The installation of the Maryknoll Lay Missioners leadership team during the Founding Assembly in Ossining, New York in August 1994.

My wife, Cecilia Espinoza, and I, along with our three small children, joined what was then called the Maryknoll Lay Mission Program in 1985. Our class consisted of 31 adults and 10 children headed to seven countries in Latin America, two in Asia, and one in Africa. Five adults and our three children were sent to Chile. It was a tremendously exciting time for all of us.

Cecilia and I were assigned to join two Maryknoll priests, Ted Von der Ahe and Steve DeMott, working in an isolated and poor area in the coastal mountains, a part of the Diocese of Linares, located seven hours south of Santiago. Chile was in its 12th year of a brutal military dictatorship when we arrived. The church had taken a very strong position of resistance to the dictatorship and its human rights abuses. Our bishop, Don Carlos Camus Larenas, was an outspoken advocate of human rights, so we arrived to a tense national and local reality.

There were three small villages in the area with 27 chapels. The objective of the team was to work with the communities and strengthen participation in each chapel, and with the help of the organization Caritas and the diocesan rural development program, strengthen programs that would alleviate the extreme poverty in the area. Our time in the village of Nirivilo was not easy, but they were wonderful years and bring back good memories for all of us.

Sam Stanton, and two of their children, in the foreground, and his wife, Cecilia Espinoza, and one of their children, in the background, in the village of Nirivilo, Chile, where they lived for two years. Taken on Dec. 25, 1986.

After two years in Nirivilo, Don Carlos asked Maryknoll to transfer me and Cecilia to the city of Linares, where he wanted me to lead Catholic Charities in the diocese, which included an Office of Human Rights that helped families of the detained and disappeared in the diocese. He asked Cecilia to continue her work in liturgy formation and to develop a center for the youth of the area suffering from trauma, since she is an occupational therapist with a master’s degree in family therapy. We also continued our participation in the rural area of Nirivilo to the extent possible.

At the same time we moved, two new lay missioners, Joan Kelly and Terry Miller, were assigned to Chile and to Linares. Terry is a lawyer and joined the Catholic Charities Office of Human Rights to work with a local lawyer in giving legal assistance to the families of the disappeared and detained. Joan worked with youth in the parish communities in Linares, using her cheerful personality and background in religious education. Those years in Linares were incredibly meaningful. We had a great sense of Maryknoll community and a meaningful relationship with the diocesan team. The “cherry on top” was participating in the process of a plebiscite in 1988 that put an end to the authoritarian dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte. That is a day none of us will ever forget!

In 1992 I was asked by the Maryknoll Lay Mission team to return to the United States and fill the position of director. So, we made the move to Ossining, New York and all that this transition entailed.

Four months after arriving, the Maryknoll Society leadership received a letter from the Vatican granting the request they had made to officially incorporate the lay missioners in the Society Constitutions as “an essential dimension” of the mission of Maryknoll. That was a tough moment, but we called the Society and Congregation leadership together to map out a plan for the future and to develop the lay mission program into a legal organization in the State of New York and an Association of Christ’s Faithful according to Canon Law under the Vatican Department for the Laity.

The process took two years and culminated in a “Founding Assembly” in August 1994. I can’t say enough good things about the role that the leadership of both the Society and Congregation played in the process. We were 157 lay missioners and nine associate priests at the time of the founding. Of the lay missioners, over 60 missioners had been with Maryknoll for at least 10 years. We had a great base to grow on!

Cecilia and I and the kids returned to Chile at the end of December 1996 and continued our work in the diocese of Linares. Of our old team, only Fr. Steve DeMott remained. He was a great mentor in our transition back to a very different Chile than we had left.

In 2004, Cecilia and I returned to the United States, specifically to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where I was asked to work in fundraising and Cecilia assumed responsibility for the Friends Across Borders program. These were very new ministries for both of us, but we dove into it.

I was fortunate to have a great mentor and teacher in Dave Loretan. Asking people for money was something very new for me and a bit scary at first. But Dave taught me that fundraising is about building relationships. He often referred to it as “friendraising” and as I got into it, I enjoyed it and looked at it as a way to invite people to be a part of our mission and let them know that their support was as important as the work of the missioner. The donor was present through their support as the ministry was carried out!

In 2008 I was asked by the Maryknoll Lay Missioners board of directors to assume the role of executive director. In conversation with Cecilia, I decided to say “yes” and we moved back to Ossining, New York, and I served in that position for 10 years. Those years saw a great deal of change in society, the church, and our organization. We made the move from our precious Bethany Building to the Walsh Building, where the offices continue to function. I retired from active work with Maryknoll Lay Missioners in 2018.

When Elvira Ramírez assumed the role of executive director in 2023, she asked me to step through Maryknoll Lay Missioners history with her and then asked if I would be open to working with the advancement team on fundraising for 14 hours a week. I said yes. It has been energizing to be back and work with donors who I have known over the years and with others who are new and just as excited to be a part of and support the mission ministries of Maryknoll Lay Missioners in nine countries in Africa, Asia, and the  Americas.

We may not have the numbers that we had in past years, but we continue to be one of the largest Catholic lay mission organizations and continue to bring new people in each year and carry out incredible mission ministries. I am enthused from what I see and energized by the commitment of our current missioners as well as the interest and commitment of returned Maryknoll lay missioners from across the country and from around the world. There is a bright future for Maryknoll Lay Missioners!