A Blessed Holiday Season

Dear Mission Family,

The Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions is thankful for the recent canonization of St. Kateri Tekakwitha on Mission Sunday, October 21, 2012, in Rome by Pope Benedict XVI. This is a joyful time for all Native Americans, Alaskan Natives and all Americans! 

Already we are receiving reports that many Native Americans are moved and touched by the recognition of one of their very own. We join in their joy and blessing as we too embrace St. Kateri as our patron and intercessor in heaven. 

Many people from all nationalities have come to know her as the gentle and powerful saint. She is known as the Lily of the Mohawks and continues to capture our hearts and lives as we grow in knowledge of Jesus. 

As co-patroness of ecology, let us imitate her love and give thanks for the earth, water, trees, flowers, air and all living things. Let us learn from St. Kateri to cherish life now so we may like her, enter into eternal life.

Visit our website, www.blackandindianmission.org to learn more about St. Kateri and be sure to visit our new web store for Christmas gifts! We presently have a limited time offer on our special canonization  books.

I pray your holidays are filled with family, friends and lots of love! Keep in touch! Be safe as you travel.


-Father Paysse

His Mission is Also Our Mission

Dear Friends,

October 2012 is a special time for the Black and Indian Mission Office.  First, October directs us in a special way to mediate on the life of Christ through the mysteries of the Holy Rosary.  The Rosary gives us a glimpse of the life of Jesus and invites us to journey with Him and His mother, Mary, in this life and beyond.  Second, Pope Benedict XVI declares this October, “The Year of Faith” when each person reviews one’s relationship with God and come to better understand the call to discipleship through the Sacrament of Baptism.  Third, the Pope also convenes a Synod of Bishops who will focus on The New Evangelization. 

In the months ahead, more will be shared from the Synod of Bishops with the global community as to how we can reach out as living witnesses to Christ.  And finally, the canonization of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha and six others will be declared “Saints” on October, 21, 2012, Mission Sunday. 

How significant for the world will this be!  It is as if Benedict the XVI is giving us a spiritual necklace of light and holiness of witnesses to dispel the darkness of all that is contrary to the mission of Jesus.  His mission is also our mission, to bring love, mercy, peace, healing and joy to a wounded world.

Saint Kateri, pray for us!

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Father Paysse

A Special Thank You and Congratulations!

“Therefore, since we have so great a crowd of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance…and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” Hebrews 12:1

These words from St. Paul may recall our experiences with the summer Olympics.  They were used in the introduction to other types of awards sponsored by this office in recognition of personal ministry and organizational contributions among our Catholic Native American and African American communities. Thank you to all who made nominations for the St. Katharine Drexel Evangelization Award (for organizations in ministry among either Blacks or Indians); the Msgr. William H. Ketchum Service Award (for individuals working among Native Americans); and the Bishop Harold R. Perry Award (for individuals ministering among African Americans.)  Those who made nominations gave the panel of judges much to ponder and more aware of marvelous outreach being done in Jesus’ name. Thank you for partnering with us to recognize faith-filled ministers among us.

Congratulations to the following “crowd of witnesses.”

St. Katharine Drexel Evangelization Award:

-         Consalata Missionary Sisters, Diocese of Birmingham, Alabama

-          St. Joseph Catholic Church, Soboba Reservation, Diocese of San Bernardino, California

Msgr. William H. Ketchum Service Award:

-         Veronica Valandra, (Sicangu Lakota, aka Rosebud Sioux),  Director of Native American Ministries, Diocese of Rapid City, South Dakota

Bishop Harold R. Perry Service Award:

-          Mary Leisring, Director of Black Catholic Ministries, Archdiocese of Denver, Colorado

 Please visit us at the Black and Indian Mission office webpage

Novena to St.Kateri Tekakwitha

In advance of Blessed Kateri’s canonization by Pope Benedict XVI on October 21, 2012, we invite you to join in this novena of prayers for her intercession and for the success of the pilgrimage to Rome.

Pray each day’s special prayer, followed by one Hail Mary and the Prayer for Canonization.

Days 1, 4, 7: Blessed Kateri’s Charitable Spirit

Father in heaven, you gave Blessed Kateri a spirit of charity that mirrored your own love for the poor and disadvantaged. Grant us, we beseech you, the same love for our brothers and sisters around the world, especially the victims of injustice and oppression. May we have the grace to reach out to them in your name with the gifts you have so generously given. We ask this through Jesus, your Son,     who lives and reigns with you and your Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen. Hail Mary, Prayer for Canonization

Days 2, 5, 8: Blessed Kateri’s Penitential Spirit

O God, who sent your Son to live and suffer and die with us and for our sins, grant us the grace to imitate Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha in her penance and her obedience. May her example inspire us to lives of simple and fervent devotion to the sufferings of Jesus, always aware that just as His suffering and death culminated in His resurrection, our trials, joined with His, will lead us to the same fullness of life forever. We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and your Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen. Hail Mary, Prayer for Canonization

Days 3, 6, 9: Blessed Kateri’s Prayerful Spirit

Lord God, you called the virgin Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha to shine among the American Indian people as an example of innocence of life and a prayerful spirit. Through her intercession, may all peoples of every tribe, tongue and nation, having been gathered into your Church, proclaim your greatness in one song of praise. We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, Who lives and reigns with you and your Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen. Hail Mary, Prayer for Canonization

Prayer for Canonization

O God, who, among the many marvels of your grace in the New World, did cause to blossom on the banks of the Mohawk and St. Lawrence Rivers, the pure and tender Lily, Kateri Tekakwitha, grant we beseech you, the favors we beg through her intercession: That this young lover of Jesus and His Cross may soon be counted among her saints by Holy Mother Church, and that our hearts may be enkindled with a stronger desire to imitate her innocence and faith. We ask this through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

For more information on the Canonization of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, please visit the Black and Indian Mission office website.

A Spiritual Power Surge!

I’m at my computer distracted by the power strip outlet too close to my feet , a tangle of wires.  This power strip has basic surge protection built in as a defense against dangerous lightening or other utility produced power surges. 

With Pentecost upon us and the Holy Spirit – first received in Baptism and affirmed at Confirmation – I’m reminded of another kind of “power surge.”  The presence of the Spirit of Jesus in our daily lives is something we not only want, we beg for it to enable us to handle those prickly life issues that can wear us down.

Galatians 5:22 speaks of the energizing Fruits of the Spirit:

• When we need to forgive  another ... HOLY SPIRIT, GIVE US A POWER SURGE OF YOUR LOVE
• When we walk with sadness written on our soul… GIVE US A POWER SURGE OF YOUR JOY
• When we are filled with angst or anger…GIVE US A POWER SURGE OF YOUR PEACE
• When we stop giving people our understanding and acceptance…GIVE US A POWER SURGE OF YOUR PATIENCE
• When a smile or a helping hand can make a difference…GIVE US A POWER SURGE OF YOUR KINDNESS
• When we struggle to recognize our own blessings…GIVE US A POWER SURGE OF YOUR GOODNESS
• When we struggle with the discipline of spiritual growth…GIVE US A POWER SURGE OF YOUR TRUST

 Amen.

In our ministry of evangelization at the Black and Indian Mission Office, we certainly promote awareness of the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit as essential to our life of faith – 24/7/365.  Please visit our website www.blackandindianmission.org and read  Profiles of Faith. 

Appreciate the stories of heroes and heroines of our Church, who counted on the “power surges” of the Holy Spirit to motivate them to sainthood.

Look for Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, soon to be canonized. Fr. Augustus Tolton, the first black priest ordained for the United States, and so many more witnesses.   “…meditate on these things.”  Phil. 4:8

Fr. Wayne Paysse

Executive Director

In Rememberance of Mother Mary

Dear Partners in Mission,

May is the month of Mary, the Mother of Jesus.  Traditionally, it is a time for flowered crowns, processions, the recitation of the rosary and Marian hymns. 

It is also a time for us to remember the important role Mary plays in our salvation.  She is our powerful intercessor and spiritual mother.  She is also Mother of the Church!

Like the early Christians and missionaries, we depend on her aid and assistance in our daily lives in a special way. 

As Queen of the Missions, she is forever vigilant in our mission lands and the many, many people who live on our Indian reservations, urban centers, Black Catholic Communities and especially in our Black and Indian Mission schools.

Let us ask ourselves how we can be like Mary in assisting the Black and Indian Missions across the United States.  Let us start with remembering in our prayers every day the missions and the missionaries as we recite our rosary.  Let us make small sacrifices for the missions and monetary contributions to the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions or Catholic Negro American Mission Board. Please visit our Home page, www.blackandindianmission.org for more information.

May Mary be our strength, joy and peace!

God bless, Father Paysse

Happy Easter!

Dear Partners in Mission, 

A pediatric nurse, before listening to the children’s chests, would plug the stethoscope into their ears and let them listen to their own hearts. Their eyes would always light up in amazement. But she never got a response to equal that of six-year-old Gregory’s.

She tucked the sleek stethoscope in his ears and placed the smooth disk over his heart. “Listen,” she said, “What do you suppose that is?”  He drew his eyebrows together in a puzzled line and looked up as if lost in the drum beat of the strange lub-dub, lub-dub deep in his chest. Then his face broke out in a marvelous, gap tooth smile. “Is that Jesus?”

This Easter season, having just celebrated the Holiest of Weeks with its beautiful images and faith rituals: waving palms, institution of the Eucharist, washing feet, Way of the Cross, kissing the crucifix, new fire, blessed water, Baptisms, renewing the promises, and more…we embrace Paschal Mystery. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son…”  John 3:16

Here at the Black and Indian Mission Office we seek to support our mission parishes, Catholic schools and parish religious education programs that raise awareness to the Good News of Jesus Christ. Look for their stories of on-going evangelization on our website. Consider joining the at home pilgrimage sponsored by the Catholic Negro-American Mission Board September 20-24, 2012,  to honor the legacy Fr. Augustus Tolton, the first black priest ordained for the United States (Those flyers are forth-coming.).  Participate in the canonization festivities of the first American born, Native saint, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, October 18-24, 2012, in Rome as orchestrated by the Bureau of Catholic Indian Mission. (Click here for the Special Events page) Info on both of these outstanding witnesses to Christ can be found at Profiles in Faith on this web-site.

Make time this Easter Season to listen, figuratively, to the rhythm of your own heartbeat. With springtime freshness, sing out Alleluia in praise and thanksgiving for the miracle of Easter Resurrection and be prepared to see and hear Jesus everywhere.

Peace and joy of the Risen Christ,

Reverend W. Carroll Paysse

Executive Director

A Blessed Lenten Season

Dear Mission Family, 

The Lenten season invites us to swim upstream like the salmon, taking us ever more deeply into the spiritual desert with Jesus, only to be refreshed by the baptismal waters.

This season of grace, God's very life is always in contradiction to those things and persons that keep us from being united, free and whole in prayer, joy and peace!

The scriptures give witness and testify to the beauty of God and how the Great Spirit touches each of us when we turn to Him. Bible characters such as John the Baptist and others point to the way of Jesus!

Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman is quoted as saying, "we can believe what we choose. We are answerable for what we choose to believe."

Let us ask ourselves as we quickly approach the end of the Lenten season, how can I capture deep within me the life and breath of Jesus? How might I cast my net of hope and anchor of peace? Let us go to God in prayer! It is not too late to experience a fruitful Lenten season.

 -Father Paysse

Celebrating Black History Month!

Our Lady of Africa, Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

Dear Mission Family,

February is Black History Month. It is a national observance for remembering important individuals and events in the history of the African diaspora.  The remembrance originated in 1926 by historian Carter G. Woodson. 

We are proud today to continue this legacy! We want to celebrate with our family and friends the contributions and gifts of our Black sisters and brothers.  With joy we can see how the Black Community impacts American society, Church and evangelization.

Let us in our Catholic Tradition raise consciousness and gently remind all people of every race to open their hearts to Christ and to remove racism from society and across the globe. 

Let us begin with ourselves, our attitudes and our lack of Christian charity. Let us pray to Christ to accept people as equals and coworkers in the field of evangelization. Allow the Spirit to fill us with grace so our actions and words reflect the dignity of all people as created in the image and likeness of Almighty God!

Visit us at www.blackandindianmission.org to learn about the witness of Black Catholics such as Mother Lange, Pierre Toussaint and Fr. Augustus Tolton to name a few.

Please pray to end racism! Education is a start!

Please consider making a donation to the Catholic Negro American Mission Board for Black Catholic Mission Schools. Go to DONATE on the homepage and help us to keep the doors open in our Black Catholic Mission Schools.

Let us stand in solidarity with all people. Let us offer prayers for reconciliation, healing and renewed relationships throughout society.

  -Fr. Paysse

Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha a Saint!

Dear Mission Family,

If you have not heard, let me tell you the good news!  Pope Benedict XVI has signed the official documents to declare Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha a SAINT. Yes, in the weeks to come the canonization date will hopefully be announced by the Vatican.  And WOW, it will be full steam ahead with many, many plans, projects and programs to be secured.

The Bureau of Catholic Indian Mission Office is responsible for the official USA pilgrimage to Rome.  Although we don’t have a date yet, I have been busy with preliminary plans and hope to share the upcoming events soon.  Also, I am depending on our mission family and friends of Blessed Kateri to share the word and to encourage others to join our pilgrimage and to participate in our global celebration.

As I reflect on this joyous occasion in the life of the Church and for our Native American community, I am reminded of the beautiful spiritual gifts of Blessed Kateri and the collective gift of our American Indian sisters and brothers.  

The Native American spirit continues to move forward unfolding a garment of renewed appreciation and gentleness that comes to rest on the hearts of all who embrace “Saint” Kateri!   Like Mary, Blessed Kateri leads us to Jesus. . ."

“Let us give thanks to the Father for having made you worthy to share the lot of the saints in light.      

-Father Paysse