Summer Blessings!

Dear Mission Family,

Summer blessings to you! The month of July invites us to share Summer activities with family and friends. It is a time to reflect on all the opportunities the Lord Jesus gives us as we experience each beautiful day. Here at the Mission House, the Spirit continues to guide us.

I'm happy to announce that within a week, we will launch our new upgraded website. I think you'll find it more user friendly and of greater service in the field of evangelization. Once you get a chance to review it, I'd welcome your comments as we are always trying to improve our web presence and ministry. Reaching out and having a greater positive impact is important and vital as we minister to our African American, Native American and Alaskan Native Communities. So, let me hear from you!

Mark your calendar for July 14, the Feast Day of St. Kateri Tekakwitha! We'll soon post a Novena to St. Kateri leading to the feast day on our home page. Please join us as we pray this Novena together. Tell your family and friends they are welcome!

Recently, I had a wonderful pastoral visit in the Diocese of Fresno, California with the African American Community. Wow! I was impressed with their evangelization efforts and their involvement in the diocese. We celebrated Eucharist, shared a meal and dreamed of new possibilities for all to draw closer to Christ and the Church. I am grateful for their hospitality, prayerfulness and strong desire to share the Gospel message of love and Christian witness with all!

Keep in touch with me and let me hear about your journey of faith, your interests and the ways we can possibly collaborate in supporting our Black and American Indian/Alaskan Native sisters and brothers. Thank you for your prayers and partnership!

In Joy and Peace,

Father Paysse

The Sacred Heart of Jesus

 June is the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. As a pastor some years ago, I'd enthrone the image of the Sacred Heart in the homes of my parishioners.  What a comfort this brought to many!

We are mindful in the Scriptures of the gentleness of Jesus and how he opened his own human and sacred heart to all who would trust him. Let us turn to him at this moment to receive his love, forgiveness and peace.

Today, let us consider the importance of opening our own hearts to our Native American and African American sisters and brothers - and all we meet!

We collaborate with diocesan efforts that have a positive impact on the work of evangelization. How? By supporting or establishing a particular work, program or project.  Please partner with us to keep our struggling mission schools open, to support religious education programs with Bibles and workbooks, to train catechists, to provide the comforting presence of a priest, religious sister or brother; these are a few of the daily challenges.

• Click Here to partner with the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions.

• Click Here to partner with the Catholic Negro American Mission Board. 

• Click Here to partner with the Black and Indian Mission Collection. 

Thank you for your consideration of support. Be assured of my prayers for you and your loved ones. May the Sacred Heart of Jesus abundantly bless all your good works!

 Father Paysse
 Executive Director

May is the Month of Mary

The month of May is the month of Mary, the Mother of Jesus and of the Church. We are invited by Jesus to take the hand of Mary to guide us closer and closer to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

Each one of us are special daughters and sons to Mary. And because we are daughters and sons, we are family! Belonging to the family of Christ, the Church invites us to open our hearts and minds to all peoples and cultures. 

It is no different with the Native American, Alaskan Native and African American communities. We are challenged to learn more about these cultures and to welcome their spiritual gifts.

As we observe the blooming of tress, shrubs and flowers during this time of the year, we must see the beauty of God trying to take root in our hearts daily. We need to bloom a life of love, service and joy like Mary, the Mother of Jesus and our Mother too!

 Fr. Wayne C. Paysse

Hope's New Spring

Dear Friends,

The election of Pope Francis is a joy for all of us.  He is like a new Spring that brings hope and renewed zeal for our faith and daily living.  Please join me in praying for the Holy Father as he transitions into his new role in the life of the Universal Church.

The Pope is truly an Easter gift from the Risen Lord.  Let us rejoice during this holy season of grace and allow Christ to reign in our hearts as we collaborate with his grace and shine like the flickering light of the Easter Candle.

He is risen, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!

In His peace,

Reverend W. Carroll Paysse

Executive Director

Black and Indian Mission Office

Happy Lenten!

Dear Mission Family,

During this month of March we are occupied with many thoughts and prayers for Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI and are joining our prayers with the global church as the Cardinals prepare to elect a new Pope. 

We are also in the midst of the 2013 Lenten Season when Christ invites us to make a spiritual journey with him these forty days using the three spiritual pillars of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.  I am sure many of you have traditionally given up for the Lenten Season candy, extra dessert, and popcorn.  May I suggest and encourage all of us regardless of our Lenten sacrifice to have greater recourse towards prayer and works of charity within our families, workplace, and the marketplace

Please keep our Native American/Alaskan Natives and African American communities in your prayers.  Let us affirm our brothers and sisters who have enriched the Church with their gift of their cultures.

Finally may I also invite each of us to concentrate on a virtue, i.e., love, patience, and mercy that we wish to more freely engage in our daily lives.  No doubt we will grow in the life of holiness and possess greater peace now and for eternity. 

Happy Lenten Trails!

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Reverend W. Carroll Paysse

Executive Director

Honoring Black History Month

Dear Mission Family,

We join in solidarity with our Black Catholic communities as we acknowledge Black History Month. It all started with Black History Week, February 12, 1926 and the man who initiated the first event was the American historian Carter G. Woodson. During the nation's bicentennial celebration in 1976, the week evolved into the Black History Month.

Let us remember in a special way through prayer and example, the contributions of Black women and men who serve our Nation and Church. 

Please be conscious of the Catholic Negro American Mission Board (est.1907) and all her efforts in raising friends and funds to keep our Black Catholic Mission schools and parish religious education programs across the USA open. 

Also, support the Black and Indian Mission Collection (est. 1884) through the annual diocesan collection. The official date is the First Sunday of Lent (it varies from diocese to diocese).

Kindly consider making a generous contribution to the above mentioned organizations, including the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions (est. 1874) by visiting us at www.blackandindianmission.org.

Visit the website to learn how you can partner with us on our "mission to the missions" and become a stay-at-home-missionary today!

Let us share the Good News together!

-Father Paysse

Happy New Year!

Dear Mission Family,

Happy New Year!  As we welcome 2013, we welcome you to the Black and Indian Mission Blog and encourage you to invite your many family members, friends and associates to peruse our cyber community.  

Perhaps you would be interested in signing up for our free publications or simply learn about the three agency’s that make up the Black and Indian Mission Office. Go ahead, take a look inside. 

Many in our Native American and Alaskan Native Community are excited about the recent canonization of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha in Rome by Pope Benedict XVI, Sunday, October 21, 2012.  It was a glorious time for our Native American sisters and brothers across the United States and beyond.  The same is true for the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions. 

If you are a parish, school or an organization interested in someone giving a presentation at a luncheon or event about St. Kateri or our missionary outreach to the African Americans or Native Americans, please contact Father Paysse, Executive Director, at info@blackandindianmission.org or use our Toll free number, 1-877-237-1605.

Since 1874, the Bureau has witnessed to the Gospel among Native Americans and continues to support the evangelization outreach to the American Indian. Become a partner with us through your prayer and sacrificial offerings.  Join us as we continue to pray, serve and witness to the holy name of Jesus and the evangelization outreach through our missionaries  on Indian reservations, mission schools, urban communities and parishes.

Our Black Catholic missionary outreach is accomplished in Parishes, Missions, Schools and Religious Education Programs. Maybe you would like to learn more about Black Saints and those who minister in the Black Community? Meet people like Father Augustine Tolton, Venerable Pierre Toussaint or Henriette Delille, to name a few.

Again, please enjoy your visit at www.blackandindianmission.org and know we would like to hear from you.  How can we better serve you?  Let me hear from you, please.  I welcome your suggestions and insights!  January blessings!

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