“A Preferential Option for the Poor,” with stories that focus on foreign mission projects for the poor in Tanzania and Vietnam, is the theme for the January-February issues of Maryknoll magazine and the Spanish-language Revista Maryknoll.
Both magazines are published by the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, the foreign mission society of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. The Maryknoll Society is located in Ossining in Westchester County.
Contributions By New York Priests
In Africa, Maryknoll Father Michael Bassano serves some of the poorest people of the world at the Home of Compassion shelter (view video) on the shore of Lake Victoria in Kigera (Musoma), Tanzania. The Binghamton, New York, native is no stranger to human suffering, nor is he squeamish about bedpan ministry.
Before arriving in Tanzania during 2008, according to the article “Troubadour of Compassion,” Father Bassano served for 10 years in Thailand, where he happily changed adult diapers on dying men while offering love, solace and understanding at an AIDS hospice in a Buddhist temple. Wherever he goes, and to the delight of all the people he helps and comforts during the day, Father Bassano always has a smile on his face and twinkles in his eyes.
In Asia, Maryknoll Father Thomas J. O’Brien, originally from The Bronx, has been in Vietnam for more than 15 years. The article “A Famous Good Reputation” explains his work at a skills training center for people with physical disabilities (view video). During the last two decades, Maryknoll has helped thousands of poor Vietnamese children, youth and women along with people who endure physical and mental disabilities.
The magazines also contain articles about Maryknoll Sisters and Maryknoll Lay Missioners who are helping people in need around the world. Current and recently published issues of both magazines can be viewed on the Maryknoll Society website.
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