In our often divided world, one place where all of humankind is invited to come together to work for the common good is the United Nations. Despite its limitations, the UN system is our most effective tool for uniting with others in order to create and implement policies that secure a life of dignity for all of God’s children.
Article 71 of the Charter of the United Nations reads: “The Economic and Social Council [ECOSOC] may make suitable arrangements for consultation with non-governmental organizations which are concerned with matters within its competence.”
Based on this article, two of the Maryknoll branches (the Maryknoll Sisters and the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers) have Consultative Status with ECOSOC, and the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns carries out the work of implementing this status. Our work with the UN aims to influence its agenda and is done by:
Maryknoll missioners serve as NGO representatives to the United Nations in New York where they bring the Maryknoll mission experience to important conversations with policymakers and civil society members from around the world.
The UN member states adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which set out a 15-year plan to achieve the goals. The SDGs focus global efforts on lifting people out of extreme poverty, while also addressing the challenges of ensuring more equitable development and environmental sustainability, especially the key goal of curbing the dangers of human-induced climate change. Today, progress is being made in many places, but, overall, action to meet the goals is not yet advancing at the speed or scale required. At the core of the 2020-2030 decade is the need for action to tackle growing poverty, empower women and girls, and address the climate emergency.
Maryknoll representatives to the UN work to promote peace, social justice and the integrity of creation by organizing their UN participation around the following topics:
This November, COP30, the United Nations’ primary forum for addressing the climate crisis, convened in Belém, Brazil. Join us to unpack COP30’s mixed results, the role of the faith community…
Scientists agree that dramatic action must be taken in phasing out fossil fuels to prevent global catastrophe. The National Oceans and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) confirmed that global surface temperature in…
Maryknoll representative Lisa Sullivan reports on what is happening during the second week at the UN Climate Change Conference in Belém, Brazil. November 20, 2025 Greetings from COP30, the UN Conference on Climate Change, meeting in the Amazonian city of Belém in northern Brazil. We are more than half-way through the two-week negotiations on global…
On October 22 and November 13, Catholics across the United States are invited to join the “One Church One Family Catholic Public Witness for Immigrants.” The Maryknoll Office for Global…
The COP 30 UN Climate Change Conference in Belém, Brazil, is fast approaching, and the Catholic community is preparing to lift a powerful, prophetic voice for climate justice on the…
Sign the Petition and Organize a Public Prayer Service during Oct. 12-19. We invite you to Proclaim Jubilee! – a powerful opportunity to carry on Pope Francis’s call to “remedy…
In the Catholic Church, we celebrate the World Day of Migrants and Refugees on the last Sunday of September – Sunday, September 28 – but for this Jubilee Year 2025,…
Friday, September 26, is International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. This annual day of action is especially poignant and urgent this year, the 80th anniversary of…
On September 21 we celebrate the International Day of Peace. This day also begins the Catholic Nonviolence Days of Action, culminating on International Day of Nonviolence, October 2. We know…
Join the webinar on Sept. 18 and create hope for the planet! Please join us for an inspiring conversation about the importance of COP30, the UN Climate Change Conference that…
Sign the petition to tell global leaders to “Turn Debt into Hope” — prioritize people and planet over profit. The leaders of the three Maryknoll entities joined 120 global faith…
The executive branch is waging legal warfare against the legal designations that protect people from deportation back to the dangerous countries they have fled. Immigration Advocacy Intern Rehema Klueg reports.
UN plastics treaty negotiations collapsed in August 2025 after countries failed to bridge fundamental divides, particularly regarding the contentious issue of whether to include limits on plastic production and restrict harmful chemicals.
Catholic bishops from Africa, Asia and Latin America issued a joint statement to world leaders asking for transformative actions at the UN Climate Chance Conference COP30.
In an open letter to the U.S. House of Representatives, Maryknoll Office for Global concerns joined a coalition led by Back from the Brink: The Call to Prevent Nuclear War in a message in support of a House Resolution urging a reversal of the nuclear arms race.
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns joined 11 religiously-affiliated organizations that provide support to immigrants in writing to the U.S. Court of Appeals on the side of Plaintiffs, immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela who are challenging Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s decision to end humanitarian parole.
Advocates met in Calgary, Canada, ahead of the G7 summit to discuss the 2025 Jubilee debt relief campaign.
World leaders met in Nice, France, from June 9-13, to discuss sustainability of the world’s oceans. Maryknoll Sister Margaret Lacson and Maryknoll Father John Sivalon report back.
