Returned Maryknoll lay missioners Anita and Curt Klueg (Kenya 2003-2007, 2012-2015) were featured on July 15 in the Welcoming the Family Abroad episode of the 1 Christian 1 Topic podcast, which highlights “the many Christian voices and their work.”
The Kluegs missioned with their children Clare and Bethany. Anita supported the educational needs of children and families affected by HIV/AIDS, served as a church catechist, and taught self-awareness at a young adult vocational school. Curt ministered to inmates on death row, served as a liaison between prisoners and their families, and organized and facilitated the Alternatives-to-Violence Project.
“Not many Christians are leaving their homes to do God’s work abroad but Anita and Curt Klueg did, even as a family with children. In this interview they share their experience as Christian missioners abroad through programs like the Maryknoll Lay Missioners. They highlight the challenges of work and raising a family as well as the benefits of immersing themselves in the Kenyan culture. Now back in the U.S., they speak on how transformed the entire household remains in their personal and professional life to this very day,” the podcast host said.
Anita spent more than a decade of her career serving as a youth minister for three parishes and as a campus minister at Loyola Academy in suburban Chicago. Anita spent a year living and working in a girls orphanage as a Salesian lay missioner in Montero, Bolivia.
Curt was previously a chaplain at Loyola University Chicago and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, as well as a program manager at Jesuit Volunteer Corps. He is currently a teacher and campus minister at Mercy High School in suburban Detroit.
Compelled by faith to engage with people across cultures and ethnicities, Maryknoll lay missioners live, love and work with communities on the margins to promote active nonviolence and healing.
