Joe Maier
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Father Joseph (Joe) H. Maier, C.Ss. R., (born 31 October 1939) is an American
Redemptorist The Redemptorists, officially named the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (), abbreviated CSsR, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of pontifical right for men (priests and brothers). It was founded by Alphonsus Liguori at Scal ...
priest who lives and works in the
Khlong Toei Khlong Toei (also Klong Toey, , ) is a districts of Bangkok, district in central Bangkok, long known for its slum. It is bordered by the Chao Phraya River and contains major port facilities. It is also the site of a major market, the Khlong Toei M ...
slums of
Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...
,
Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
, where he co-founded the
Human Development Foundation The Human Development Foundation (HDF), also referred to as the Mercy Centre, is a non-profit and non-denominational organization in Bangkok, Thailand. It was established by Roman Catholic Redemptorist priest Father Joe Maier with Sister Maria Ch ...
(HDF-Mercy Centre) with Sister Maria Chantavarodom in 1973. For over 45 years, he has administered to Bangkok's poorest, providing vulnerable children and families alternatives to and a haven away from drugs, violence, sexual abuse, and prostitution in the squatter slums.


Early life

Joseph Maier was born at Cowlitz General Hospital in
Longview, Washington Longview is a city in Cowlitz County, Washington, Cowlitz County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. It is the principal city of the Longview, Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Cowlitz County. Longvie ...
in 1939, the son of a Catholic mother, Helen Childs Maier, and a German Lutheran, George Maier. His parents separated when Maier was five years old, and later divorced. Thereafter, Maier was raised primarily by his uncle in Longview. Maier enrolled in a Redemptorist seminary in California as a high school freshman and was assigned to Bangkok upon completion of his studies.Barrett, Greg. The Gospel of Father Joe: Revolutions and Revelations in the Slums of Bangkok. 2008. Father Joe first arrived in Thailand in 1967. He ministered in northern
Isan Northeast Thailand or Isan (Isan language, Isan/, ; ; also written as Isaan, Isarn, Issarn, Issan, Esan, or Esarn; from Pāli ''isāna'' or Sanskrit ईशान्य ''īśānya'' "northeast") consists of 20 provinces in northeastern Thai ...
and to the
Hmong Hmong may refer to: * Hmong people, an ethnic group living mainly in Southwest China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand * Hmong cuisine * Hmong customs and culture ** Hmong music ** Hmong textile art * Hmong language, a continuum of closely related ...
in Laos before settling permanently in Bangkok's "slaughterhouse" slums, next to the
Chao Phraya River The Chao Phraya River is the major river in Thailand, with its low alluvial plain forming the centre of the country. It flows through Bangkok and then into the Gulf of Thailand. Etymology Written evidence of the river being referred to by the ...
in the Khlong Toei District.


HDF Mercy Centre

Maier and a Thai
nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 5 ...
, Maria Chantavarodom, founded the Human Development Foundation (HDF), also known as the Mercy Centre, in 1972. The HDF began as a single one-
baht The baht (; , ; currency sign, sign: ฿; ISO 4217, code: THB) is the official currency of Thailand. It is divided into 100 ''satang'' (, ). Prior to decimalisation, the baht was divided into eight ''fueang'' (, ), each of eight ''at'' (, ). The ...
-a-day preschool, and has since expanded into a network of over 30 schools all over Bangkok, which have graduated an estimated 35,000 children. Today, in addition to schools, HDF operates orphanages and homes for street kids, assists children and adults living with AIDS, provides emergency assistance and home repair to slum families affected by crippling floods and fires, acts in cooperation with community members to mediate activities involving welfare organizations, housing authorities, governmental agencies, and the Port Authority of Thailand. In 2000, a gift from Atlanta businessman and philanthropist John M. Cook allowed for the major physical expansion of Mercy facilities. The multi-structure compound includes a 400-pupil kindergarten, a home for street kids, a home for mothers and children with AIDS, a 26-bed free AIDS hospice, a legal aid anti-trafficking unit, and various administrative offices that oversee operations ranging from a sponsor-a-child program, to community health and outreach services. The centre includes a house for Father Joe on Mercy grounds, the terms of the donation having stipulated that he move out of the slaughterhouse slums and away from the ostensible health hazards of slum living. The Mercy Centre extended its humanitarian efforts to southern Thailand following the devastating 2004
Asian tsunami On 26 December 2004, at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7), a major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2–9.3 struck with an epicentre off the west coast of Aceh in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The undersea megathrust earthquake, known in the scienti ...
, sending down relief teams to directly aid remote villages, from
Satun Satun (, , ) is a town ('' thesaban mueang'') in southern Thailand, capital of the Satun province. It covers the whole ''tambon'' Phiman of Mueang Satun. Satun lies 985 km south of Bangkok. As of 2005 it has a population of 21,498. Climat ...
to
Ranong Ranong () is a town (''thesaban mueang'') in southern Thailand, capital of the Ranong Province and the Mueang Ranong District. The town covers completely the area of the ''tambon'' Khao Niwet (เขานิเวศน์). As of 2024, it had ...
, hit hard by the disaster.


Interfaith dialogue

Father Joe has been both praised and criticized for his broad religious philosophy. In a 2004 PBS documentary, he described himself as having been "converted" by Buddhists and Muslims, remarks that have stirred some controversy. He made a similar comment in 2008, when he told
CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...
, "
Buddhists Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or 5th century BCE. It is the world's fourth ...
and
Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
taught me how to be a Christian."


Recognition

Mercy is regularly sought out by foreign dignitaries. Recent visitors have included Prince Alfred and Princess Raffaela of Lichtenstein in March 2003; AIDS activist and American film actor
Richard Gere Richard Tiffany Gere ( ; born August 31, 1949) is an American actor. He began appearing in films in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in ''Looking for Mr. Goodbar (film), Looking for Mr. Goodbar'' (1977) and a starring role in ''Days of Hea ...
in July 2004; and American president
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
in August 2008. Father Joe is the recipient of numerous awards and honors in recognition of his life's work. In 2004, he was personally thanked by
Queen Sirikit Sirikit (born ''Mom Rajawongse'' Sirikit Kitiyakara; 12 August 1932) is a member of the Thai royal family who was Queen of Thailand from 28 April 1950 to 13 October 2016 as the wife of King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX). She is the mother of K ...
as the foreigner who has made the most significant contribution to the protection of the women and children of Thailand.


Writings

''Welcome to the Bangkok Slaughterhouse'' is a collection of 24 short stories about Mercy Centre children, written by Father Joe. All book proceeds go to the Human Development Foundation. Father Joe was a regular contributor to Sunday Perspective section of the ''Bangkok Post'' before the section's discontinuation in late 2008.


''The Gospel of Father Joe''

In 2008, Jossey-Bass, an imprint of Wiley Books, released a biography of Father Joe entitle
''The Gospel of Father Joe: Revolutions and Revelations in the Slums of Bangkok''
The 321-page narrative (or literary) nonfiction book was written by American foreign correspondent Greg Barrett. Barrett first met Father Joe in 2000 when he was a Gannett News Service correspondent based in the GNS/USA Today bureau in Washington, DC. He had been dispatched to Thailand to report on human trafficking. Several years later he returned to Bangkok to begin researching and writing ''The Gospel of Father Joe''. Archbishop
Desmond Tutu Desmond Mpilo Tutu (7 October 193126 December 2021) was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop ...
contributed the book's foreword. In 2009, The Nautilus Book Awards honored ''The Gospel of Father Joe'' with a silver medal in the category of Conscious Media-Journalism-Investigative Reporting.Wiley/Jossey-Bass revised press release


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maier, Joe American emigrants to Thailand American people of German descent 1939 births Living people Redemptorists Roman Catholic missionaries in Thailand People from Longview, Washington