How to Help
Thanks to the everyday generosity of thousands of Christ’s faithful people across the United States, the three organizations of the Black and Indian Mission Office are able to help build the Church in Native American and African American communities.
There are several ways you can join our Mission to the Missions:
Pray
Your prayer support is critical! “With all prayer and supplication, pray at every opportunity in the Spirit. To that end, be watchful with all perseverance and supplication for all the holy ones”. (Eph 6:18).
We are, first of all, in need of your constant prayers for the work of our office, for those in service of the Gospel, and for those they serve. Pray for those whose lives are enriched by the support of our office!Pray for the success of our missionaries’ work! And pray for the work of our national office.
Fast
Your acts of prayerful fasting can help move mountains!
The penitence of the individual Christian also has an intimate relationship of its own with the whole ecclesial community
– Paenitemini, apostolic letter on prayer and fasting by Pope Paul VI
Jesus fasted; so should we! Our missionaries serve many people in great need—and even danger—due to alcoholism, drug abuse, gang violence, and domestic disturbances of all kinds. Your fasting makes a difference!
The Missionary Benedictine Sisters, based in Norfolk, Nebraska, have worked at Saint Augustine Indian Mission, serving the Winnebago and Omaha tribes in northeastern Nebraska since 1945. To the present day, five sisters “pray and work” in the spirit of their founder, Saint Benedict, in a lovely but simple convent on the grounds of the Mission. The sisters minister among those at the edges of life: young people at the school, and older people at the local nursing homes—as well as parishioners at the mission’s four churches. Father Dan Wittrock, pastor of the parishes attached to Saint Augustine, refers to the sisters as “the ‘real McCoy,’” pointing out the great impact the presence of each has upon the people.
You too can have a major impact upon the ministry of our missionaries through your prayers and fasting. Won’t you please offer up some small act of fasting for us? Become a Stay at Home Missionary today.
Give Alms
Without your financial help, our “mission to the missions” turns into a mission to no one.
Giving alms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity: it is also a work of justice pleasing to God.
– Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2447
Your financial support of the three organizations of the Black and Indian Mission Office 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.
Donations can take many forms! Estate and legacy gifts, stocks, bonds, real estate—and, of course, cash—are some of the practical ways you can help us spread the Gospel. Perhaps your employer will match your contribution!