THE TRUTH ABOUT ANGER

“Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight.”

Sirach 27:30

Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.

Mark Twain

 

NOW THAT THE DATE HAS BEEN SET, LET'S "GIT 'ER DONE" ON TIME!

Save the Date

DEDICATION DAY

Saint Theresa Family Life Center

9245 Rhodelia Road

Payneville, KY 40157

Feast of Saint Theresa of Avila 

Saturday, October 15, 2022

4:30 pm  

Mass, Blessing, Tours and Dinner

 

97 Sisters of Charity served St. Theresa Church over 123 Years 1870- 1997

Old St. Theresa Academy 1870-1950 As It Looked As a Boarding School With a Third Floor @1900

Old St. Theresa Academy 1870-1950, With Third Floor Removed, As It Looked When Torn Down in 1950

"New" St. Theresa School/Cross Roads School As It Looked from Opening to Closing 1950-1993

 

Renewing Our Tradition Of Service and Education

Original Design Drawing of the Proposed  New St. Theresa Family Life Center 

New Partially Done St. Theresa Family Life Center As Seen Last August. 

 Archbishop Shelton Fabre Will Celebrate Mass, Preach and Dedicate Our New Saint Theresa Family Life Center

 AS THEY SAY DOWN IN MEADE COUNTY

WE ARE ALMOST THERE 

HELP US OVER THE FINISH LINE

Giving Opportunities Are Still Available 

Saint Theresa Family Life Center 

serving the whole community - serving the whole family 

The following project areas might be “adopted” by individuals, one family or several related families pooling their gifts together. These figures do not reflect actual costs. They are simply reflections of parts of the overall costs covering expenses for electrical, plumbing, lighting, finishes (flooring and painting) and furnishings.

Kitchen and Cafe/Lecture Hall - $20,000.00 -ADOPTED 

Hallway Photo Gallery - $10,000.00 - ADOPTED 

New flagpole - $1,000 - ADOPTED

7th and 8th Grade Classroom (Museum Space) - $10,000 - ADOPTED 

1st and 2nd Grade Classroom (Meeting Room) - $10,000 

3rd and 4th Grade Classroom (Meeting Room) - $10,000 

5th and 6th Grade Classroom (Staff Offices 1, 2, 3 ) - $5,000 each

 

Men’s Restroom - $10,000 

Women’s Restroom - $10,000 

Remodel of Storage and Supply Annex - $1,000 

Pastor’s Office and Furnishings - $10,000 

Parish Secretary’s Office and Furnishings - $8,000 

Entry Reception-Waiting Area - $1,000 

Large Flat Screen TV for the Café/Lecture Hall - $2,000 

Audio-Visual Equipment for 3 Classroom - $1,500 each 

Assortment of small kitchen appliances - $1,500 

Assortment of commercial pots and pans - $1,500 

Assortment of commercial dishes, glassware and flatware - $1,500 

New Family Life Center Sign - $1,000 

5 Porch Planter Boxes - $300 each 

6 Sidewalk Path Lights - $200 each 

10 Porch rockers - $200 each

OPERATIONAL ENDOWMENT AFTER COMPLETION 

Gifts can be as small or large as one is capable.

Make Checks Payable

St. Theresa Church

Send To

Rev. Ronald Knott

1271 Parkway Gardens Court

#106

Louisville, KY 40217

1-505-303-4571

jrknott@bellsouth.net

THE SAD AND HAPPY PASSING OF A VERY GOOD MAN

Father Bill Fichteman

May 17, 2022

Father Bill Fichteman followed me as pastor of the Cathedral of the Assumption in 1997. I have always thought, and said out loud, that his following me was a great choice.  Our talents and gifts were different which made that choice work so well. The way I saw it, I was good at hacking through the jungle and setting up the new town, but he made the perfect mayor of that new town. I was a pioneer, but he was a pastor. He took up where I left off.  

Before I left, I gave a series of homilies trying to set the stage for my departure and his welcoming and how he would  be the perfect priest to build on what we had built during the "great revitalization" of 1983-1997. He made it easy for me to leave and I tried to make it easy for him to begin. In doing that, we always respected each other's talents and gifts. We got along well. I will miss him. 

 

FIFTY-TWO YEARS AND COUNTING

 Archbishop Thomas J. McDonough ordained me a priest on this day in 1970. This is the only photo I have of being ordained. In this photo, I believe I was making my Promise of Obedience before the Archbishop laid his hands on my head in ordination and before he anointed my hands with Sacred Chrism. 

Eight of us were ordained together for the Archdiocese of Louisville.  Three have died. One left the priesthood. Four of us are still hanging in there in various conditions. 

AN APPROPRIATE STORY FOR TODAY

Pope St. Pius X (1835-1914) was a very humble man who had a saintly mother, Margarita Sanson. Because they were so poor, she worked as a washer woman and a school janitor to earn enough money so that he could go to the seminary. (In those days, the family had to pay for the seminarian’s education.) When he was installed as Pope, his mother was present, and as was the custom, she kissed his large papal ring. She then presented her tiny hand with her wedding ring and said, “Now you kiss my ring—for without it, you never would have received yours!”

AMEN! HOW TRUE!

The next day, May 17, I celebrated my First Mass at Saint Theresa Church in Rhodelia, Kentucky. 

As a Presbyterate, we renewed our Promises of Obedience to Archbishop Kelly in June, 2012 at one of our Priest Assemblies in the Chapel at Saint Meinrad Seminary. 

Here is a photo of me renewing my Promise of Obedience to Archbishop Thomas C. Kelly forty-two years after I first made it to "Archbishop McDonough and his successors" on this day in 1970. 

My "Promise of Obedience" is not simply a solemn promise to "follow orders." It is a solemn promise to "not be overly attached to my own preferences and points of view for the sake of a unified ministry in the diocese."  In other words, it's a promise to be "flexible" when I am asked to take on an assignment in the diocese that I might not be excited about personally.  

IF YOU DARE TO CLAIM THE NAME, THEN DARE TO WALK THE TALK

 

Saint Frances of Rome Church, May 14, 5:30 pm

Saint Leonard Church, May 15, 10:00 am   

This is how all will know that you are my disciples: your love for one another.

John 13

Some recent studies tell us that around 70% of us Americans claim to be "Christian," but that only a small minority let their understanding of "Christianity" affect their everyday lives. According to recent reports, despite 70% of us claiming to be “Christian,” in reality only a tiny minority of us American adults (6%) demonstrate a consistent understanding and application of biblical principles. So, the question to us is this, “If it was a crime to be a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict us?” 

Unfortunately, many of those who are most vocal about claiming the title "Christian" are making "Christianity" synonymous with bigotry, meanness and repression. I, for one, am not about to let them get away with it! I am not as angry at such religious fanatics, with their narrow political agendas and religious arrogance, who would have us believe that they are the only true Christians, as I am angry at the rest of us who are letting them get away with it! I consider myself a person trying his best to be a "Christian,” but I do not share their narrow political agendas nor their religious arrogance. I'll be damned if I am going to let them dismiss me and claim that only people who think “like them" are "truly Christian!” Hogwash! Rubbish! Nonsense!

How will people know that we are disciples of Jesus? The gospel answer is that it is our love for one another which should make us stand out in the community as "Jesus-like!" Yet, the facts reveal that some self-professed "Christians" can be just as nasty, just as hateful and just as selfish as anybody else! As the famous Gandhi once said, “I like your Christ, but I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” 

Just look at the public behavior of some of the men and women who self-righteously proclaim they are "Christian," but engage in rhetoric that is intolerably non-Christian and language that would be profoundly offensive in any authentic Christian community. Venomous hate is now preached daily under the banner of reclaiming our "Christian culture!" The same people who scream "family values" are teaching a whole generation that it is OK, and even cute, to encourage vicious personal assaults on our duly elected officials. I do not understand that at all! I have voted for both political parties. I have prayed for and encouraged both those for whom I voted and those for whom I did not vote. I thought it was a "family value" to respect legitimate authority and then vote them out if need be. Can you imagine a country whose citizens refused to respect any elected officials except those they voted for? Well, we are already there! Can you imagine our church if individual members only respected Popes they "liked?" Well, we are already there! Nastiness and meanness are epidemic, even in so-called "Christian" communities and sometimes especially in some so-called "Christian" communities!

“This is how they will know you for my disciples: your love for one another.”

What does it mean "to love?" It means living out the ways, the works and the words of compassion. By doing that, we will leave God's signature on the church and the world. It's really millions of little things, done out of love by millions of Christians, that will transform this world, not the hateful words and mean-spirited actions of "wolves in sheep's clothing!" Christians are called to resist such behavior, even when those actions are coming out of the mouths of the enemies of Christianity. Did Jesus not tell us explicitly to "love our enemies" and "do good to those who hate you?" 

Let me give you three simple examples of what I think it means to love. The first example came in the mail when I was pastor of our Cathedral. It was a "thank you note" from a someone whom we had been helped from our community service fund to which parishioners generously contributed. It was addressed to all of us. "Dear Members of Assumption. Even though I don't attend your church, you didn't try to force me into your beliefs on the grounds that I needed your help. I know now that there is still unconditional love left in our world." This note was signed by a woman and her children. I kept the note.

The second example came from my mother. When we were growing up in the country with seven kids in the family, food was never wasted. When we had fried chicken, my mother even fried the chicken back and ate it herself. I grew up believing my mother loved chicken backs. I was much older before it dawned on me -- she wanted us to have the best parts. She was willing to take what was left over, out of love for us.

The third example occurred one Friday when I had the opportunity to go to the Islamic Center on River Road. The Muslim community invited some of us from the Cathedral Heritage Foundation for lunch and to attend a Muslim prayer service. We were reverenced and respected and welcomed. We had reached out to include them in our inter-faith Thanksgiving and rededication celebrations. They reached out to us in return with a loving gesture.

“This is how they will know you for my disciples: your love for one another.”

My friends, this is the heart of our religion. this is what it means to be a true Christian. This must be present in every Christian's life or else all of his or her religious practice is one big silly joke! This is not an optional activity. This is essential for discipleship. Often, religious people confuse loving someone else with approving or agreeing with everything they do. How ridiculous! How dangerous! Why can't we help another person for their good, and not for what we get out of it, as the Cathedral did for that struggling single mother? Why can't we freely and quietly “give each other the best pieces of chicken” sometimes, as my mother did, instead of always competing for the best? Why can't we be good, strong and faithful Catholics and at the same time have a curiosity about, and a reverent respect for, people who have a different religion and who sincerely try to live it? This is what it means to love one another. This is our trademark as Christians, as disciples of Jesus. This is the heart of the matter.

Religious militants are very frustrated today with the complexity and contradictions in our world and they feel they must change it by whatever means necessary, even by force, until it conforms to their vision of God's plan. Religious militants need an enemy, someone to hate. Once they identify that enemy, it isn't much of a jump to see themselves as superior people fighting the inferior elements in society. They pick and choose particular religious teachings, usually wrapped in some obscure Scripture passage that serves their needs and justifies their goals. This insanity is being passed off as religion these days in many of the world's religions, including our own!

“This is how they will know you for my disciples: your love for one another.”

It is time for us to go back to basic Christianity. Lived Christianity is what will attract people to our faith, not forced religious conformity. Lived Christianity is about all those small loving gestures in thought, word and deed carried out by millions of disciples. Lived Christianity, not another Christian "crusade," will transform the world. Don't let the religious crazies of this world seduce you with their hateful brand of religion. Christianity is, and always has been, about "love." Those of us who know this must respectfully and firmly disagree with those who spew their venomous hate without restraint, without hesitation, without compassion, and who call it Christianity! We must live love and let love's power infect the world. There are no short-cuts. If it isn't love-based, it isn't Christian! It's that simple and it's that hard!