2019 was a year of loss for Maryknoll in Africa. First, given that there was really no Maryknoller to assume the directorship, we had to turn MIAS (Maryknoll Institute of African Studies) over to Tangaza College. Unfortunately, the turnover wasn’t as collegial as it might have been; in fact, it wasn’t a turnover at all, but rather something on the order of a death and rebirth. The heart of the MIAS program was the field work, through which the participants—even Africans—could come to a more personal and experiential appreciation for African culture in a way that simply would not be possible in a classroom.

Also, with Fr. Edward Hayes’ return to the U.S., Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers no longer has a presence in Musoma, our first mission when we came to Tanganyika in 1946. For Maryknoll to no longer be present in Musoma means that something basic has changed.

Additionally, three former Maryknollers from the Motherland entered into their eternal rest in 2019: Fr. Edward Quinn, M.M., Bro. Victor Marshall, M.M., and Fr. Donald Doherty, M.M. Mwenyezi awaweke mahali pema peponi.

Another change is that for the first time, I believe, most of our members are in specialized rather than parish ministries. This means that we are slowly transitioning to a ministerial style that has not been our tradition in Maryknoll Africa.

We’ve had members in specialized ministries for a long time, but almost all of them—with a few exceptions—were people who would have begun doing parish ministry and branched out into something else. I think that gave us a rapport with and understanding of the people that just isn’t possible any other way.

All is not bleak, however. Indeed, there are also signs of great hope. Fr. Jonathan Hill, M.M. was assigned to the Region after ordination in June 2019. He has taken up his ministry with gusto. Our program of accompaniment with local prospects and candidates continues apace. I anxiously await the day when that will just be vocation ministry, unhyphenated. In 2019, Sem. Victor Mutobera, M.M. went to the U.S. to continue his formation. Sem. John Siyumbu, M.M. (our first “local candidate”) completed his OTP (Overseas Training Program) in the Latin America Region. Sems. Joshua Mutennde, M.M. and Charles Ogony, M.M. continue their OTP in Latin America. At present, aside from the local seminarians I’ve mentioned, we have one who is a medical doctor finishing up an internship in Mloganzila Hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and another five in the Manyani Road House in Nairobi.

– FATHER JOHN WALDREP, M.M. AFRICA REGIONAL SUPERIOR

When the Eastern Deanery AIDS Relief Program was started in 1993 by Maryknoll Fr. Edward Phillips, the staff could only accompany the dying and their families. Today, EDARP has a success rate that exceeds the rate in many major cities in the developed world, including New York. Yet it operates in one of Nairobi’s worst slums, Mathare, arguably one of the most desperate slums in the world.

Maryknoll Fr. Richard Bauer, who joined the EDARP team in 2017, says the program’s success is measured in its 80 percent compliance rate for HIV-positive people staying on antiretroviral medication. That success, says EDARP Managing Director Alice Njoroge, is because of the faith of most of EDARP’s more than 1,000 community health workers (CHWs) who make sure their HIV-positive neighbors take their medications consistently, are eating well and provide the critical social support to maintain treatment adherence.

Organized, trained and supported through the area’s small Christian communities connected with local Catholic parishes, the CHWs are part of EDARP’s faith-based mission of compassion, giving constant encouragement to their HIV-positive neighbors, including spiritual support for those who wish it.

The program offers adults and children basic AIDS care, as well as antiretroviral treatment. It focuses on prenatal care and prevention of a pregnant mother passing the disease to her unborn child, as well as on finding ways to decrease the transmission of AIDS among adults. Well-baby clinics identify infants at risk for HIV infection and provide immunizations for poor children who do not receive other basic immunization services.

Even though a cure for AIDS has yet to be found, people are living longer because of antiretroviral treatment. Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers’ work in this area helps families stay together. Children can grow up with their parents – not as orphans – and fewer parents agonize about leaving their precious children behind as they are dying.

In September 1918, the first band of Maryknollers left the U.S. for the Far East to establish our first overseas mission in South China. Today, we are present in 11 countries, following in the footsteps of these pioneers. Our presence in Asia has diminished quite a bit in the last two years. Presently, we are 39 priests, two brothers and two associate priests—still the largest group of Maryknollers overseas. While religious tolerance is exercised in most countries, there are increasing challenges to religious freedom in a few places that affect our work. Nonetheless, our members are generally working well wherever they are found.

Our two Maryknoll brothers in Bangkok continue their personal outreach to those suffering from AIDS.

In North Korea, Fr. Gerard Hammond continues his ministry treating people afflicted with tuberculosis. The other Maryknollers in Korea serve in specialized ministries in Seoul, Incheon and Busan, working with local seminaries and formation houses.

Fr. Joseph Thaler assists the disabled and provides education and development works for women, as well as ongoing relief in the aftermath of the 2015 earthquake, in Nepal. Frs. Brian Barrons and Shaun Crumb continue their own special ministry in education in Jilin and Shenyang in China. Other Maryknoll priests are assigned to parishes. Fr. Peter Barry continues to offer his expertise to the Holy Spirit Centre in Hong Kong, and Fr. Bill LaRousse resides in Hong Kong as Assistant Secretary General to the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences.

In Japan, we serve parishes and schools in Sapporo, while others work among Vietnamese migrants in the Diocese of Nagoya.

Our Maryknollers in Taiwan are in the dioceses of Taipei, Taichung, and Kiayi in parish work or working with migrant workers from various Asian nations. Two missioners remain in the Philippines.

Our works in “Asia South” are more specialized, working in pastoral ministry and charitable outreach among the peoples of the diocese of Mymensingh. Fr. Bob McCahill continues his decades of witness ministry among people in the countryside of Bangladesh.

Fr. Vince Cole has served in the very difficult and remote area of Agats in Indonesia—the only Maryknoller there.

Two Maryknoll Priest Associates oversee a large group of social outreach programs in Cambodia, serving those who have been emotionally traumatized: the blind and deaf, and the poor and displaced.

The many pastoral, educational, social and spiritual ministries undertaken by us in the Asia Region are, in large part, aided by the prayers and support of our benefactors whose generosity continues to help us to respond to the challenges, needs and hopes of the places where we work.

– FATHER BRIAN BARRONS, M.M. ASIA REGIONAL SUPERIOR

Maryknoll Fr. Joseph Thaler has served in Nepal for over 30 years and has come to know generations of families who have participated in his many different projects that provide income, health care and nutritional staples.

He accomplishes much of his work in conjunction with both governmental and non-governmental organizations. One such group is the Care and Development Organization (CDO), a non-profit organization dedicated to relieving the distress of people in Nepal living in extreme poverty. This impoverished nation continues to be plagued by both war and natural disasters.

After the Nepalese Civil War ended in 2006, thousands of people from small villages sought refuge in Nepal’s capital city of Kathmandu. These refugees became a common sight in the city. Many of these families depended on work in brick factories. The great earthquake of 2015 decimated most of these factories. The quake, subsequent avalanches and aftershocks killed more than 9,000 people and injured more than 23,000. Fr. Thaler monitored the distribution of emergency supplies and care for the people, directed missions of mercy throughout the central district of Nepal and spearheaded Maryknoll’s rebuilding process.

Together with CDO, Fr. Thaler continues to work to improve the lives of these desperately poor families. They provide medical care, health care and skills development, with particular emphasis on the welfare of women and children. Other programs in Nepal provide job training in vermiculture to make fertilizer, sewing, briquette making and mushroom cultivation to help families become self-sufficient. It is here that Fr. Thaler gives dignity, hope and a future to many of these families and children.

In an exhortation to bishops, Pope Francis said, “I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets…”

From Santiago, Chile to Guatemala City; from Lima, Peru to São Paulo, Brazil, Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers in Latin America are a part of a bruised and hurting Church. Daily, they walk the dirty urban streets and dusty rural paths soothing the wounded and mending the broken hearted.

The wounds of the Latin American Church fester with ongoing political unrest in Chile, Bolivia, Venezuela and Nicaragua, the destruction of the Amazon rain forest in Bolivia, Peru and Brazil and the exodus of millions of refugees fleeing political oppression in Venezuela and Nicaragua, violence in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras and pervasive extreme poverty throughout the region.

Throughout the Region, Maryknollers are present. As Missionary Disciples of Jesus, we embrace men, women and children living with HIV and AIDS by advocating for their rights and providing them shelter, food, medical assistance and spiritual guidance. We accompany people deprived of their freedom, fleeing their homelands and broken by tragedy and trauma. We teach therapists how to heal minds and spirits wracked with pain. We enable the blind to soothe others through touch by providing them training and a livelihood as masseuses.

In parishes throughout the region, we preach – in words and good works – the Good News, celebrate the Lord’s supper, anoint the sick and invite those who have gone astray to return to a merciful God.

And in Cochabamba, Bolivia at our Mission Formation Center, we invite others, especially lay people throughout the region and around the world, to respond to their own missionary vocation. Also, in Cochabamba, we accompany five Maryknoll Seminarians participating in an Overseas Training Program, a crucial, if not a defining, phase of their missionary formation.

Our hands are dirty, but our hearts are full proclaiming and building God’s Kingdom in Latin America…one kind act at a time.

– FATHER JOSEPH FEDORA, M.M. LATIN AMERICA REGIONAL SUPERIOR

“Finding Solidarity Bridge has been a great blessing from God, you can’t imagine.” — ARIANE CASTRO, BOLIVIA

Nearly one-third of the world’s diseases stem from surgically treatable conditions. And, while many global health initiatives focus on primary and preventative care, approximately five billion people lack access to basic surgical services. The mission of U.S.-based Solidarity Bridge is to provide those services to poor people in Bolivia. In Bolivia, heart surgery and recovery at a reputable hospital would cost a minimum of $14,000. Most Bolivians would not be able to afford such costly care. Maryknoll Fr. Dae Kim works in the Heart Surgery program with Solidarity Bridge, which provides critical heart surgeries for infants and young children. Gifts from Maryknoll supporters fund these lifesaving operations. The goal of the program is to help at least two to four patients a year to receive this health care. Fr. Kim accompanies the patient and his or her family during the heart surgery and all through recovery, offering pastoral and spiritual guidance through the healing process.