The atmosphere in the auditorium at New York Medical College was filled with a mixture of reverence and gratitude. It was April 28, 2023, and the college was hosting a Convocation of Thanks, a special event dedicated to honoring the individuals who had generously donated their bodies for medical study. Approximately 200 family and friends, representing the 53 donors whose selfless acts would impact the education of future doctors, attended the event. Among the guests, were four Maryknoll Sisters and two Maryknoll Society members, Br. Brendan Corkery, MM, Coordinator of Assisted Living, and Fr. Juan Zuniga, MM, of the General Council. Jacqueline Perrier, a social worker who accompanies our men in assisted living, also attended.

As the ceremony commenced, a series of short speeches began, each student taking the stage to express their heartfelt appreciation. A first-year medical student paid special tribute to Fr. John Sullivan, MM, and wondered if he had ever imagined the magnitude of his contribution to their education, and the countless lives they would go on to touch as physicians.

Two other Society Members, Fr. Clarence Engler, MM and Fr. Robert Lilly, MM were also among those being honored and remembered during the convocation. The ashes of a third Society Member, Fr. Ernest Brunelle, were returned on this day to be interred in our columbarium. The room resonated with gratitude as the students acknowledged the invaluable contributions of all the donors.

In another poignant moment, a student named Emily paid special tribute to Sr. Mary Grenough, MM. She expressed deep admiration for her generosity in considering others even in death. Alongside Sr. Mary Grenough, two other Maryknoll Sisters were also remembered for their remarkable act of kindness. It became evident that many students had taken the time to research and learn about the individuals whose bodies they would be working on, fostering a deeper connection and sense of gratitude towards them.

One student explained that the anatomy lab teams consisted of four individuals, each team responsible for dissecting one side of the body. The collaboration and shared responsibility allowed the students to gain a comprehensive understanding of human anatomy. They also studied the bodies that had been previously dissected by other teams, fostering a collective learning experience.

As the speeches drew to a close, the ceremony took a heartwarming turn. The attendees were invited outdoors to witness the planting of a memorial tree—a symbol of gratitude and remembrance. The tree would serve as a living testament to the profound impact the donors had on the education and future endeavors of these aspiring medical professionals.

The gathering of family and friends at the planting of the tree was a powerful reminder that life, even after death, could continue to touch and transform the lives of others. The students, now equipped with a deeper understanding of the human body and the immeasurable gift given to them, felt a deep sense of responsibility to honor the donors’ legacy by dedicating their lives to medicine and to the service of others.

The Convocation of Thanks at New York Medical College left an indelible impression on the hearts and minds of all who attended. It was a moment of reflection, a moment to honor the selflessness of those who had given the gift of their bodies for the advancement of medical science and the betterment of humanity.

May all Maryknollers who have been so generous, now live in the fullness of God’s generous love for them.

Whenever we are talking about mission, inevitably we bring in the aspect of a people’s culture. Talking about the culture of a people includes their language, their history, and most important, their lifestyle. Even in the life of Jesus and his teachings, all these aspects are central to his life as a real human person. The same applies to every human being, no matter the person’s religion. Human beings are God’s language to us not only as Christians or Maryknollers, but simply as human beings. The fact that human beings are God’s language means that culture is an important reality in mission.

We OTP students experience mission with a people, a cultural community. This means we have to deeply experience their culture and lifestyle. The missioner and the welcoming community learn from each other as God mysteriously evangelizes both of us.

Under the guidance of Fr. Alejandro Marina and sometimes accompanied by Fr. Paul Sykora, we OTP students often visit the zone of TIPNIS in the Amazon. TIPNIS stands for Territorio Indígena y Parque Nacional Isiboro Secure. TIPNIS is a protected area and Native Community Land situated between the Cochabamba Department and the Beni Department (Chapare, Moxos, and Marbán provinces).

Our visits to TIPNIS give us an opportunity to experience mission with the many communities living in the Amazon. TIPNIS is home to the Moxeño, Chimané, and Yurakaré indigenous groups, who live from the land and are mostly hunters, fishers and gatherers. Meeting the people of these communities helps us to develop greater sensitivity to the importance of culture in misión. As part of the project of reforestation in the Amazon, we participate in tree planting in some communities that we visit.

During the weekend just after Pentecost, the Santissima Trinidad community holds a big celebration of three days to commemorate their founding in the Amazon. The celebration includes colorful cultural dances from the different communities inhabiting the Amazon and honors the creator and protector of these communities, in Christian terms the Holy Trinity. The celebration, which precedes a novena, has the Eucharist as its key event. In addition, families take this opportunity to introduce their sons and daughters to the Christian family through the sacrament of baptism.

The members of the community also observe and respect the liturgical calendar. They always ask for Mass during the special days in the church calendar; therefore, the absence of a priest or Eucharistic minister in these areas disappoints them. Here is where the catechist comes in to lead the people in prayer and celebratory processions. Whenever we OTP students visit these communities, we always try to help in the services and offer catechism classes to the children. Just recently, we participated in the procession and celebration of Corpus Christi in Santissima Trinidad which turned out to be a really beautiful celebration. It is always amazing to see how devoted the people are in reverence for God and mother nature.

Our faith in Christ and confidence in mission is strengthened when we are blessed with seeing the Christian faith manifested through the traditions, customs, and heritage that still exist in the indigenous cultures of the Amazon. The richness of a people united, living as one community, and taking pride in what the ancestors left behind. For the people living in the Amazon area, this is the heartbeat of their existence. In every communal activity, the entire community is happily involved and participates with pride in their rich heritage. A person from Africa could not be any happier than just experiencing this simple, humble, and kind encounter of life in the Amazon. We miss our homelands. We miss our families. But joining in Christ’s mission and experiencing life with the communities here gives us a taste of home and family in these beautiful and blessed fields afar. That is what mission is all about: getting to experience mission with sensitivity to culture, sharing in and listening to the stories of others though different from us, and ultimately learning the beauty and richness hidden in our cultures. Mission always is about God’s beautiful language: human beings.

This is the gift, the charism, that Maryknoll as a missionary society gives to us and the many people we encounter and interact with through evangelization. A gift that our Founders first received and passed to us to continue experiencing in the fields afar. Although it is not that easy to guard this precious gift for the generations to come, you can agree that there is beauty in the gift itself thanks to our Founders. There comes a time when once again this gift needs to germinate in the peripheries and the communities in the Amazon. The people of the Amazon show us that all humanity is in need of this gift. Shall we, then, pass it on for its growth as God continues his new creation in Christ?

You might be aware that there is a full-blown war going on in the north and western parts of Sudan since mid-April. It is between the government sponsored Army and Rapid Forces, an independent well supplied fundamentalist military. Hard to appreciate or realize who is in the lead. Both sides claim control of parts of Khartoum.

Rapid Forces has grown out of Darfur in the western part of the country. There many of the people have been evacuated and taken refuge in neighboring countries especially Chad and Central African Republic.

As soon as the fighting began most foreign nationals fled the country. Embassies closed and since some have been looted. Schools and hospitals have ceased to function, water and electricity in most areas are no longer available and food is scarce. Banks and industries have ceased to operate.

The Church too has suffered. In Khartoum many or most of the religious have fled. The Christian churches have been looted and occupied by the forces of both sides. The parish in Nyala in western Darfur was looted and its two vehicles taken by Rapid Forces. The priest’s guesthouse in El Obeid was bombed and destroyed and gun shots were fired into the cathedral. Both sides are sincere Islamists, who can tell what the future for the churches will be once it is settled.

Here where I am, the Nuba Mountains, is in the southern part of Sudan. We are a liberated area under the governance and protection off the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army so we are not directly affected by the war only we feel it by the increase of costs for items as fuel which comes from the north – nothing is coming but traders are hoarding what they have.

The tides have changed. In the past we here in the south we’re victims of the north. For over thirty years we experienced suffering and killing, bombing and migration. Not to say we are happy to see that the people in the north are now suffering. They still are our sisters and brothers.
So please keep Sudan and its people in your prayers that sometime in the future we will know the Peace that the Lord offers.

Tom Tiscornia