Maryknoll Lay Missioners
is a Catholic mission-sending community
committed to nonviolence through
prevention, intervention, reconciliation,
and restoration of all creation.
We are long-term missioners and missioner families
in nine African, Asian, and American countries.
Striving to create an inclusive and anti-racist world,
we live with those most excluded in society
to transform unjust structures together.
We welcome and work with people of all faiths.
A life shaped by mission and friendship
An early co-director of Maryknoll Lay Missioners, Chuck Lathrop helped guide the organization through its earliest years while carrying a lifelong commitment to mission across continents. He is remembered with gratitude by family, friends, and missioners around the world.
Catholic search party finds migrant remains in desert
Maryknoll Lay Missioner Heidi Cerneka, an immigration lawyer at the border, joined Jesuits and other volunteers on a sobering mission.
A shared “yes” to mission
Maryknoll Lay Missioners sent forth eight new missioners to serve in communities across the Americas and Africa.
A few dusty shelves. A forgotten room. And a simple idea that grew into a community library.
In this video, recently returned Maryknoll lay missioner Josh Wetmore shares how a small library project in El Salvador became a place of belonging—for children, parents, and students who now have free access to books, stories, and space to learn.
What began as borrowed books has become a cultural and communal space filled with hope.
Watch Josh’s story and see how mission often begins—and why stories matter. 📚💛
