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This article is about the Catholic mission society. For the town in Australia, see Maryknoll, Victoria.
The Maryknoll Convent School in Hong Kong

Maryknoll or, the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America, is a U.S.Catholic Society of Apostolic Life which has, throughout its nearly hundred-year history, had an exclusive emphasis on ministry and missionary work overseas, particularly East Asia, in China, Japan, Korea, Latin America, and Africa. Maryknoll Missioners include Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers ("the Society"), Maryknoll Sisters ("the Congregation")1, and Maryknoll Lay Missioners ("the Association").2

The three entities are canonically separate but work in partnership. The headquarters for all three entities are located just outside the town of Ossining, New York[1], thirty-two miles (50km) north of New York City on the Hudson River.

Contents

History

Founding and Expansion, 1911-1938

This order was founded by Fr. James Anthony Walsh of Boston and Fr. Thomas Frederick Price of North Carolina, who met at the 21st Eucharistic Congress in Montreal, Canada (7th – 11 September 1910). Maryknoll was established in 1911 as the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America by the Archbishops of the United States with the commission to recruit, send and support U.S. missioners in areas around the world. On June 29, 1911, Pope Pius X blessed the founding of Maryknoll. Maryknoll's first missioners left for China in 1918.3 45

In the year following its founding, three men joined the community as members (i.e., persons fully committed to the mission work), and the first Brother, Thomas McCann, took orders. The ranks of Brothers increased to ten by the end of WW1. The men joining during this period were generally skilled tradesmen; much of their early work consisted of constructing buildings. They were called the Brothers of St. Michael and their lodging, the "St. Michael’s Residence", can still be seen on the Maryknoll grounds.4

Fr. Price died in 1919, leaving only three missionaries in China.

By 1921, the community consisted of 20 priests, a dozen brothers, and about 65 seminary students. The facilities were four wooden farm buildings, situated on a hill named "Mary's Knoll". A modern fieldstone building in the compound housed the offices of The Field Afar. (A large fieldstone seminary had been started, but would not be completed until the 1950s.) In addition to their studies, the students performed maintenance chores and helped take care of livestock. The seminary was not severe; they got some afternoons off to hike or ride bicycles in the surrounding Westchester hills.6

The number of missionaries in China had grown to 27 (25 priests and two Brothers) as of 1927. The missions were centered in and around Kong-Moon (known since 1951 as Jiangmen), whose six million inhabitants were plagued by the civil wars of the Warlord era, flooding, dysentery, bandits, and smallpox.7

A mission to Korea, begun in 1922, had also grown significantly by 1927, to 17 priests and two Brothers. It was centered in the north of Korea, around the city of Penyang.8

The early missionaries concentrated in East Asia, particularly China and Korea. During WW2, however, numerous South American countries were added as mission sites.3

The "Ladies of Maryknoll"

Women played an important role at Maryknoll from the start. In 1911, several women joined the community as part of the The Field Afar staff. The Church officially recognized the Maryknoll Sisters as a religious community on February 14, 1920. A 1905 graduate of Smith College, Mollie Rogers, led the community under the name Mother Mary Joseph.

The following year, sisters began to go abroad to join missions in China and Hong Kong. A Motherhouse was started in 1927 and (unlike the seminary building) completed within a decade.4

Recent

As of 2008, there are over 550 Maryknoll priests and Brothers serving in countries around the world, principally in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Throughout their history, especially in the first half of the twentieth century, Maryknoll missioners played a large role in the Catholic church in East Asia where some missioners still work. Maryknoll also has extensive connections with many Latin American countries, where it has long worked to help alleviate poverty and bring constructive changes to the life of Latin America's poor.

Maryknoll Magazine is a publication issued by Maryknoll which attempts to expose a wide audience to its mission and other work around the world. Orbis Books is a publishing house owned and operated by the order, which puts out books on theological and other topics, particularly those with relevance to mission work and international cooperation.

References

  1. ^ Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic accessed online December 11, 2006.
  2. ^ Maryknoll Lay Missioners
  3. ^ a b http://www.questia.com/library/encyclopedia/maryknoll.jsp
  4. ^ a b c Cherishing Maryknoll's History by Fr. Dennis Moorman, MM. .
  5. ^ http://society.maryknoll.org/index.php?module=MKArticles&func=display&id=1280&office=vocation
  6. ^ Out to Change the World (a biography of Fr. James Keller) by Richard Armstrong, Crossroad Publishing Company (New York, 1984), p. 11. This work will be referred to as "Armstrong" hereinafter
  7. ^ Armstrong p. 15
  8. ^ Armstrong p. 15

Maryknoll Laymissioners

See also

External links
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