Lent 2026
Aleteia needs your help to share the Good News.
For our mission to continue, we need it to become yours.
We’ll celebrate 250 years of the United States this coming July, but not many people know that the Catholic faith was here hundreds of years before that.
“The evangelization of Native Americans in the United States began in the 1500s — by the Spanish in the southwest, and by the French in the northeast,” said Father Maurice Sands, Executive Director of the Black and Indian Mission Office.
What is the Black and Indian Mission Office?
Fr. Sands explained:
The principal mission of the Black and Indian Mission Office is to support the Catholic Church’s mission of evangelization, pastoral care, faith formation, and operating Catholic schools among African American Catholics and Native American Catholics.
We are called to be dedicated and passionate collaborators of our Lord Jesus Christ in his work of proclaiming his Gospel message and winning souls for his kingdom.
You might already be familiar with one of these first Catholic Native Americans.
Tisquantum — often called Squanto — went down in history as the hero who saved the pilgrims at the first Thanksgiving.
But one part of his story is rarely mentioned. This kindhearted man was actually Catholic, having been baptized while living with Franciscan monks in Spain — the same monks who freed him from his enslavers.
It figures that most people know of Squanto, but don’t know he was Catholic. That seems to be a common story.
While there have been Catholic Native Americans for more than 500 years, much of their fascinating history has gone ignored or untold.
The perfect time to learn
This Thanksgiving weekend strikes us as the perfect time to learn about the history of Catholic Native Americans—and of African American Catholics, whom the Black and Indian Mission Office (BIMO) also serves. And there’s an easy “press and play” way to do it.
BIMO just released two new original documentaries:
Walking the Sacred Path: The Story of the Black and Indian Mission Office (Trailer)
This film uncovers the often-hidden story of Native American Catholics in the United States. The film explores the powerful intersection of faith and culture — where the beauty of Native traditions and the universality of Catholicism meet — and highlights more than 140 years of the Black and Indian Mission Office’s mission to walk alongside Native American communities.
Trailblazers of Faith: The Legacy of African American Catholics (Trailer)
This film tells the inspiring story of how African-Americans found a home in Catholicism without abandoning their identity or culture. From the pioneering Oblate Sisters of Providence and St. Frances Academy to the lives of Venerable Henriette DeLille, Julia Greeley, Father Augustus Tolton, and Sister Thea Bowman, the documentary celebrates a legacy of leadership and faith.
Both documentaries reveal powerful stories of faith, resilience, and reconciliation.
Where you can watch
Both documentaries will be available to watch on the following websites:
- CatholicTV (no subscription required)
- FORMED (subscription required)
A story that's rarely told
Fr. Maurice Sands shared with Aleteia what inspired the making of these films. Fr. Sands is Native American, a member of the Ojibway, Ottawa, and Potawatomi tribes. He grew up on Bkejwanong First Nation community and is also a member of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Ottawa Indians in Michigan. He studied business and worked as an accountant and as a corporate and investment banker before entering seminary. Today, he is a priest for the Archdiocese of Detroit.
He explained that the incredible history of the BIMO and the groups it serves needed to be more widely known:
Many people, both Catholic and non-Catholic, know very little about Native American Catholics and African American Catholics, and many people also do not know about the Black and Indian Mission Office. So I have been very interested in identifying ways to tell the stories about these two groups of people and about our office.
The Black and Indian Mission Office has been serving African American Catholics and Native American Catholics for more than 140 years, and both groups were already living on this land before the United States itself existed.
This Thanksgiving, these new documentaries tell their stories. Let's be ready to listen.
