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.
The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns issued the following statement in response to the Biden administration's announcement that it would designate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti for 18 months.
The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns joined other organizations in sending the following letter to House and Senate Leadership urging them to prioritize sending aid to Latin America and the Caribbean, which are new coronavirus epicenter regions.
The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns joins other organizations and communities in issuing a statement calling for the international community to take immediate measures to protect Amazonian communities from the risk of COVID-19 outbreak.
The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns gratefully welcomes "Querida Amazonia," Pope Francis's Exhortation in response to the Synod on the Amazon.
The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns remembers Jakelin and calls on the U.S. government to end the inhumane treatment of migrants.
The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns released the following statement on the political crisis in Bolivia on November 27, 2019.
The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns joins over 40 U.S.-based faith, human rights, foreign policy, humanitarian, immigrant rights and border-based civil society organizations in a statement to express deep concern over the Trump Administration’s latest actions on Central America including the wholesale cutoffs of assistance to Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.
The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns condemns President Trump's emergency declaration and calls on Congress to enact immigration policies that protect human rights.
We call on Congress to reverse the course of the Trump administration.
A call for compassion and transformation.
As the leadership of the Maryknoll Sisters, Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers and the Maryknoll Lay Missioners, we denounce the cruel and immoral “zero-tolerance” immigration policy enacted by the Trump Administration which has resulted in the separation of over 2,300 children from their parents, the criminal prosecution of anyone who crosses the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, and severe restrictions on asylum applications.
The Trump administration announced plans to renegotiate NAFTA.
During her visit to Guatemala in early June, Vice President Kamala Harris made comments regarding migration to the southern U.S. border that sparked controversy.
The economic consequences of the Car Wash corruption scandal match the far-reaching political turmoil that continues to overshadow Brazil.
David Kane, an MOGC staff member in Brazil and a returned Maryknoll Lay Missioner, explains how a new study highlights the impacts of President Bolsonaro’s actions on the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil.
The political situation in Haiti has brought the country to the “verge of explosion.”
Two devastating hurricanes hit Central America in November, leaving widespread destruction for local communities already struggling from the fallout of the pandemic.
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.
One of the greatest contemporary battles that we face today is the struggle to protect our natural world, which many indigenous cultures affectionately refer to as “Mother Earth,” which includes the interconnected web of living creatures that sustains and nurtures the balance of all life on this planet.
Kathy McNeely served as a Maryknoll lay missioner in Guatemala, and worked for many years in the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns.
Sr. Ellen McDonald, who served as a Maryknoll missioner in Panama, wrote the following reflection; this piece is also published in A Maryknoll Liturgical Year: Reflections on the Readings for Year B, available from Orbis Books.
The following reflection was written by Maggie Fogarty, a former Maryknoll lay missioner in Bolivia, and is published in A Maryknoll Liturgical Year: Reflections on the Readings for Year B, available from Orbis Books.
The following reflection was prepared by Maryknoll lay missioner Joanne Blaney and published in A Maryknoll Liturgical Year: Reflections on the Readings for Year B.
The following reflection, written by former lay missioner Larry Rich, was published in A Maryknoll Liturgical Year: Reflections on the Readings for Year B, available from Orbis Books.
The following reflection was prepared by Kathy McNeely, who was a lay missioner in Guatemala and then served with the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns.
Fr. Dennis Moorman has served as a missioner in Brazil for a number of years.
Fr. Paul Masson has served as a missioner in Chile and on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Kathy McNeely served as a Maryknoll lay missioner in Guatemala in the 1990s. She subsequently worked with the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns.
Br. Marty Shea has served the people of Guatemala for many decades.
Bob Short, who served as a lay missioner in Ecuador in the 1980s, now coordinates the Maryknoll Affiliates, an international community.
Fr. Dan McLaughlin is a Maryknoll priest who has served in Brazil for many years.
After serving as a lay missioner in Guatemala in the 1990s, Kathy McNeely was a member of the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns staff for many years.
