by Dionel Rodriguez | Aug 5, 2026
Kenya’s university students represent a generation with significant energy, education, and potential, yet many have limited opportunity to put their skills directly in service of communities beyond their own. At the same time, some of Kenya’s most remote and underserved regions lack sufficient healthcare workers, teachers, and catechists to meet basic community needs.
Maryknoll’s Mission Outreach Program bridges these two realities by helping university students take part in structured mission experiences in far-flung communities. Over several weeks, students live and work alongside local residents, contributing their emerging skills in fields such as healthcare, agriculture, education, and catechesis, often the first hands-on service experience of this kind in their academic careers.
Grounded in the Catholic Social Teaching principle of Solidarity, this program forms young Kenyans in the truth that we belong to one human family, responsible for one another across lines of geography and circumstance. It is also a direct expression of Maryknoll’s founding charism as a missionary sending society, forming a new generation of Kenyan Catholics who carry the spirit of mission service into their own country’s most overlooked communities.
Gifts to this project cover the transportation, housing, and program costs that make these mission experiences possible, forming a new generation of missionary disciples while extending practical help to communities that need it most.
by Dionel Rodriguez | Aug 3, 2026
For many young people in Bolivia, opportunities to actively live out their faith through direct service remain limited, particularly for those from families with few resources for travel or extracurricular programs. Meanwhile, remote mountain communities across the country often have limited access to volunteers, catechists, or additional support for community projects and pastoral outreach.
Maryknoll’s Youth Mission Camp connects these two realities, giving young people from across Bolivia the chance to participate in an immersive mission experience that combines faith, service, and leadership development. Participants travel to remote mountain communities, where they work alongside local families, assist with practical projects, and share their faith through direct engagement with people whose circumstances often differ significantly from their own.
This program embodies the Catholic Social Teaching principle of Solidarity, forming young Bolivians in direct, personal encounter with communities whose circumstances differ from their own. It is also a clear expression of Maryknoll’s founding charism as a missionary sending society, extending the call to mission service beyond ordained missioners themselves and inviting a new generation of young Catholics to discover their own vocation to serve.
Gifts to this project cover transportation and meals for young people participating in mission camps, forming future Church leaders while bringing encouragement and practical support to remote Bolivian communities.
by Dionel Rodriguez | Feb 15, 2024
Young people who actively participate in parish life from an early age are significantly more likely to remain engaged in their Catholic faith as adults, making youth-focused ministry a critical investment in the long-term vitality of the Church. Without structured opportunities for meaningful participation, many young Catholics can drift toward the margins of parish life as they grow older.
The St. Mary’s Altar Server Association provides young people with substantive opportunities to deepen their relationship with Christ through service at the altar, combined with retreats, camps, leadership development, and broader spiritual formation. Serving at the altar offers young people a direct, visible role in the liturgy, one that fosters a personal sense of ownership and connection to the Mass beyond simply attending as a spectator.
Forming young people through service at the altar reflects the Catholic Social Teaching principle of the Call to Family, Community, and Participation, giving youth a genuine, active role in the life of the parish rather than a passive one. This ministry also carries forward Maryknoll’s charism of forming missionary disciples early, cultivating habits of service and leadership that many participants carry with them throughout their adult lives.
Gifts to this project support retreats, leadership training, and formation activities that help young altar servers in Hong Kong build a lasting foundation of faith, friendship, and future Church leadership.
