For almost 140 years the Catholic Church in the United States has been vigilant about the financial support of Black and Indian Missions, taking up a nationwide annual collection the first weekend in Lent to further that effort. This year the Black and Indian Missions Collection will take place in parishes of the Diocese of Trenton the weekend of March 12-13.

Proceeds from the collection run by the Black and Indian Missions Office are distributed as grants to dioceses supporting and strengthening evangelization programs, which would otherwise be in danger of disappearing among the Black, American Indian, Eskimo, and Aleute communities of the United States.

Established by the U.S. Catholic Bishops in 1884, the office and the collection were the first of their kind in the United States. The office comprises three distinct but related organizations: the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions (est. 1874); the Commission for the Catholic Missions (est. 1884) and the Catholic Negro-American Mission Board (est. 1907). Each organization cooperates with diocesan communities to spread the Gospel and to respond to real and pressing needs in these same communities.

“The generosity of the good People of God allows the Commission to give helpful grants to dioceses across the country,” said Father Henry Sands, BIM executive director, on the office’s website. That participation allows the missions “to operate schools, parishes and other missionary services that build the Body of Christ in Native American, Alaska Native and Black Catholic communities.”

Financial support through the collection “enables us to help form children in the faith, educate young people and build hope – a hope often so hard to find in the areas our missionaries serve,” Father Sands continued.

For more information or if you miss the collection in parishes, visit blackandindianmission.org or call 202-331-8542.