Our Mission
Maryknoll Lay Missioners is a Catholic mission-sending community committed to nonviolence through the 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.
Following the lived example of Jesus Christ and placing our Catholic faith at the center of who we are, Maryknoll Lay Missioners strives to uphold the following:
Vision
Justice, compassion, and dignity for all creation
Mission
Compelled by faith to engage with people across cultures and ethnicities, we live, love and work with communities on the margins to promote active nonviolence and healing.
Core Values
Simple Living
We embrace the interconnectedness of all creation and commit to ecological justice. By living simply, we participate in equitable access to the fullness of life for all.
Community
We embrace the challenge to grow from the goodness of communion with each other and God. We strive for understanding, empathy and learning in relationships.
Joy
Amidst sin, suffering and death, we rejoice in the hope of the resurrection. We choose to live together creatively, celebrating the beauty and humor of everyday life.
Inclusion
By crossing borders of geography, culture, race, religion and ideology, we work for peace, understanding and wholeness. We recognize that dismantling unjust structures is critical to affecting real change. We commit to celebrating diversity in all that we do.
Humility
We enter into communities with listening hearts and openness. We honor the agency of the communities where we serve and the voice and wisdom of those who receive us.
Read Joanne Miya’s reflection on “Living Maryknoll Lay Missioners’ core values” in her ministry in Tanzania.
Focus
Nonviolence
Prevention, intervention and restoration/reconciliation
Read more about our evolving commitment to nonviolence as a central focus of our engagement in mission.
