African dream: my 17 years in Kenya

What I experienced those first months in Kenya is still my experience after all these years. The Kenyans are welcoming, hospitable, and extremely generous people.

Lessons in love from central Brazil

In 1963, the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate—the Joliet Franciscans—answered a call to work in Brazil. Today, both U.S. and Brazilian sisters make up the community in Brazil. They work in parishes, run a school, and train health workers.

Missionary sister falls in love

With intentions of being a do-gooder, I arrived in Mexico; instead I have been enriched and humbled by the goodness I’ve discovered.

Sister Dorothy Stang: Her dying shows us how to live

Sister Dorothy Stang, an advocate for the peasant farmers in the rainforests of Brazil, made powerful enemies who eventually gunned her down as she read from scripture.

Refugee crisis 'a battle for our humanity' in Jordan

Fighting gangs one youth at a time

Father Alexis Zúñiga, S.T. followed his missionary calling back to the streets of his hometown in Honduras. He and a team of outreach workers offer hope to young people caught up in violence.

Starting over from scratch

Moving from New Orleans to Mozambique was dramatic enough. But for Brother Chris Sweeney, S.C. rebuilding an abandoned school out of the ashes of civil war has made life really interesting.

My mission: To be an instrument in God’s hands

Jesuit Father Paul D’Souza, S.J. recounts lessons learned as the director of Gandhi Ashram School in Kalimpong, India, where music is used to break down barriers.

Beginning again in Ireland

With its long history of Catholicism, Ireland might seem an unusual place for the work of evangelization, but in a place that once exported thousands of priests and members of religious communities, “All has changed, changed utterly.”

And Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

Serving at a children’s hospital in Haiti—surrounded by sick, hungry, and dying children—I have come to realize that if I am committed to Jesus, I cannot ignore the misery that is the daily lot of three quarters of the world’s population.

Holy Toledo! How I wound up in Taiwan

Why did I become a priest, and why in Taiwan? To answer these two questions frequently asked by my students, I remember the two people who most influenced my decision to be a missionary.

Thank you, Gregory Peck!

After watching a Gregory Peck film about a missionary priest in China, I knew law school was probably not in the cards for me after all.

Building the kingdom one step at a time

Father Terrance Doherty, S.M.A. shares his experiences while working in Africa as a member of the Society of African Missions.

Missionary adventures in Papua New Guinea

A typical day for me as a pastor in Papua New Guinea could be filled with activities ranging from counseling to carpentry. I don’t think I ever lost the sense that what I was doing was indeed an adventure.

You were meant to be a missionary

Imagine if even one tenth of Christians in America (that’s more than 6 million) worked to replace hatred by love, self-interest by altruism, coldness by compassion, and avoidance by encounter. That’s what the missionary call of Baptism invites each of us to do.

Religious communities offer help in Haiti

After the devastating earthquake in Haiti, religious communities have been responding to people’s needs with faith, dedication, and service.

Catholic sisters thriving in a Muslim world

Catholic sisters have quietly carved out a Christian presence of loving service in the largely Muslim North African country of Tunisia.

Mission to South Africa: Living in joyful hope

Despite the many difficult tasks of being a missionary—not to mention the elephants and rhinos—Father Dermot Roache sees hope. “We are a people of the Resurrection! Hope is part of our being.”

Jesus at the door

Whenever people in need come to Father Vic Subb at an “inconvenient” time, he remembers the words of one of his brother priests: “That was Jesus on the phone.”