St. Josephine Bakhita
Mission Parish

Hunger in Phoenix is real. Did you know there are over half a million people across the Valley facing hunger? Who are they? They include schoolchildren, working parents, seniors on fixed incomes and other struggling individuals. Their hardships are fundamentally tied to poverty — and poverty is rampant in Arizona.

As a faith community, we refuse to permit Jesus Christ to suffer hunger in our brothers and sisters. For this reason, nearly a year ago, our parish established an Emergency Food Pantry to alleviate hunger in our community. Thanks be to God, our Emergency Food Pantry is now serving many families in our community.

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Dear brothers and sisters,

In 1969, St. Pope Paul VI, as Vicar of Jesus Christ on earth, issued this prophetic challenge to those of African descent: “You must now give your gifts of Blackness to the whole Church.”

This pastoral challenge that resonates in our hearts should move us to share with the whole Church the spiritual gifts of our Blackness which entails our culture, our spirituality, our song and dance, our worship … in short, we bring all that we are as a gift to the Church to be shared.

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Just as the Jewish people wandered in the desert for 40 years, so had the Black Catholic community of the Diocese of Phoenix before then Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted formally erected St. Josephine Mission Parish in June of last year. One year later, the community celebrated its Founders Day — the Solemnity of the Founding of a Parish on June 11.

“We all need some place to call home. The People of God wandered and were searching to arrive to their home, the Promised Land,” said pastor Fr. Andrew McNair in his homily. “And, my brothers and sisters, my heart is filled with so much joy because we, the People of God, we have found a home, and it’s called St. Josephine Bakhita. Thank you, Jesus.”

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All are invited to venerate the First-Class Sacred Relic of St. Josephine Bakhita during 9 a.m.-2 p.m., Monday, Wednesday and Thursday or by appointment.

Six-day votive candles to light at the St. Josephine Bakhita altar are available in the parish office for an offering of $10.

If anyone would like a special Mass offered at the altar of St. Josephine Bakhita, kindly contact the parish office.

If anyone has received a special blessing or favor through the intercession of St. Josephine Bakhita, please share with us this blessing to encourage others to seek her powerful intercession.