When the Maryknoll Sisters arrived in the Philippines, the islands had been under U.S. rule for twenty-seven years after the Spanish American war, with a school system modeled after the U.S. In this context, Manila Archbishop O’Doherty, at the recommendation of Baltimore Archbishop Curley, invited the Maryknoll Sisters to run the Catholic Teachers Normal School at Malabon.

The Sisters arrived in December, 1925 and by 1926, nine Sisters were in Malabon. Almost three hundred Sisters have been assigned to the Philippines. More schools, a hostel and a hospital were opened. During WWII, the Sisters were incommunicado. When MacArthur’s troops withdrew, the Sisters were invited to go with them but declined, wanting to remain with the Filipino people. Likewise, the Filipinos took risks sharing scarce food with the Sisters during their internment. Two Sisters suffered imprisonment. Two Maryknoll Filipina Sisters had horrifying experiences helping the wounded in Manila.

In Baguio three Sisters left with five hundred people for a six day march to safety. Sister Hyacinth Kunkel was lost in this march, her fate never known. After the war, the Sisters expanded ministries, eventually working in twenty-seven locations. After Vatican II, collaborative works gained prominence. Sisters were active on national commissions on peace and the role of women As ministries diversified, Sisters engaged in ecumenism, justice issues, a creation spirituality center and ecological sanctuary.

Major rethinking of the Sisters role led to the transfer of ownership and governance of Maryknoll College from the Maryknoll Sisters Congregation to an all-Filipino Board of Trustees and the first Filipina lay president The Maryknoll Congregational novitiate was on the college campus from 1961-1971 and three Filipina Sisters later served in Congregational leadership positions. The Maryknoll Sisters in the Philippines agree with St. Francis—“it is in giving that we receive—“Mutuality in mission remains very much part and parcel of our goal and experience.”