All Catholics are familiar with all kinds of “second collections” taken up in our parish churches.  Through these collections, we are all called to share in the universal work of the Church.  But only one second collection can claim status as the first one in our country.  Recognizing a need to call the faithful to support missionary work among African American and Native American Catholics, the U.S. Catholic bishops established the Catholic Church Charity Commission for the Catholic Missions in 1884 to administer a national collection – the first of its kind in the United States – to support missionary work.  Ever since the first collection in 1884, the Commission has administered the annual national Black and Indian Mission Collection.  Your generosity enables the Commission to give helpful grants to dioceses across the country to operate schools, parishes, and other missionary services that build the Body of Christ in Native American, Alaska Native, and Black Catholic communities.

 

And locally, a number of parishes throughout our Archdiocese – including, St. Martin de Porres, our sister parish – are able to fund pastoral outreach and evangelization programs through the support they receive through this collection.  It is only through your continued generosity that such efforts can be realized.  In 2018 alone, over $8 million was collected from Catholics across the U.S.A.

The Black and Indian Mission Office today is comprised of three distinct but inter-related organizations, each with its own purpose and history, but all seeking to fulfill the one mission to three mission outreaches in our country.  The Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions was established in 1874 to evangelize the American Indians and to advocate for better treatment of these earlier settlers of our land.  The Commission for Catholic Missions, founded in 1884, focused on serving the Native Americans in Alaska.  And, the Catholic Negro-American Mission Board was established in 1907 to evangelize and serve the African American community in our country.  By 1980, these three separate organizations, all founded by the Catholic bishops of the United States, were combined into the Black and Indian Mission Office which cooperates with local diocesan communities to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ and respond to real and pressing needs of these three communities. The three organizations of the Black and Indian Mission Office are governed in perpetuity by a board consisting ex officio of the Archbishops of New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore and managed by an executive director; currently Fr. Maurice H. Sands, from the Archdiocese of Detroit, is the executive director.

 

After his resurrection, Jesus commanded his followers to “go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature” (Mk 16:15).  Pope Francis reminds us regularly that everyone is called to evangelization by their baptism.  As we begin another year of evangelization in the Black Catholic, Native American and Alaskan Native communities, everyone is called to make a difference by offering their prayers and financial support.  As you have been in the past, I encourage you to be generous to this annual collection.