Missionary Organization Maryknoll Lay Missioners Commemorate Half Century of Aid and Service for a Troubled World
Maryknoll Lay Missioners: Spreading a Message of Nonviolence and Transforming Unjust Structures
The Maryknoll Lay Missioners, a Catholic mission-sending community, have been making a difference in the world since their official founding on June 1, 1975. This organisation, dedicated to creating an inclusive and anti-racist world, operates in Africa, Asia, and the Americas, currently serving over 30 long-term missionaries and missionary families in the Philippines, Honduras, Peru, and other countries.
Juan Gomez, a missioner in Bolivia, joined the organisation in 2014, feeling a void in his life needed to be filled. Today, he resides in a rural Indigenous community in the Andes, where he teaches computer, auto mechanics, and baking classes at a boarding school. Beyond education, Gomez coaches sports teams, leads a faith youth group, and mentors and accompanies his students. He believes that there is much to learn from marginalised communities, and the bridge created by missioners between these communities and their home countries enriches both.
Another missioner, Joanne Blaney, is stationed in São Paulo, Brazil. Blaney focuses her ministry on education and leadership training, as well as justice and peace. Her team trains members of the community, church, judicial system, and other groups in violence prevention, nonviolent communication, and restorative justice practices.
The Maryknoll Lay Missioners' mission is to spread a message of nonviolence through "prevention, intervention, reconciliation, and the restoration of all creation." This mission is informed by core values of simple living, community, joy, inclusion, and humility. Missioners live with those most excluded in society to transform unjust structures together.
This commitment to nonviolence and inclusion has attracted many candidates, such as the three from El Salvador who successfully completed the Maryknoll Lay Missioners admissions process in 2025. These missioners come from marginalised communities and were drawn to the organisation after witnessing the impact of its work in their own communities.
Maryknoll Lay Missioners work on a standard 3-1/2-year contract. One of their dedicated writers, Kimberley Heatherington, contributes articles from Virginia for the organisation's website. The work of these missionaries continues to make a difference in the lives of countless individuals around the world, striving to create a more inclusive, anti-racist, and just society.
