Historical Context: The Thailand Unit began with Maryknoll Priests and Brothers as its primary members and included Lay Missioners, who served, at that time, under the auspices of the Society, as the Lay Mission Program was then one of the Society's Programs.
When Cambodia was added to the Thailand Unit in 1989, it became the Thailand/Cambodia Unit of the Maryknoll Society. In 1992, the Maryknoll Sisters working in Thailand became members of the Society Thailand Unit. Their inclusion helped to further clarify the evolving concept and effort of the collaborative form of governance.
In 1992, Maryknoll expanded into Vietnam, and the Society Unit became known as the Thailand/Cambodia/Vietnam Unit. Wherever possible, in each of these three countries, assignments were encouraged from the three sending groups, so that an ecclesial presence was represented.
In August of 1994, the Lay Mission Program of the Society officially became a separate entity-the Maryknoll Mission Association of the Faithful. This birth initiated a period of change for all the missioners working in the Southeast Asian countries of Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia. The missioners in the three mission countries chose or re-chose to collaborate in a model of mission intended to foster growth, to sustain, and to strengthen missioners in their participation in the mission of Jesus in SE Asia. The model is intended to witness to the capacity to share life and ministry in a divided and fragmented world. The new model of mission was named THE MARYKNOLL MEKONG MISSION in August of 1995.
The members of the MMM come from all three sending groups; the Maryknoll Sisters Congregation, the Maryknoll Society of Priests and Brothers, and the Maryknoll Mission Association of the Faithful.
Please visit "Our Stories" pages for our Thailand individual ministries, mission tales and current newsletters as well as the MMM Newsletter.
