John Beeching is a missionary with Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, an American Catholic organization that has been reaching out to the world's most vulnerable communities for nearly 100 years.
Mr. Beeching has been a Maryknoll Brother for much of the organization's existence - over 40 years - including annual trips to Burma since 1996. There, Mr. Beeching promotes interfaith co-operation among religious and community leaders, proponents of the great religious traditions of Asia - Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam, advocating for solidarity regardless of religious belief. While abroad, he helped organize relief missions that provided food to orphanages and schooling for Burmese children.
Mr. Beeching also spearheaded an initiative to build a soup kitchen in Yangon, Burma's largest city. He has also been a missioner in the Middle East and Thailand.
Read John Beeching's final goodbye to a fellow missioner in Bangladesh.
Nominator: Francesco Caruso
View more photos of John Beeching and Maryknoll initatives in our Transformational Canadians Flickr gallery