Our concern for Africa is shaped by long term relationsips between Maryknoll missioners and the people of Sudan and South Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Namibia. We honor their strength and wisdom and believe that African cultures and traditions often suggest solutions to seemingly intractable local and global problems.
In Africa our Global Concerns work is at times country-specific, focussing, for example, on the slow process toward peace between Sudan and South Sudan, or the genocide in Darfur; the political and economic collapse of Zimbabwe; the introduction of genetically modified seeds or the political situation in Tanzania; efforts to stop corruption in Kenya, among other issues. We also address transnational issues of great concern to all people in Africa: deep and endemic poverty; the HIV and AIDS pandemic; the call for the cancellation of illegitimate and overwhelming debt without conditions that worsen poverty; just trade agreements; the rights of women and children; and environmental degradation.
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns and our partners in CIDSE express solidarity Catholic priest Charles Kitima of Tanzania, who was brutally attacked in Dar es Salaam earlier in the week.
A fragile peace deal in South Sudan collapsed Mar. 27 after the arrest of First Vice President Riek Machar, long-time rival to President Salva Kiir, threatened to throw the country back into war.
Clumsy implementation of tariff policy subjects nations like Lesotho, Kenya, and South Africa to economic duress.
U.S. foreign aid cuts threaten to turn back global HIV/AIDS progress to the dark ages of the epidemic, researchers say in The Lancet.
How often do we respond to Jesus’ question to Peter, “do you love me?”, as Peter did, “you know that I love you”? If we stopped and thought about it, we too might be like Peter and grieve that Jesus has to ask. I think we would prefer to assume that Jesus already knows without…
Like Jesus, we are weeping … in the Holy Land, in Ukraine, in Sudan, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Myanmar, in the United States, in schools, homes and public spaces around the world. But this week, even as we prepare to retell the story of his Passion and Death, we hear Jesus say:…
The Parable of the Prodigal Son, this Sunday’s gospel reading, is a story so familiar that it is easy to feel immune to both the breadth and depth of its message. It is the story of three people, a father and his two sons, and the actions and reactions of each of them in an…
The Brookings Institute’s Foresight Africa report concludes that 2025 a critical year to address the urgent issues facing the fastest growing continent. The following is an excerpt from the report.
Burdensome public debt in the continent has induced African youth to migrate for employment driving greater risks of exploitation and modern slavery.
One theme from today’s Scripture readings appears crystal clear – Call. Today’s sacred stories also seem clear about the circumstances in which the Call was given and received; Isaiah, Paul, and Simon experienced something extraordinary. They couldn’t miss hearing God’s voice in unusual external events, and they probably couldn’t say no. Isaiah was confronted by…
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…
In the readings for this week, the “body” and the “spirit” are mentioned multiple times. What a juxtaposition! In mainstream Western culture, we idolize the body. How we look, how much we weigh, how we feel, (or at least how we are supposed to feel according to our wearable devices,) all lead us to obsess…
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…
Expect the Unexpected My husband, three kids, and I have been serving as Maryknoll lay missioners in Tanzania, East Africa for the past two years. I work as a nurse and help coordinate healthcare for children with disabilities. The children and families I work with on a weekly basis live very much on the margins…
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns joined thirty faith and civil society groups in a letter to Senator Marco Rubio, Trump nominee for Secretary of Sate, requesting he prioritize ending the Sudan crisis through diplomatic efforts, appointing a special envoy, support for local aid providers, and support for atrocity documentation. Read as a PDF. December 5,…
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…
