Mission Institute Records, 1964- | Maryknoll Mission Archives
Arrangement
Administrative/Biographical History
The 1968 Special Chapter of Affairs of the Maryknoll Sisters’ Congregation affirmed and set in motion the mission education project which formally opened at the Sisters’ Center in May of the following year under the title Maryknoll Mission Institute. In the Proceedings of the 9th General Assembly the Mission Institute was described as follows: “The Mission Institute expresses the Congregation’s desire to develop at Maryknoll a vibrant mission education center.”
The aims of the Institute were seen to be: 1) providing a place for overseas training for Maryknoll Sisters and other religious, clergy and laity interested in working in other cultures, 2) developing a concentrated and flexible program of new approaches to mission preparation, 3) providing a center for the exchange of current mission thinking on a professional level in an ecumenical context for experienced missioners and 4) serving the cause of mission education in the U.S. in whatever way consonant with the aims of the Institute.
Since its establishment in 1969 the Maryknoll Mission Institute has been a response to the expressed need of those involved in the Universal Mission of the Church to reflect upon and deepen their understanding of mission in the contemporary world. It has provided an on-going forum in which missioners from the six continents have been able to study, reflect, discuss and assimilate the trends and issues in world, church and mission. In its development, the Maryknoll Mission Institute has been guided by the vast spectrum of changes in the Church’s self-understanding and its mission in the modern world ushered in by the Second Vatican Council.
Beginning on January 1, 1991 the Maryknoll Mission Institute was jointly sponsored by the Maryknoll Sisters’ Congregation and the Maryknoll Society
From: “Brief Description of the Maryknoll Mission Institute, April 1991” [box 1, folder 4]
Subjects (links to similar collections) Administrative InformationMSA Photographs
MSA Audiovisual
This collection contains records from the Maryknoll Mission Institute dating from 1964 to the present, with the bulk of the materials from the 1970s and 1980s. It is comprised of 4 series.
Series 1: Administrative contains records pertaining to the workings of the Mission Institute as a department. They include correspondence, meeting minutes, operational plans, policies and procedures, reports, research, statistics and surveys. Information on topics such as the development of the Mission Institute, co-sponsorship by the Congregation and Society, events, personnel and partnerships with the Society’s Center for Mission Studies and School of Theology, Rogers College, the Ecumenical Committee for Commitment and Education, Stony Point Center and the Tri-Institution Ecumenical Group can also be found in this series.
Series 2: External Programs contains program materials and correspondence pertaining to mission education workshops and conferences hosted by external organizations, mostly the Overseas Ministries Study Center in Ventnor, NJ. They are arranged chronologically by date. Maryknoll Sisters participated in these programs and some received financial support from the Congregation. The Sisters include Joan Berninger, Geraldine Brake, Joanna Chan, Joan Chatfield, Joan Delaney, Jackie Dorr, Virginia Fabella, Barbara Hendricks, Marcella Hoesel, Patricia Jacobsen, Mary Lou Martin, Melinda Roper, Cecilia Vandal, and Christelle Zabalerio.
Series 3: Programs contains materials pertaining to the programs offered by the Mission Institute from 1969 to 2009. These files are arranged chronologically by date. They contain a subset of the following materials: advertising flyers, program descriptions, participant lists and statistics, program calendars, resource persons lists, participant briefs, budgets, handouts, evaluations, copies of talks, correspondence (internal and external), and photographs. The series also contains 5 folders of advertising brochures dating from 1970 forward and program descriptions from the 1970s and 1980s. Photographs were removed added to the Sisters Photograph collection in August 2017.
Series 4: Resources contains files pertaining to individuals who were asked to present at Mission Institute programs mostly from 1969 to 1985 and 1991 and 1993. Arranged alphabetically by last name, these files contain curriculum viates, correspondence, copies of lectures, evaluations, press clippings, photographs and associated writings and publications. Not all persons were successful bookings. Photographs were removed and added to the Sisters Photograph collection in August 2017.