Each year on the 1st Sunday of Lent, parishes throughout the diocese offer a second collection for the Black and Indian Mission. Thanks to generous donations of the faithful, the Diocese of Raleigh contributed $94,113.54 to support the Mission in 2017.
“This collection so clearly authenticates the call of Pope Francis’ call to work as a family to help all of our brothers and sisters and share the love, faith and hope of Jesus Christ,” Father Maurice Henry Sands, the collection’s director, wrote in a letter to the diocese. “We continue to be led by the missionary spirit of St. Katharine Drexel as we evangelize and care for our African American, Native American and Alaska Native brothers and sisters. I express my deep gratitude to each of you.”