Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
May God bless you! This weekend our parishes will take up the Black and Indian Mission Collection.
For the last 135 years, this collection has provided new opportunities for evangelization and education efforts for Native Americans, Alaskan Native Americans and African Americans throughout the United States.
Evangelization efforts by churches and schools among these communities are funded by the collection’s grant awards, which are instrumental in building up the Christian community and sharing the joy of Jesus Christ. Your support has helped educate African American and Native American seminarians for priestly service to our Catholic communities, and it has helped to begin a new religious community for service to Native Americans in Arizona. Your gifts have opened the door of faith to these Americans through the ministry of these priests and religious.
Education is fundamental in sharing our faith. Your monetary assistance provides opportunities for a solid Catholic education in our Indian and Black Catholic mission schools, allows the purchase of catechetical materials and Bibles, and provides for the formation of lay leadership.
Your generosity to this collection furthers the missionary cause of bringing the Gospel to our African American, Alaskan Native Americans, and Native American families. Learn more about the Black and Indian Missions at www.blackandindianmission.org.
Sincerely yours in our Lord,
Most Reverend Joseph E. Kurtz, D.D.
Archbishop of Louisville
