The history of Maryknoll in Latin America is rich and deep. Our commitment to the promotion of social justice and peace in the region cost several of our missioners their lives during the years of oppression, including Fr. Bill Woods, MM in Guatemala (1976), and Sisters Ita Ford, MM, Maura Clarke, MM and Carla Piete, MM in El Salvador in 1980. Some, like Fr. Miguel D’Escoto in Nicaragua, have served in public roles in support of those who live in poverty. Countless others have accompanied the Central American people in their daily struggles for survival, for social justice, for an end to the violence that destroys their communities; for new life.
Among the particular concerns of Maryknoll in Latin America are poverty, its causes and consequences; migration and refugees; health care, especially holistic care that includes good nutrition and preventative care; access to essential medicines for treatable or curable illness; HIV and AIDS; the rights and dignity of women and children; the response of authorities to the growth in gang violence; mining concessions; just trade agreements; debt cancellation; small and subsistence farming and other work accessible to people who are poor; and environmental destruction.
On July 25, nearly 100 environmental, faith, immigration, and civil rights organizations sent a letter to the members of the House of Representatives detailed our opposition to funding for the construction of a border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Claire Stewart, a Maryknoll Lay Missioner in Sao Paulo, Brazil, reflects on saying “Yes” to God’s call, as Mary did.
Maryknoll Sr. Phyllis O’Toole, who lived and worked in Nicaragua, reflects on calling out to God during times of crisis.
The newly unveiled U.S. policy is of little help to Central American families who live in fear.
Maryknoll Father Shaun Crumb reflects on a simple meal he joined in Bolivia that demonstrates the Body of Christ.
The Trump administration announced plans to renegotiate NAFTA.
In March, the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns supported two delegations from Latin America who spoke at separate hearings at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington, D.C.
After a 12-year campaign, Salvadoran lawmakers have voted to ban mining for metals. The following article was written by Pedro Cabezas, coordinator of the International Allies against Metal Mining and originally published on Inequality.org.
Right now, there are approximately 58,000 Haitians in the U.S. who could be deported after July 22. Forcing these vulnerable people to return to Haiti – a country still recovering…
80 faith-based organizations tell Congress: Border walls are immoral use of public funds.
Maryknoll Lay Missioner Flávio José Rocha writes from Brazil about Pope Francis’ lessons about water in Laudato Si’ and how we can take action.
On February 16, attorneys general from 15 countries met in the capital of Brazil to exchange information related to the Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht and its involvement in corruption scandals in their countries.
Barbara Fraser, a returned Maryknoll Lay Missioner, writes from Peru about the misery and death caused by oil companies on indigenous communities.
Global Witness, an international NGO based in London and Washington, D.C., released a damning report on killings and attacks against indigenous and environmental human rights defenders in Honduras.
Colombia’s Congress approved a landmark treaty with the FARC guerrilla rebels moving the country closer to a sustainable peace for the first time in fifty years.
Fidel Castro, known as the father of the Cuban revolution, died November 25. Maryknoll Sister Ann Braudis, who visited Cuba in 2012, wrote the following reflection on the questions that hang over the future of Cuba.
When Maryknoll Sister Lil Mattingly in El Paso, Texas, shared the urgent need for volunteers to help the growing numbers of refugees and migrants there, the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns sent Alfonso Buzzo, our peace fellow, to live and work at Annunciation House, a home of hospitality in El Paso. The following article is Alfonso’s reflection on his month-long experience there.
Rick Dixon, a Maryknoll Lay Missioner, reflects on the Christ child and the Magi in El Salvador.
