Celebrating a milestone anniversary, Maryknoll Lay Missioners honors an inspiring past, a compelling present and a strong future.

This August, Maryknoll Lay Missioners will celebrate its 50th anniversary — a milestone that recognizes half a century of service and solidarity with those at the margins.

Since its founding in 1975, the lay mission organization has been committed to responding to the Gospel call to live and work with people in need across the globe.

This golden anniversary is both a time of reflection and an opportunity to look to the future of mission in an ever-changing world.

“How profound it is to contemplate where we came from and where we are going,” says Elvira Ramirez, Maryknoll Lay Missioners’ executive director. “Only the wealth of stories of the many who have served could begin to recount the history that is MKLM,” she says, using the organization’s acronym.

Lay missioners have informally participated in Maryknoll’s mission work since 1930, when Doctor Harry Blaber served with Maryknoll priests for eight years in China. Dozens of other women and men followed in his footsteps in subsequent decades, collaborating with Maryknoll priests, brothers and sisters. One of these, John Gauker, who served with his wife and two children in Guatemala, was martyred with Maryknoll Father Bill Woods in 1976.

Several lay missioners were already serving in Chile, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Japan, Peru and Bolivia when the Maryknoll lay mission association was officially launched in 1975 as a joint program of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers and the Maryknoll Sisters. For example, Carol Zuccarino, already serving in Bolivia, joined with her husband in 1980. Now in her 80s, she is a volunteer at shelters on the U.S.-Mexico border.

In 1994 the lay mission program was restructured as an independent organization, becoming the Maryknoll Mission Association of the Faithful, more commonly known as Maryknoll Lay Missioners. No longer a program of the other Maryknoll entities, it was incorporated the following year as a nonprofit with its own board of directors.

Since 1975, nearly 1,000 men, women and children have been sent to 35 different countries in a legacy of service and accompaniment. Frank and Josie Cuda, of the first official class in 1975, were the recipients of the 2024 Bishop McCarthy Award for dedicating their whole lives to community building.

“Our vision of our ministry was based on the belief that God was already present among the people we were to serve,” Frank Cuda says. “Our role was to reflect that love back to them by supporting their efforts to be the best they could be — and thus deepening their belief in themselves and in God.”

Building on its five core values (simple living, community, joy, inclusion and humility), in 2022, Maryknoll Lay Missioners adopted nonviolence as a guiding focus for how it approaches mission in the 21st century. The lay mission organization is committed to nonviolence through prevention, intervention, reconciliation and restoration of all creation.

One of its newest members, Joshua Sisolak, says MKLM “offers a radical way of living out the Catholic faith in today’s world.” The son of a returned Maryknoll lay missioner, Sisolak has begun his mission service in Bolivia, after being sent in a ceremony in December 2024 along with longtime Maryknoll Lay Missioner Marjorie Humphrey.

Humphrey, who previously served in Kenya, returned to East Africa to work in restorative justice. “Mission is a calling that remains in our hearts,” she says. “I feel so blessed to continue this journey with Maryknoll.”

Currently, there are 40 Maryknoll lay missioners serving in nine countries in Asia, Africa and the Americas.

While MKLM remains headquartered in Ossining, New York, the organization has continually evolved to meet the needs of the world. One significant change came in 2023 when the Mission Services Department relocated to El Paso, Texas.

This strategic move placed its orientation and formation program for new missioner candidates at the U.S.-Mexico border — a location that facilitates firsthand experiences of migration, justice and encounter. This shift reflects MKLM’s commitment to being present where the needs are greatest, and to forming missioners prepared to engage with changing realities.

MKLM also recently launched a new collaborative initiative in El Paso with the Maryknoll Sisters. Named for the monarch butterfly — a symbol of migration, transformation and resilience — the Maryknoll Monarch Initiative will seek to empower individuals and communities through education, advocacy and transformative experiences.

Offering immersion opportunities, community engagement and workshops, the Maryknoll Monarch Initiative will address issues such as migration, environmental justice and the role of nonviolence in local and global conflicts.

Another significant development in the lay mission organization’s journey is the expansion to include international members. Historically, MKLM membership has been limited to U.S. citizens or residents. The 2022 Mission Assembly initiated a process to remove these restrictions and welcome lay missioners from around the world.

The assembly established a three-year timeline to implement this pilot program, and El Salvador was selected as the first country for recruitment. This decision marks a shift toward a more globally diverse community of missioners, better reflecting the universal nature of the Church and the mission it serves.

Now, in 2025, three candidates from El Salvador have successfully completed the admissions process. A sending blessing was held on March 2 at the Church of Cristo Salvador for Jackeline Gabriela Hernández de Vásquez, Wilber Ernesto Montoya Díaz and Ana Adela Morales Rodríguez. On March 14, the candidates departed for Cochabamba, Bolivia, for an orientation and formation program. Upon its completion, they will remain on mission in Bolivia.

As MKLM celebrates its 50th anniversary, it does so with deep gratitude for the missioners, communities and supporters who have made this journey possible. The legacy of the past five decades serves as a foundation for new opportunities and challenges in mission.

Reflecting on MKLM’s rich history and vibrant future, Ramirez quotes Mother Mary Joseph (Mollie Rogers), the founder of the Maryknoll Sisters: “As happens so often when we stop to regard God’s work, there is nothing to do but wonder and thank God, realizing how little we planned, how little we achieved, and yet how much has been accomplished.”

Featured image: Maryknoll Lay Missioner Dee Dungy, who joined the lay mission organization in 2011, served on a pastoral team visiting the elderly and infirm in the slum of Anlong Kngan, a community of displaced people outside the capital city of Phnom Penh in Cambodia. She now serves refugees in Kenya. (Sean Sprague/Cambodia)