Returned Missioner News
Returned missioners Celine and Don Woznica featured by National Catholic Reporter
May 2025: Returned Maryknoll lay missioners Celine and Don Woznica (Nicaragua & Mexico 1981-1992) were featured by National Catholic Reporter for their leadership organizing assistance for migrants in their hometown of Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago.
The all-volunteer “Migrant Ministry of the Catholic Parishes of Oak Park” started three years ago when Texas began busing migrants to Chicago and has now grown into an interdenominational service that has helped some 15,000 migrants with food, clothing, shelter, language, and legal services.
Read the full story: Chicago seniors mentor migrants amid deportation threats, by Christine Schenk
Laura and Steve Brown, founders of Charlottesville, Virginia Catholic Worker community, form collaboration with other local Catholic groups
December 2024: Maryknoll lay missioners Laura and Steve Brown returned from Chile, where they served for four years, in 2009, and that same year, they founded a Catholic Worker community, Casa Alma, to temporarily shelter those in need of housing in their hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia.
In 2021, Casa Alma acquired Carlton House, a two-story, 10-unit building. Each unit has a private bathroom, with shared kitchens, living rooms, and laundry. Casa Alma and other sponsors subsidize the rents, partly or fully.
The Catholic Virginian, the publication of the diocese of Richmond, recently reported on the work of the Browns and several other Catholic groups to help a family in need find safe and stable housing and surround them with a supportive community whose faith brought them all together.
The collaboration between Casa Alma and the local Society of St. Vincent de Paul, with initial assistance from Church of the Incarnation and the Family Intergenerational Religious Education (FIRE) group there, as well as Charlottesville’s Notre Dame Alumni Club, formed a network that changed the lives of a young immigrant father, mother, and their two-year-old son.
Originally from Central America, the family—Luis, his wife, Ortilia, and their son, Mateo—had lived briefly in northern Virginia until Ortilia was diagnosed with cancer in 2022 and sent to the University of Virginia’s medical center for surgery and chemotherapy.
They knew nobody in Charlottesville, spoke little English, and stayed in a motel at first. Because Ortilia was so ill, Luis needed to care for his family and thus was unable to work.
The collaboration began in 2022 when the Browns heard the family’s story from Sin Barreras (“Without Barriers”), a social services group that began as an outgrowth of Church of the Incarnation, which had found the family temporary motel lodging. The organization and Incarnation parish provided short-term financial support for the motel, plus transportation and donations from Incarnation’s food pantry.
Ortilia is now cancer-free, Luis is working, and Mateo is thriving in pre-kindergarten. They also attend Incarnation parish. The Casa Alma community is helping the family find permanent housing.
Read the full story: ‘It was the Holy Spirit all along’: Catholic lay groups unite to help Charlottesville family in need
Migrant ministry led by Celine and Don woznica celebrates anniversary in new oak park, illinois location
December 2024: The Centro San Edmundo/St. Edmund Center in Oak Park, Illinois, which serves migrants in its area, is celebrating its one-year anniversary in January—having outgrown its previous location elsewhere. “We believe strongly in donations with dignity,” said Celine Woznica, head coordinator at the St. Edmund Center and returned Maryknoll lay missioner (Nicaragua 1981-1984, Mexico 1985-1992). The center offers hot meals, a place for children to play, and clothes and other items to newly arrived migrants.
The center relies on dozens of volunteers to organize the donations that are dropped off every Monday. In addition, the ministry connects migrants with medical providers, aid to find housing or temporary shelter, and other assistance to settle into the community.
The ministry has evolved into more than just social-services outreach and is now also tending to the spiritual needs of migrants. It offers Masses in Spanish on holidays, and a Claretian priest visits twice a week to provide spiritual counseling and accompaniment, including meeting with couples who want to get married and families seeking baptism for their children.
The St. Edmund Center is a collaborative effort of St. Catherine of Siena-St. Lucy & St. Giles Parish and Ascension & St. Edmund Parish and is located at the former St. Edmund School (200 S. Oak Park Ave.).
This migrant ministry was started in June 2023 and was originally located in the St. Catherine-St. Lucy rectory. It is led by Celine and her husband Don, also a returned Maryknoll lay missioner, and a leadership team of volunteers.
Watch a video about the ministry produced by the Archdiocese of Chicago.
James and betty Keller featured by pilgrim center of hope
December 2024: 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.
Listen to the “Hope on Mission: The Work of Maryknoll Lay Missioners” episode.
“Come on a spiritual journey with Mary Jane Fox and special guests from the Maryknoll Lay Missioners as they explore the powerful impact of faith-driven service. Discover how this Catholic ministry serves marginalized communities worldwide, focusing on social justice, development, and spiritual needs.
During our journey, you will:
• Gain insight into Maryknoll Lay Missioners and their mission
• Hear about significant experiences that deepened the faith of these missionaries
• Gain valuable advice about how to make a difference and spread hope.”
James and Betty Keller featured by ACTS Missions for World Mission Month
October 2024: James and Betty Keller, returned Maryknoll lay missioners (Mexico 1989-1996), shared their story of mission in the October newsletter of ACTS Missions, an organization that promotes and coordinates ACTS Retreats, which are given by parishioners for parishioners. Using prayer, service, and teaching, ACTS Retreats meet people where they are in their spiritual journey and invite them to experience God in a manner that is both personal and communal. The Kellers both did ACTS Retreats in the mid-2000s, and they reflected on the intersection of their experiences in celebration of World Mission Month.
They said:
“We are long-time parishioners of St. Luke Catholic Church in San Antonio, Texas. It’s a church that keeps pointing us in the right direction. First, it inspired us to return to international mission, after our previous service in the Peace Corps in Honduras, which led us to eventually join Maryknoll Lay Missioners, a Catholic organization that sends long-term lay missioners to African, Asian, and American countries. We spent seven incredible years serving in Mexico with Maryknoll.
Then, after our return, our church inspired us again—this time, to make an ACTS Retreat. One of the founders of ACTS belongs to our parish. James did his first ACTS Retreat in 2005. Afterward, Betty said, ‘I just got a new husband! What did they do to him?’ Whatever it was, Betty wanted it for herself too, and she did an ACTS Retreat a year later. In fact, she’s done two!
This was our biggest takeaway from the retreat: people are running around chasing whatever it is they think they want, but what they really want is a relationship with God. Think of the shape of the cross. The vertical beam is our relationship with God. That’s being. That comes first. The horizontal beam is where you are called to serve. It stretches out to the whole world. That’s doing. From being, the doing comes. From faith, the works come.
Ask yourself, what is God’s dream for your life? That’s what discernment boils down to. After a transformative experience like an ACTS Retreat, you are so open to the question, what’s next for me? For some, the next question is: is it mission?
For both of us, our call to mission came early in life. A lot of times, God speaks in circumstances and arranges things. He did for us! After an ACTS Retreat, you pay better attention to the urgings in your heart and you start to notice the circumstances God is arranging for you that lead to your purpose. Like perhaps reading this testimony!”
More than a million people worldwide have participated in ACTS Retreats since 1987. Learn more at actsmissions.org.
CHRIS DIVIN NAMED 2024 TEXAS NURSE PRACTITIONER OF THE YEAR
September 2024: Congratulations to Chris Divin, PhD, APRN, FNP-BC—returned Maryknoll Lay Missioner, Class of 1985! She was named the 2024 Texas Nurse Practitioner Educator of the Year by the professional association of Texas nurse practitioners—a group that seeks to empower nurse practitioners to advance the profession and the health of all Texans. Chris has been a nurse since 1976. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas. She served as a Maryknoll Lay Missioner in Venezuela from 1985 to 1992 and at the U.S.-Mexico border from 1992-2002. In 1997 she completed her Master of Science in Nursing degree in Community Health and the Family Nurse Practitioner Program from the University of Texas at El Paso. In 2015, she completed her PhD from the University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing. For the past seven years, Chris has served as the director of the Family Nurse Practitioner program at the University of Texas at Austin. In addition to teaching, she routinely precepts students each semester, sharing her passion for universal healthcare at a central Texas clinic for the underserved. While many nurse practitioners in clinical practice hesitate to return to academia for a variety of reasons, Chris specifically obtained a PhD after decades in practice so that she could give back to the nurse practitioner profession by teaching the next generation of nurse practitioners. Once a missioner, always a missioner—as evidenced by Chris’ ongoing service to others!
At church date, Mike Garr talks about his ‘Kenyan family.’
August 2024: During a recent church date, Mike Garr (Class of 2017 – Kenya) shared an update on his “Kenyan family”: a group of vocational students he had supported, guided and mentored during his time teaching catering at the Marianist Technical Institute in Mombasa, Kenya. During his talk at St. James Parish in Montague, Michigan, Mike recounted his journey with several of his students, particularly his adopted son, Abdalla. Like Mike, Abdalla had struggled with an abusive alcoholic family member. “Since I left Kenya three years ago, Abdalla has finished two more courses in catering, works as a cook in a nice Italian restaurant and has a house and two small businesses. He is now married and has a most beautiful 10-month-old daughter. I can hardly wait to wrap my arms around her when I return to Mombasa in October for a two-month visit. I am honored to be Abdalla’s dad, and he is such a wonderful gift God has provided to me.” Mike, who now works as a breakfast cook at a hotel in Lansing, Michigan, continues to support the many members of his Kenyan family.
Tom Bamat and his wife, Mercedes, meet Pope Francis
June 2024: With support from Catholic Relief Services, Tom Bamat (Class of 1982 – Ecuador, United States and Brazil) has been a member of a Caritas Colombia Working Group, which focuses on peace and reconciliation in the country, migration issues (particularly involving the Venezuelan population there) and care of creation, including the Colombian Amazon. As part of this decades-old solidarity initiative, the group met June 12-14 in Rome for sessions with the Dicastery on Integral Human Development, Caritas Internationalis, and Sant’Egidio. Tom writes, “The half-hour audience with Pope Francis was the spiritual highlight. My wife, Mercedes, was able to participate in the audience, and Francis even addressed our 47 years of marriage. He was warm and gracious, urging us to keep up the work for peace. He also spoke of the perils of clericalism in the church and of the importance of women in leadership roles. It was all an enormous blessing.”
Madi Ott returns to João Pessoa to volunteer
June 2024: Madlyn Ott, daughter of Mike and Joanne Ott (Class of 2001 – Brazil), last year volunteered for three months in João Pessoa, Brazil, where she had lived as a missioner child. Madi spent most of her time assisting the teachers at Sempre Viva, the school she had attended as a child. “Reconnecting with the teachers and forming new relationships with the students helped me regain my Portuguese, resonate with a part of my identity, and deepen my faith,” she writes. “Upon my arrival, I was eagerly welcomed by Brazilian culture and embraced by the Maryknoll community. I felt most at home while spending time at AFYA Women’s Holistic Health Center, revisiting Casa Pequeño Davi, and working at Sempre Viva. What I will cherish the most, however, is the incredible Brazilian community that my family built as missioners — and that embraced me as one of their own when I returned.” Madi will be entering her second year of law school at the University of St. Thomas, hoping to focus on international human rights.
Carol Honerkamp Zuccarino featured in Washington Post
June 2024: Carol Zuccarino (Class of 1975) was featured prominently in two photos of a June 6, 2024 Washington Post story about Annunciation House in El Paso, Texas, and its founder, Ruben Garcia. Carol has been serving with Annunciation House since February 2020 and currently is co-administrator of the Casa Papa Francisco shelter. “As long as I am healthy and able to help out,” she says, “I will be here at the border. I think this is where Jesus is calling all of us who are on the other side of 75 to be: We have to be in service.” One of the earliest Maryknoll lay missioners, Carol served with her late husband, Joe Honerkamp, and their two children in Bolivia, Samoa and the U.S. for 19 years. She says, “Once you step out in mission, you have to keep moving in it.” She quotes an often-recited Maryknoll Lay Missioners poem written by Joe and called “The Pilgrimage”: “And they were never the same again.”
Third ‘All-Maryknoll Gathering’ set for Sept. 27-28
May 2024: Save the Date. The Committee of 12 (with representatives from all four Maryknoll entities) is inviting all Maryknollers to the third “All-Maryknoll Gathering.” The gathering is scheduled for Sept. 27-28, 2024 and titled “Maryknoll at the Dawn of a New Creation: A Movement in Mission.” This Zoom gathering will have two sessions on each of the two days (10 a.m. to 12:30 pm and 2 to 4:30 p.m. Eastern time). “Following up on his inspiring presentation at our All-Maryknoll Retreat in October 2023, Robert Ellsberg will be present and interviewed by us at this gathering. His references to ‘sparks of mission consciousness,’ along with Pope Francis’ insistence on the mandate of mission received by all at baptism, call us to a more open and far broader understanding of mission.” To participate, please register here by Sept.14. MKLM’s representatives on the Committee of 12 are Marj Humphrey, Kylene Fremling and Sami Scott.
Missioner kid turned opera star shines at bicentennial
May 2024: Leticia de Altamirano, daughter of Kathy and Javier Vargas (Class of 1985 – Mexico and U.S.), is today one of Mexico’s leading female opera singers. Together with her uncle, Ramón Vargas, a cousin of Javier’s and also a Mexican opera star, she recently headlined a celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Mexican state of Guanajuato at the Teatro del Bicentenario in León. The program included arias and duets from famed operas as well as Mexican music. You can watch one of their duets on YouTube at tinyurl.com/Leticia-Leon and the whole two-hour program at tinyurl.com/Leticia-Leon2. To learn more about the talented opera star who was once a Maryknoll lay missioner kid, visit leticiadealtamirano.com.
Gehrigs celebrate drinking water inauguration in altiplano
May 2024: Jason Gehrig (Class of 1999 – Bolivia) and his youngest son, Anthony, age 18, recently returned to the Bolivian Andes, where the family had served for seven and a half years. A highlight included visiting the rural community of Cuipa Kahuaya, whose 70 families were celebrating the inauguration of their first drinking water system, thanks to the community members’ sacrifice, their local municipality, Jason’s waterworks specialist friends with Suma Jayma of El Alto and the WEFTA group Jason volunteers with. Anthony writes, “The community members’ … sincere thanksgiving to God and reverence toward Mother Earth were woven into the entire inauguration ceremony. Extended dancing also marked the occasion – not an easy feat for recent arrivals [at] 13,000 feet above sea level! Witnessing how important this day was to these Aymara families and how grateful they felt opened my eyes to how much I take simple things like safe drinking water for granted.” You can read more about their return visit here.
Debbie Northern serves refugees in Virginia
May 2024: Debbie Northern, who retired at the end of last year after 24 years of service as a Maryknoll lay missioner (Class of 1999 – Tanzania, El Salvador, U.S. and U.S. Mexico border), has joined Catholic Charities in Roanoke, Virginia, as a resettlement education specialist. In her new role, she is serving refugees — currently mostly from Afghanistan and Congo— with ESL and GED classes and a mentoring program for young refugees. She is even dusting off what she remembers of the Swahili she learned during her time with MKLM in Tanzania because the folks from Congo are coming from refugee camps in Tanzania and speak Swahili. Once she has completed her ESL certification training, she will also be teaching ESL classes.
Allen Scheid is volunteering at the border
May 2024: Since last July, Allen Scheid (Class of 1981 – Chile and U.S., at right, holding the baby) has been volunteering at the border in El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. At the Juárez cathedral, “I help serve meals for the immigrants and wash dishes. I enjoy the people and the work … and the fact that I can walk a mile from my apartment to the border crossing and a few more blocks to the cathedral.” On Good Friday, “I was asked to meet two Salvadoran friends as they crossed the border and cleared immigration.” They had washed dishes together at the cathedral and Allen had shared stories and songs with them from his time in Chile. “After more than six months of waiting and serving their fellow immigrants at the cathedral, Glenda and Grogner were finally being allowed to cross the border. I waited for hours, nervously drinking coffee at the McDonalds on the El Paso side of the border. After they finally finished the long interview process, we met at the border, embraced, and went to the shelter where they stayed a couple days.” Later they left for Omaha. “I told them they would soon become ‘Cornhuskers.’ I continue to be amazed at the courage of the immigrants and the kind, welcoming spirit of the people of El Paso.”
Don Diltz starts new nursing career at age 77
April 2024: At age 77, Don Diltz, who was one of the first official Maryknoll lay missioners (Class of 1975 – South Korea), recently started a new career. A newly minted registered nurse, he now works for the University of Alabama Birmingham Medical Center. Don was featured in a UAB School of Nursing video. After serving with Maryknoll from early 1975 until 1977, he has been an educator and author, Peace Corps volunteer, realtor and business executive. Explaining his decision to become a nurse, he said, “It’s very important to keep finding new ways to keep the edge sharp. [It] keeps me motivated and excited.” In the 1970s, Don was already serving as a lay missioner in agricultural development at the Maryknoll Fathers’ High School in South Korea when the official Maryknoll Lay Missioner Program was started in June 1975. He was one of five informally serving lay missioners who were at that time officially integrated into the new lay mission program.
Teaching English in Cairo and a wide range of parish work
February 2024: Bonny Brunner Prudhomme (Class of 1985 – Korea, fourth from left in photo) writes, “After my time in Korea as Maryknoll lay missioner, my international experiences have been limited to summers in Cairo teaching English to Egyptian seminarians. This, however, does not mean that Maryknoll did not work its spell on me. I had left the U.S. as a spectator Catholic and came back after Maryknoll to find myself energized. While teaching full-time as a math professor, I completed a pastoral theology degree and became fully engaged in a wide range of commitments in my local parish. When I retired in 2018, my husband, Jon (far right), and I took on even more roles at church. Most recently we were asked to co-chair RCIA. My first response was, No way, but I quickly changed my mind when I learned who was going through the program (the photo is from the Rite of Election). Which brings us back to Maryknoll: How can we resist God’s call to serve others (here or overseas) and when do we start?”
Wynnie-Fred Victor Hinds joins MKLM Board
February 2024: Wynnie-Fred Victor Hinds (Class of 1994 – Venezuela) has joined Maryknoll Lay Missioners’ board of directors. Wynnie spent six years in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, with Maryknoll Lay Missioners. Since returning to Newark, New Jersey, in 2000, she has been a tireless advocate for environmental justice. She has been active in several New Jersey-based environmental groups and currently serves as co-chair of the board of the Newark Environmental Commission. In addition, Wynnie is the founder and executive director of Stepping Stones Resources, a nonprofit advocacy and education organization that addresses the environment, health and quality of life. In 2019, she was one of the two first recipients of Maryknoll Lay Missioners’ Bishop McCarthy Spirit of Mission Award. “I’m looking forward to reconnecting with old friends, colleagues and Maryknoll again,” Wynnie says, “Hopefully my contributions to the work of the board will be helpful.” Many thanks to Anita Klueg (Class of 2003 – Kenya), who rotated off the board after completing seven years of service.
Returned missioner is rector of Jesuit University in Guadalajara
February 2024: For the past two years, Jesuit Father Alex Zatyrka, who served as a Maryknoll lay missioner (Class of 1985 – Bolivia) in Cochabamba, has led ITESO Jesuit University in Guadalajara, Mexico, as its rector. Shortly after completing his service with Maryknoll, he joined the Jesuits and studied and then taught theology. He has been the executive secretary of the Theology Commission of the Jesuits’ Conference of Provincials of Latin America (CPAL) as well as a professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. A highly respected theologian and biblical scholar, Father Alex has also served at Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City and as rector of the Universidad Iberoamericana in León. On his website, he provides a wide variety of Spanish-language spiritual resources (daily scripture reflections, an online Sunday Mass, contemplative prayer, Ignatian spirituality and mystagogia).
Jill Foster continues social justice work in Dayton, Ohio
February 2024: Jill Foster (Class of 2019- Haiti) writes: “After returning from Haiti last May, I agonized over a job or career that would give me the same fulfillment that my time in Gwomòn did. Maryknoll is hard to beat when it comes to meaningful work. Fortunately I was not on my own. The Cincinnati Affiliates had my back, and returned missioner Mike Gable sent me a job description for a position in the archdiocese’s Catholic Social Action Office. I am now regional director of Catholic Social Action and live in Dayton, Ohio, where I went to university. I find myself becoming busier than ever working with groups tackling social justice issues and promoting Catholic Social Teaching. There is even a growing population of Haitians forming in Springfield, which is part of my region. Attending a special New Year’s Day Mass in Haitian Kreyòl to celebrate Haitian Independence brought back many good memories of Haiti. Still in the midst of winter, I long for Haiti’s warm sun, the warm food and the warm smiles I once greeted every day. I pray that the situation in Haiti — all the violence and insecurity has increased since I’ve left — cools down and that the people can find some peace at last.”
Migrant ministry continues to evolve
January 2024: Returned missioner Celine Woznica (Class of 1981 – Nicaragua, Mexico) writes in an update to Chicago’s Maryknoll Affiliates: “The Migrant Ministry has me so busy that I am behind on many things…. It has grown so much! We started off providing showers at a closed rectory in Oak Park for migrants sleeping at a nearby Chicago police station. Our ministry has expanded and now we are located at a closed parish school (also in Oak Park).” The effort that Celine has been coordinating has attracted extensive local and national media coverage. “We have been covered in the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times, and even a few photos in the Washington Post. The Christian Broadcasting Network’s 700 Club (segment starts at 12:45) carried a feature, and most recently the Scripps News Service.” The Archdiocese of Chicago produced this video.
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