Maryknoll

The Maryknoll order is a younger group within the Catholic Church and their approach to nature is uniquely modern. They were founded early in the 20th Century as an American foreign missionary society of priests, brothers and sisters. Today, they include lay people and call themselves the Maryknoll Family.

Working in South America, they have extensive exposure to liberation theology and as that movement started “turning green” in the early 1990’s, so did they. Maryknoll founded Orbis Press, whose publication list includes books on the environment.

Maryknoll lay people are involved with CEDICAM in Oaxaca, Mexico. The organization works with Indian campesinos and encourages reforestation and crop diversification throughout the Mixteca Alta region. This group has established tree nurseries in 22 farming communities and has planted more than 150,000 trees.

Maryknoll sisters run the Center for the Integrity of Creation in Baguio, The Philippines. The area is threatened by excessive logging. The Center focuses on education for biodiversity and sustainable development.

Maryknoll Father Herb Gappa runs an anti-erosion and tree-planting project in the Shinyanga District of Tanzania. Maryknollers are also working to conserve green space and diversify agriculture in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. In Chile, they develop ecological education units for high schools in Linares, work in the Spirituality and Ecology Center in San Nicolas, provide workshops on spirituality and ecology in Santiago and develop an awareness of the illegal seizure and logging of native trees in Chol Chol. The logging has led to a drop in the water table. Hazardous chemicals and pesticides have also been introduced.

			Other Religious Orders
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			Religious Orders and Ecology
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Copyright, Bron Taylor and Jeffrey Kaplan, The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature (London: Continuum, forthcoming 2004).