FOUNDATION

"It is for the good of the Church that institutes have their own proper characters and functions. Therefore, the spirit and aims of each founder should be faithfully accepted and retained, as indeed should each institute's sound traditions, for all of these constitute the patrimony of an institute " (Vatican II, Perfectae Caritatis, 2, (b)).

"I make no distinction, since we are all missioners. Whether our daily tasks are in the homeland or in the field, we are of one heart and one mind, pledged to the evangelization of the world, with special interest in the people entrusted to our care by Rome"
(Bishop James Anthony Walsh, M.M., co-founder of Maryknoll). 

IDENTITY

Maryknoll is a Society consisting of priests and lay brothers who make a life-time commitment by perpetual oath to serve as an embodiment of the missionary concern of the Catholic Church of the Untied States and as a means for the concrete expression of that concern. Members of the Society, together with diocesan and religious priests and brothers associated with the Society, come together in a community of Faith, animated by the grace of their vocation to engage in the universal mission of the Church under the direction of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. 

PURPOSE

In the light of its identity, the Maryknoll Society seeks the glory of God and the sanctification of its Members and those associated with the Society, and serves as a missionary instrument to make known the Kingdom of God in those places where the Church as a sacrament of salvation is not yet present or where it is not yet fully viable as an efficacious expression of God's concern for all people. 

SPIRIT

The mission of the Maryknoll Society shares in the joy and power of Jesus' ministry by evangelizing through ministering, preaching, witnessing, counseling and praying with people and through the powerful ministry of the Sacraments. Maryknoll's spirit is charity which results in unity. While Maryknollers possess a diversity of gifts and talents, there can be no serious progress without unity. In spreading the ministry of Jesus among peoples, Maryknollers are safeguarded in fulfilling the divine purpose for which God created Maryknoll.

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