ALWAYS A MISSIONER
I remember reading Maryknoll magazine as a girl growing up in a big family in Oregon’s logging country. As I faithfully read the magazine each month, I found myself wanting to be a Maryknoll missioner.
Alas, young life’s dreams took a back seat to other paths … college, teaching, motherhood, church musician, travel, etc. Here I am, still a missioner at heart, ministering as the Spirit leads.
When I opened the Spring 2025 issue, I was struck by the beauty of Father Joseph Veneroso’s photo meditation, “Open Wide the Doors.” This prayer begs to be set to music … not a fluffy piece but a mandate commissioning us to walk in covenant with our God.
Thank you, Maryknollers, for inspiring and praying with us as we make our way in love together on this earth.
Kathleen Valdez
Mount Angel, Oregon
FAITH IN ACTION
In addition to the articles describing what life is currently like for Maryknoll missioners across the globe, I greatly enjoyed your historical articles published in the Spring 2025 issue on Vatican II, liberation theology and Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker. Thank you for the excellent Lenten reflections on faith in action.
William Goodwin
Weaverville, North Carolina
MISSION TRIPS
Just a note of appreciation for all the years of Maryknoll magazines we have received. Yours was one of a handful that we used to place in our office waiting room. We don’t have our office anymore, but we still enjoy the magazine and often share it.
Last spring, my wife Mary and I took a group to Guatemala on our yearly mission trip. Our morning prayer and evening reflections used prayers and excerpts from Maryknoll magazine that Mary had saved over the years.
The Spring 2025 edition was enjoyable, as always. First, there was the article “Hope Triumphs in Guatemala,” where we often go. Then came “A Tribute to Gustavo Gutiérrez” — a hero to many of us doing mission work in Central and South America. There was also the “Spoons and a Spinning Top” story about Amanacer, where I first worked with Maryknoll missioners in 1992. It’s nice that a Wisconsinite works there now!
Thomas Gelhaus
Owen, Wisconsin
Featured image: (From left) Deacon Matthew Sim, Maryknoll Father Brian Barrons, Bishop Mark J. Seitz and Deacon Patrick Okok meet in El Paso, Texas. The two Maryknoll seminarians, who were ordained last year as transitional deacons, will be ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Seitz at the Maryknoll Society headquarters in Ossining, New York, on June 7, 2025. (Rodrigo Ulloa-Chavarry/U.S.)
