Saturday, June 25, 2016

CHECK OUT THOSE LINKS UP ON THE TOP AND ON THE RIGHT!


Need more reading material? Take a shortcut! 


On the task bar at the top of the page, you can access:

An Encouraging Word

HOME - ABOUT ME - DONATE TO MY MISSION PROJECTS FUND
 CATHOLIC SECOND WIND GUILD - MY TRAVEL SCHEDULE
ABOUT THE COUNTRY OF SVG



  • Information on The Catholic Second Wind Guild. 
  • Read the history of the country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
  • Follow my travel schedule.
  • See how to make contributions to my mission projects.
  • Find out some facts about the blog owner, Father J. Ronald Knott.








In the box on this screen,  over on the far right side, is a list of  more links.

  • You can access my weekly column in The Record. 
  • You can read the Mass readings of the day each day. 
  • You can order spiritual readings books. 

  • You can learn about the needs of "the missions" down in the Caribbean. 
  • You can see what is going on at St. Meinrad Institiute for Priests and Presbyterates and Bellarmine University
Just click on the one you want and it will take you there automatically. 






Friday, June 24, 2016

BAPTISM - THE FURNITURE AND THE CHALLENGE

SERENDIPITY
TWO THINGS MYSTERIOUSLY COMING TOGETHER

This week two things accidently came together: I wrote about baptism in my weekly column in The Record and the new baptismal font and holy oil case was finally installed in Our Lady of the Woods Chapel at Bellarmine University. The furniture was something that we talked about for years as chaplain there.  It was something, before his death,  that Dr. Jay McGowan wanted to see done very badly. 

The furniture was designed by Tim Schoenbachler, assisted by 
myself and fellow campus minister, Melanie Prejean Sullivan.
We wanted it to match the existing chapel furnishings. I believe Tim accomplished that goal quite nicely in his designs.  It was built by Bittners of Louisville. 






Even though I have had my last regular Mass there, I am still officially the chaplain till July 31.  

THE RECORD
"An Encouraging Word"
Rev. Ronald Knott
June 23, 2016

                                                       TAKING RESPONSIBILITY
Let your “yes” mean “yes.”
James 5:12

I do not celebrate as many infant baptisms as I used to, but when I do I am still moved by the experience. It is not wasted on me that the symbols of our baptisms and the symbols of our funerals are like the bookends of our lives- water, white garments and candles.
As infants, we are carried into church to have water poured over us, to be dressed in a white clothes and to be given a light from the Paschal candle.  At our funerals, we are rolled in to have our caskets sprinkled with water, to have a white pall placed over them and to be parked at the foot of the Paschal candle. In between those two great events, we anoint ourselves with holy water each time we enter the church as a reminder of who we are and where we are destined.
People have their babies baptized for many reasons - some good and some not so good. Some approach baptism as if they are having some kind of “magic” ritual performed to protect the baby from spiritual disaster should anything tragic happen.  Others do it simply because it has always been a family tradition that pleases mom. Most, hopefully, do it because they want to share their Catholic faith with their children and have their children grow up practicing that faith.
The words and symbols of the baptismal ritual are still powerfully moving, no matter how many times I have  celebrated that sacrament. I would like to mention a few in particular.
The first question parents are asked is this: “What name have you given your child?” I find it distressing to hear parents respond with the names of movie stars, the names of planets and the names of seasons, rather the names of the great heroes of the faith – the holy men and women that we call “saints.”   
The second question asked is this: “What do you want from the church?” Once they have answered “baptism,” they are asked a third question – the most serious question of all, the one that many young parents will lie to your face about! “Will you accept responsibility for training this child in the practice of the faith?”
Implied in that question are a series of other questions. “Will you teach them about the faith and be role models for them through your own example?  Will you celebrate the Eucharist weekly and take these children with you?  When the time comes, will you prepare them for their first communion and first reconciliation by consciously and faithfully receiving those sacraments yourselves?
There is an old Latin maxim worth remembering here. “Nemo dat quod non habet.” “If you don’t have it, you can’t give it.” Infant baptism makes the most sense when parents are able to answer truthfully and confidently “yes” to the question, “Will you accept responsibility for bringing this child up in the practice of the faith?”
              

Thursday, June 23, 2016

HAVING THE LAST WORD

A Reflection On Visiting Cemeteries
A Recent Visit 

I like to visit cemeteries. I don't believe it is some kind of weird fascination with death as much as a fascination with life. I believe cemeteries can teach us a lot about the people we never got a chance to meet. Their tombstones give us a glimpse, not only into their sometimes humorous pesonalities, but also sometimes into some of the burdens they had to bear in life.  

The burden of weird first names.




















This woman has an interesting middle name. She must have been very "spirited." 





This person obviously hated to go off and leave his favorite dog.



This person was obviously proud of his balanced life. 





This man was obviously proud of his work record. 




This person had a good heart for others.







Behold! My own burial plot - between the Immaculate Conception and Father Felix Johnson.
I am not sure what to put on my tombstone yet. Since I will be buried next to Father Felix Johnson, my childhood pastor, I am thinking about putting his last words to me when I left for the seminary in 1958.
"You won't last till Christmas!

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

HOME ALONE.....


....AND LOVING IT!

After a busy spring of travel and interacting with crowds of people, I am "home alone" for a few weeks. I am looking forward to some quality time on the deck. 


A SHORT HISTORY OF DECK DAYS...ALONG WITH A SHORT HISTORY OF BEARDS

Here are some old "home alone" photos, complete with full beard, partial beard and now no beard at all! I grew a full beard in 1971. I cut it down to a partial beard in 1995 in honor of my twenty fifth anniversary. I cut it all off in 2014 in honor of my retirement. If it had not turned white, I would have kept it. However, when someone said I looked like Colonel Sanders, I went into the bathroom and "did it in."


FULL BEARD DAYS


I once had a dog, BEAR, for six days, but had to give him back because I was not used to having something in the house following me around and staring at me all the time.  It was not fair to him either to leave him all day by himself. This is a true story. One day he pulled a book off the shelf and chewed it up. It was a book called Loneliness. I kid you not! Like the famous "Lassie" on TV, he was trying to tell me something. "Get me out of here!"


One of my favorite things to do at home it sitting outside on the deck, 
thinking and praying and dreaming up new projects.....


PARTIAL BEARD DAYS


...and the other is having a cigar with a seminarian friend (now Father Aaron Jenkins) before I decided it was better for me to give them up. 


NO CIGAR! 
Now I just sit, cigarless, on the deck thinking and praying and dreaming up new projects. I still crave cigars once in a while even after giving them up years ago. They were soooooo relaxing! I do enjoy a Tanqueray gin and tonic once in a while when someone comes over. I haven't given those up yet!

NO BEARD DAYS



The only bad thing about living alone is that you tend to eat way to much - especially at night.


A piece of heaven - the present deck at my condominium - where being home alone is wonderful.



Even feeding the geese can be relaxing.

                                                                           
FUTURE BEARD DAYS?

Maybe I will grow my beard back for my fiftieth anniversary!
Here's what I will probably look like!
Again, maybe I won't!






Sunday, June 19, 2016

CATHOLIC TELEVISION FOR THE WHOLE CARIBBEAN


I am happy to announce that ...

... the Barbados Chapter of the CATHOLIC SECOND WIND GUILD has completed its first project! 

For the last several months, I have been leading priest retreats in the United States and Canada. The money that I make from doing these retreats I am funneling to my retirement ministry, R J MISSION PROJECTS and CATHOLIC SECOND WIND GUILD, to help support the church in the Caribbean Dioceses of  Kingstown in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Bridgetown in Barbados. 

R J MISSION PROJECTS and CATHOLIC SECOND WIND GUILD  have completed several projects in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, but from my most recent priest retreat funds I have been able to send US$10,000 to my friend Bishop Gordon for his television project. The project is outlined in his letter to me in May of this year. 

I am so happy to be able to support this project which will help him reach the practicing and lapsed Catholics of his diocese as well as many people throughout the whole Caribbean. 








 LETTER FROM BISHOP JASON GORDON, BISHOP OF BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS

 27 May, 2016

RE: TELEVISION PROJECT

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgetown requests $10,000US to purchase equipment to produce television programs for the people of Barbados and the Caribbean.

In March 2016, Flow Cable Network signed a contract with Trinity Television Network to carry Trinity TV in the twenty eight countries where Flow currently operates. Trinity Television is owned and operated by Living Water Community a Lay Catholic Community that begun in Trinidad in 1975. It runs a 24/7 Television Catholic channel.

This new opportunity means that the Church of Bridgetown can do productions in Bridgetown and have them live on Trinity TV for the whole Caribbean. It also means that all our video production will be produced to be aired on Trinity. This is the beginning of a truly Caribbean Catholic channel.

To participate in this great opportunity the Diocese of Bridgetown requires $10,000US to purchase cameras, a switcher and sound equipment to be able to begin production. The second phase of this project will involve building a studio where productions could be done on a regular basis. These productions will reach the people of the Caribbean. But in a special way it will reach Catholics, churchgoing and lapsed in Barbados to invite them to participate more deeply in the life of the Church.

This is part of our outreach for the new Evangelisation.

With gratitude, for your kind consideration



Most Rev. Charles Jason Gordon

Bishop of Bridgetown