of difficult times ahead. In the gospel reading from…
Reflect with the 2024 Advent Reflection Guide: One Family of God
Click here to download our 2024 Advent Guide: One Family of God, available in both English and Spanish. As we wrestle with the outcomes of yesterday’s elections, we look to…
Advent Guide 2024: One Family of God
Come pray, study, act with us. Ven para rezar, estudiar, y actuar con nosotoros Download a copy of the 2024 Advent Reflection Guide Descargar la guía para la reflexión en Adviento 2024 en Español The Advent Season begins Dec. 1, 2024. Advent is a season to prepare the way of the Lord. We commemorate the…
Advent Reflection Guide: One Family of God
The following article was published in the November-December 2024 issue of NewsNotes. Download the 10-page guide produced by the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns. The guide offers reflections, small group questions, prayers, and actions based on each week’s Gospel reading and concerns raised by Maryknoll missioners and affiliates who attend to the needs of migrants…
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
There are several key themes in today’s Gospel that speak to the “signs of our times” and give us, in Jesus, an example of how we are to respond. Mark tells us of the crowd that was traveling with Jesus, and that Jesus “stood still” at the cry of Bartimaeus, a blind man. The scriptures…
Tell Congress to Protect the Stateless
Click here to write to your members of Congress in support of the Stateless Protection Act of 2024.The US Conference of Catholic Bishops released an action alert in support of…
U.S. Elections Webinar Series: Faith-based Migrant Justice
In this webinar, presenters: Maryknoll Lay Missioner Heidi Cerneka, immigration lawyer in El Paso, Texas, Maryknoll Sister Susan Nchubiri, program associate at MOGC, and Iqbal Ahmad, Fellow of the University of Notre Dame Kroc Institute discuss the much needed immigration fixes in policy and what can be done to uphold the dignity of migrants. This…
Register for the U.S. Elections Webinar Series
With the United States elections on November 5 around the corner, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns seeks to address some key policy areas that are at stake. For the month…