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 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.
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.
The newly unveiled U.S. policy is of little help to Central American families who live in fear.
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 from a devastating earthquake in 2010 and a massive hurricane in 2016 – would be inhumane and untenable.
Peg Vámosy, a Maryknoll Lay Missioner in El Salvador, reflects on how this pandemic offers us the opportunity for a fresh start on healing our broken relationship with all God's creation.
Erica Olson, a returned Maryknoll Lay Missioner who lived and worked in El Salvador, writes this week's reflection.
Christine Perrier, a former Maryknoll Lay Missioner who continues to live and work in Peru, reflects on making meaningful connections in a global culture distracted by social media.
Ted Miles, Executive Director of the Maryknoll Lay Missioners, reflects on the power of love to heal our broken relationships and bind us together as God created us to be.
Maryknoll Father John Spain in El Salvador reflects on the lessons we can learn from the early Church.
This week's reflection was written by Maryknoll Father Ray Finch in 2016. Father Finch lived and worked in the Andean regions of Latin America for many years, and is currently Superior General of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers.
Kathy McNeely, a returned Maryknoll Lay Missioner who lived and worked in Guatemala, reflects on the important gifts offered by the prophets among us.
Maryknoll Lay Missioner Marilyn Kott in Brazil reflects on the lessons the Scriptures offer on experiencing and responding to anger.
Maryknoll Lay Missioner Kathleen Bond in Brazil reflects on the saints among us on this holy day.
Phil and Kathy Dahl-Bredine, who served as Maryknoll Lay Missioners and continue to live in Mexico, reflect on the urgent need to proclaim a Gospel of peace and simplicity.
Maryknoll Sister Madeline "Maddie" Dorsey, wrote the following reflection on caring for God's goodness amid great suffering.
Jean Walsh, a returned Maryknoll Lay Missioner who served in Mexico, reflects on the relationship between humans and the natural world, what Pope Francis calls integral ecology.
Returned Maryknoll Lay Missioner Dan Moriarty reflects on the importance of inclusion and encounter in our church and society.
Maryknoll Lay Missioner Heidi Cerneka, currently on mission in Kenya after many years in Brazil, reflects on Jesus' instructions to the disciples to go out in the world.
Maryknoll Father Bill Donnelly reflects on the faith of the people of Guatemala who have endured years of violence and oppression yet live in hope that justice will prevail.
