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.
MKLM Executive Director Elvira Ramirez preaches for All Saints’ Day on Catholic Women Preach
Preaching for Solemnity of All Saints, Elvira Ramirez invites us to become our best selves—with the help of the Holy Spirit—for the glory of God.
‘Guided by God’: One woman’s journey from refugee to a life of giving
Thu Tam Hoang went from being a refugee herself to helping refugees and becoming a Maryknoll Lay Missioner in Cambodia. She was profiled by Union of Catholic Asian News.
Podcast spotlights Maryknoll missioners Anita and Curt Klueg’s years in Kenya
Anita and Curt Klueg, who served in Kenya with Maryknoll Lay Missioners alongside their two daughters, are featured in a recent episode of the “1 Christian 1 Topic” podcast. The couple discusses their ministries with children and families, the challenges of raising a family overseas, and the lasting impact of their mission experience on their lives back in the United States.
Maryknoll Magazine: Holy ground in Kitale
Maryknoll lay missioner Theresa Glaser follows her calling to Kenya, where she serves as a teacher for children at risk of homelessness.
National Catholic Reporter: 50 years on, Maryknoll lay missioners celebrate lives changed by service
Maryknoll lay missioners from across the globe were invigorated by messages of hope during a weekend gathering in Ossining, New York, that culminated a yearlong 50th anniversary celebration.
OSV News: Maryknoll Lay Missioners mark 50 years doing ‘a world of good for a world in need’
In an era of conflict and division, it’s an intriguing and empowering invitation: “Do a world of good for a world in need.” It comes from the Maryknoll Lay Missioners — a Catholic mission-sending community that tirelessly spreads a message of nonviolence through “prevention, intervention, reconciliation, and the restoration of all creation.”
Vision magazine profiled Sr. Deirdre Griffin, Maryknoll lay missioner at the border
Sr. Deirdre Griffin, an immigration lawyer in El Paso who accompanies asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border, was featured in the latest issue of the publication of the National Religious Vocation Conference, highlighting her deep commitment to justice and human dignity.
FaithND reflection by Notre Dame alum highlights Maryknoll Lay Missioners’ work in El Paso
In a recent FaithND Gospel reflection, Notre Dame alumnus James Luk recounts his time with Maryknoll Lay Missioners in El Paso, where he witnessed the power of faith lived out through daily service to migrants at the border.
Le Monde diplomatique highlights Maryknoll lay missioner’s witness to Honduran land rights struggle
Missioner Sarah Bueter contributed as a source to an article in international newspaper Le Monde diplomatique that recounts the life, activism, and tragic murder of Honduran environmental defender Juan López, who was killed in September 2024 amid ongoing conflicts over mining and land rights in the Bajo Aguán region.
Kenya missioner Francis Wayne profiled by hometown Kentucky newspaper
The Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer delved into Francis’ life story, call to mission, and current ministry in vocational training, remedial academics, and prison ministry.
Returned missioners Celine and Don Woznica featured by National Catholic Reporter
The Woznicas have been leaders in organizing assistance for migrants in their hometown of Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago. Their ministry has served some 15,000 migrants in the last three years.
Global Sisters Report announces Maryknoll Monarch Initiative, a collaborative of Maryknoll Lay Missioners and Maryknoll Sister
A project of National Catholic Reporter that covers the the mission and ministry of Catholic women religious around the world reported on the newly formed Maryknoll Monarch Initiative, based in El Paso, Texas, an education and training program with a focus on Care for the Earth, Human Migration, and Nonviolence among other priorities.
Maryknoll lay missioner Marj Humphrey featured in Gonzaga Magazine
Marj Humphrey’s return to mission to East Africa earlier this year was covered in the Spring 2025 issue of Gonzaga Magazine, the publication of her alma mater.
Maryknoll Lay Missioners featured on Chicago Archdiocese broadcast & podcast
The Global Mission Office of the Archdiocese of Chicago hosts a monthly program on the spirit of mission around the globe. Host Megan Mio sat down with returned Maryknoll lay missioners Celine and Don Woznica, as well as Jennifer Tomshack, communications manager, and Daniel Lizárraga, mission services manager, at Maryknoll Lay Missioners.
“Love & Speak the Truth” podcast interviews Maryknoll lay missioner Heidi Cerneka
Podcast host Sr. Brenda Eagan, IBVM engages in conversation with Heidi Cerneka about faith, justice, and the courage it takes to act on your convictions.
Maryknoll lay missioner Sr. Deirdre Griffin featured by Congregation of St. Joseph
Maryknoll lay missioner Sr. Deirdre Griffin, SSJ, an immigration lawyer in El Paso, was joined in January by a delegation of Sisters of St. Joseph from across the country to volunteer at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Maryknoll Lay Missioners featured in Living City magazine
Maryknoll Lay Missioners made the cover of a special issue on migration, published by Focolare Media. MKLM communications manager Jennifer Tomshack reports on the work of current and returned missioners, including Bill Hallerman and Linda Savio (Venezuela 1986-1990), at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Maryknoll Lay Missioners featured by Pilgrim Center of Hope
Maryknoll Lay Missioners was featured on the podcast of Pilgrim Center of Hope, a Catholic evangelization ministry based in San Antonio, Texas. The “Journeys of Hope” weekly audio broadcast & podcast program interviewed James and Betty Keller, returned Maryknoll lay missioners (Mexico 1989-1996), and Daniel Lizárraga, Maryknoll Lay Missioners’ mission services manager.
Catholic Worker features Maryknoll lay missioner Marj Humphrey
The website of the global Catholic Worker Movement (CatholicWorker.org) and its email newsletter Roundtable featured Maryknoll lay missioner Marj Humphrey and her upcoming return to mission to East Africa.
Making All Things New
Josh Sisolak reflects on the experiences of the first disciples after the death and resurrection of Jesus, and the similarities he has seen as a Maryknoll lay missioner.
Nonviolence Prevention in Cambodia’s Deaf Community
Julie Lawler shares how naming the realities in Cambodia helped her recognize additional prevention techniques to support nonviolent living in her deaf ministry.
Trapped by False Promises
Migrants seeking safety and opportunity often encounter exploitation hidden behind false promises. Through the work of Maryknoll Lay Missioner Heidi Cerneka, survivors are finding protection, dignity, and hope.
Hope is Alive in Lebanon
Coralis Salvador, shares her recent experience while on assignment in Lebanon at the Arrupe Migrant Center in Beirut.
Angela’s Plight
With a year’s time, a widow mourns the loss of her husband, gives birth to their fifth child, loses her middle son and is powerless when it comes to treating an illness that ultimately kills her oldest son. Miraculously, she and her children have found HOPE.
Preaching Hope. Living Peace
Gabe Hurrish reflects on his 8 years in South Sudan and how lucky he was to not be surrounded by media during that time.
The Echoes of Suffering
As the Cambodian government cracks down on ‘forced scamming’ operations, traumatized victims of human trafficking are left wandering the streets. TT Hoang tells the story of 10 Indonesians she helped return to their home country.
Matter of Life and Death
Hang Tran, reflects on Jesus’ friendship with Lazarus, and his sister’s response to his death.
Everyday Mission
Listening to a recent podcast, Sarah Bueter recognizes the work of her father back home in Indiana was an example of mission all along.
Facing Reality
New lay missioner, Jana Schiemenz, returns to Tanzania and begins to meet the people she will be walking with in her new ministries: a neighborhood special needs school, and a parish that serves those with mental illness.
Sweet Transformation
Maryknoll Lay Missioner, Theresa Glaser, offers an update and reflection on her work at the St. John Bosco Rehabilitation Center in Kenya. This recently included the transformation of a dilapidated room into a a new library.
Our Lady of Lebanon, the Pope, and the Power of Music During War
Maryknoll Lay Missioner, Dee Dungy, is serving in Lebanon as a special assignment. She shares her experiences assisting the migrants fleeing war, the recent conflict, and how Pope Leo XIV’s visit a few months ago impacted the area.
Easter Gift
This sacred season of Easter reminds us that hope is alive, and through faith and service, lives are renewed each day.
Peace & Love, even in Challenges
Joanne Miya reflects on recent developments in her mission. Filled with new challenges, she continually finds peace, love, and joy in her work, and with those she encounters.
Going Forward
After a series of delays in getting into Brazil with the appropriate visa, new Lay Missioner, James Pawlowicz, arrives and shares his happenings that first week.
Witness Brazil
Maryknoll Lay Missioners, Kathy & Flavio, are looking forward to celebrating 50 years of Maryknoll’s presence in Brazil this July, and they hope you will join them.
A Mother’s Unconditional Love
Maryknoll Lay Missioner, Juan Gomez, shares a reflection of the unconditional love expressed by Juanita to her epileptic son and his multiple seizures a day.
A New Chapter in a Familiar Story
After 6 years in Tanzania, Susanne Beentjes thought she knew the area and culture. With her new outlook through the lens of MKLM, she’s experiencing it in a whole new way.
You Are Not Alone
Veteran Lay Missioner, Joe Loney, recently got to observe the ministries of one of our newest lay missioners, Wilber Montoya. He shares a beautiful reflection of his observations with us here.
A small village, a wider world
From Ordinary Time to extraordinary resilience, missioner Sarah Bueter reflects on what it means to live alongside a community in El Salvador shaped by memory, faith, and unfinished hope.
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.
An elder’s mission to form good men
As he balances graduate studies by Zoom, missioner Francis Wayne continues his mission in Kenya—walking alongside incarcerated youth and men in recovery, offering steady presence, practical skills, and hope rooted in dignity and community.
Learning to see possibility
At the Home of Hope in Cambodia, small, patient acts of accompaniment help young people with developmental challenges discover new confidence, connection, and joy.
A shared “yes” to mission
Maryknoll Lay Missioners sent forth eight new missioners to serve in communities across the Americas and Africa.
A missioner’s long legacy of faith and service
A refugee turned missioner and beloved community leader, Son Nguyen devoted his life to others—from Houston’s Vietnamese Catholic community to vulnerable children and families in Bolivia. He is remembered for his courage, kindness, and the love he poured into every act.
Dignity restored through community
Through parish accompaniment and shared meals, Maryknoll lay missioners Filo Siles and Joe Loney are helping older adults in Cochabamba reclaim belonging and hope amid the challenges of aging.
A new chapter opens for a mission—and for the missioner
As Uzima Centre enters a time of leadership transition, Maryknoll lay missioner Joanne Miya reflects on positive change—from expanded apprenticeships and nonviolence education to new spiritual accompaniment at the Lake House of Prayer—while trusting the next generation to carry the work forward.
Out of ruin, a place to call home
After heavy rains worsened the condition of a fragile mud house in Mombasa, a widow and her children found themselves facing the loss of their home. With support from the HOPE Project, what began as collapse became a fresh beginning on solid ground.
Dust trails toward the heart of God
From mountain villages to dense urban neighborhoods in El Salvador, Maryknoll lay missioner Rick Dixon accompanies children whose courage and joy reveal God’s glory in the everyday. Through broken-down buses, makeshift libraries, and a growing circle of young “librarians,” he witnesses a community stitching together learning, belonging, and hope—one small hand at a time.
At a crossroads on the border: Challenges faced, next steps emerging
Amid a shifting border landscape, Maryknoll lay missioner Coralis Salvador reports on court accompaniment, shelter realities, and the groups who joined the Encuentro Project this year—anchored by a renewed sense of call and calm discernment.
Pilot program for vulnerable families in Bolivia reports dramatic results
In the Cochabamba suburb of Tiquipaya, a new program is offering families a path out of poverty, instability, and domestic violence. Led by Maryknoll lay missioner Louise Locke and a local psychologist, the center has already shown remarkable impact: children gaining confidence and skills, parents strengthening relationships, and one family in particular breaking a long-entrenched cycle of violence. With a growing waiting list, the program now hopes to expand so more families can find safety, support, and a dignified future.
A culture of peace broadens its reach
With Project AFYA reaching more than 5,000 students in Brazil and EcoRetreats now being replicated in the United States, missioners Kathy Bond and Flavio Rocha report a year marked by expansion and impact. Their ministries continue to reduce school violence, strengthen emotional resilience, and inspire communities to reconnect with creation.
Put hope into action with your gift
At Advent’s threshold, we step forward as Pilgrims of Hope. With your matched Giving Tuesday gift, you help send new missioner candidates into places shadowed by poverty, displacement, and injustice as well as support missioners already serving around the world.
Through the long rain, hope remains
In Kenya’s season of unrelenting cold and rain, Maryknoll lay missioner Theresa Glaser reflects on the stark contrast between her own simple circumstances and those of her students’ families. At the St. John Bosco Rehabilitation Center, she sees how warmth, learning, and faith can change young lives—and how gratitude can rise even from the mud.
Maryknoll Lay Missioners prepares to commission newest class for global service
At the upcoming Covenant & Sending Ceremony on Dec. 6 in El Paso, Texas, Maryknoll Lay Missioners will send forth eight candidates training to serve marginalized communities around the world.
Bread of Life
From bustling basketball courts to quiet daily rhythm at Lake House of Prayer, Stephen and Loyce Veryser’s ministry in Tanzania bridges the physical and the spiritual. This fall, as they celebrate new beginnings—a completed basketball court, a renewed retreat center—they remind us that faith, like sport, flourishes through community, perseverance, and grace.
Stories of hope by the sea
On a radiant Mission Sunday in Cambodia, a lay missioner pauses by the water to reflect on faith, privilege, and purpose. Between sips of coffee and conversations with two young fruit vendors, she finds that the truest stories of hope often begin in the simplest exchanges—by the sea, beneath the sun, and within the human heart.
MKLM Executive Director Elvira Ramirez preaches for All Saints’ Day on Catholic Women Preach
Preaching for Solemnity of All Saints, Elvira Ramirez invites us to become our best selves—with the help of the Holy Spirit—for the glory of God.
Misioneros salvadoreños comparten un primer vistazo a la vida en misión en Bolivia
Maryknoll Lay Missioners envió a tres misioneros salvadoreños—Gabriela Hernández, Wilber Montoya y Ana Morales—el 16 de mayo en Cochabamba, Bolivia. Fue un momento histórico: la primera vez que Maryknoll Lay Missioners envía un equipo totalmente formado y enviado desde fuera de los Estados Unidos. Ahora, al comenzar sus ministerios, los tres misioneros ofrecen su primera actualización desde el terreno.
Communion of saints, community of care
At Uzima Centre in Tanzania, missioner Joanne Miya reflects on the meaning of community in light of Maryknoll Lay Missioners’ 50th anniversary. For her, it includes not only those she serves today but also the beloved friends, missioners, and family members who have passed on—her “communion of saints.” Through their lives and enduring presence and intercession, she is reminded that every story becomes part of a larger mosaic of faith, resilience, and love.
Walking in circles—in a good way
Two Salvadoran teens once helped missioner Josh Wetmore find his footing in an unfamiliar culture and language. Now, three years later, he finds himself walking the same roads with Emelly and Jeremiahs as they prepare for college—and as he prepares to return home. In the classroom, in the library, and along the dusty paths of El Cedro, their journeys have been intertwined in ways that continue to shape them all.
Farewell to Fr. Charlie: A legacy of 25 years in Cambodia
For a quarter century, Fr. Charles Dittmeier has been a steady presence in Cambodia—walking alongside the deaf community, celebrating Eucharist with international parishioners, and sharing life with Maryknoll missioners and friends. At his side for part of this journey has been missioner Julie Lawler, who joined in interpreting, celebrating, and honoring his life of service. As Fr. Charlie retires and returns home to Kentucky, three heartfelt celebrations in Phnom Penh marked his profound impact, his wisdom, and the countless relationships he nurtured.
Immaculate’s path from survival to leadership
When missioner Joanne Blaney arrived in Uganda to accompany survivors of the Lord’s Resistance Army, she met women whose lives bore the heaviest burdens of violence. One of them, Immaculate Adong, was only eight when her father was killed in the 1995 Atiak massacre. Today, she manages a women’s cooperative that empowers survivors with skills, solidarity, and hope—showing how faith and resilience can rebuild lives and communities.
Joy as resistance
In the mountains of Chalatenango, where storms recall the sorrows of El Salvador’s past, missioner Sarah Bueter discovers that joy is no fragile privilege. It is strength, exercised daily in laughter and lament, and a light that defies despair with love.
Amid tension, signs of hope in Cambodia
As border clashes between Cambodia and Thailand give rise to displacement, missioner Hang Tran witnesses hardship and resilience. From children coloring their way toward calm in crowded camps to a historic episcopal ordination drawing 3,500 faithful, the country holds both sorrow and joy in the same breath, and Hang finds glimpses of grace that point toward Micah’s vision of swords turned into plowshares.
Hope takes root, connects continents
From Maryknoll Lay Missioners’ Golden Jubilee in New York to an eco-spirituality retreat in Ohio, missioners in Brazil Kathy Bond and Flávio Rocha share practices of peace, healing, and connection that nurture a more just and compassionate world.
‘Guided by God’: One woman’s journey from refugee to a life of giving
Thu Tam Hoang went from being a refugee herself to helping refugees and becoming a Maryknoll Lay Missioner in Cambodia. She was profiled by Union of Catholic Asian News.
A summer of solidarity at the border
From desert trails to courtroom steps, missioner Coralis Salvador joins interfaith and community efforts in the Southwest to honor lives lost, accompany asylum seekers, and uphold dignity at the U.S.-Mexico border. Her summer of solidarity—marked by prayer, advocacy, and hands-on support—reveals the courage of migrants and the compassion of the communities that welcome them.
Together we send forth missioners of hope
Your support makes historic moments possible—like sending forth new missioners from El Salvador to serve in Bolivia. Because of you, hope is crossing borders and reaching communities most in need.
