“School was not an option,” said Marcos, “and my idea of the future was the next couple of hours.”

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Cochabamba, Bolivia can be a sorrowful place for homeless children. But one day in San Sebastian Plaza, Marcos met Brother Alex Walsh, M.M. who offered him hot milk and a safe place to live so he could return to school. Today, Marcos is a skilled electrician, earning a living—and living his faith—thanks to a Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers ministry called Amanecer.

Amanecer means “daybreak” in Spanish. And “daybreak” is how we think of Maryknoll’s mission work in countries where people desperately want an education, but don’t know where to turn. For them, Maryknoll is their new day.

Our prayer is that as a new school term begins you will support our Fathers and Brothers with a special gift. Our missioners are making heroic efforts to keep kids in school—and to share our faith with the next generation of Catholics. If you join us we are sure to succeed, even though we have so much work to do…Maryknoll’s street rescues are sometimes the way kids return to school and a “normal” life.

In Kenya, the staff of Centre of Mahali Pa Usalama (a safe place) works with children who have AIDS or were orphaned by it. “We school our kids on site,” says Brother Frank TenHoopen, M.M., “because they need to feel safe. Many have been so traumatized by abandonment, they won’t leave us.”

When a child is ready for traditional schooling, Mahali Pa Usalama places the youngster in a local Catholic school where the teachers keep a watchful eye. When children are well enough, Brother Frank finds a suitable home for them, ideally with a family member.

Your gift to Maryknoll will make sure the children in Brother Frank’s care are safely in school, and eventually returned to a loving family.

Barriers to a child’s education also occur silently. In some countries, children are kept away from school on purpose—sometimes out of shame by their own families—because they are physically or mentally disabled.

Father Brendan O’Connell, M.M. found another way. He developed a day program at the St. Raphael Opportunity Center for handicapped children in Tainan City, Taiwan, the city’s first. Through sheer tenacity, Father Brendan was able to achieve something unheard of: bringing sheltered children into school so that they could have regular contact with people outside their home in a cheerful, loving environment. His ultimate goal? Mainstreaming children into regular schools to facilitate learning. “Everyone is normal,” says Father Brendan who as a boy helped raise his younger sister born with Down Syndrome. "But each of us is different, and we have to accept our differences.” (click on Fr. O'Connell's picture to see a video of his work or click here)

Give a gift—do it in honor of a young child you love—and Father Brendan will accomplish two goals: he will reach the children who still need help, and build bridges to their families, too.

Another Maryknoll education ministry is renewing our Catholic faith in China. That’s where our Maryknoll Society sent its first missioners in 1918, and where the Church, thank God, is re-emerging after more than 30 years of repression.

Because the Church in China is young, its leaders must face their pastoral duties without an older generation to help. That’s where Father Larry Lewis, M.M. comes in. Father Larry coordinates a training program in the U.S. for China’s priests and Sisters who want to better serve their people. “I see enthusiasm in their eyes,” says Father Larry, “and apprehension, too, because they don’t know our culture or language. It reminds me of when I first went to China and couldn’t speak Chinese!”

Since the program began, scores of Chinese Church leaders have returned home, grounded in scripture, counseling, and church management. Some leave with advanced degrees. All of them carry a deeper love of our faith. With your gift to mission, the Church in China will surely grow.

If we teach with love, and love one another the way Jesus taught, then we are doing God’s work. Please support our Fathers and Brothers with a gift for children and families, and for the future of our Church. Your support means everything to us—and even more to those we serve.