THE JOYS OF AGING #3

 

"BABY PICTURES" - ALL FORTY OF THEM

 

I have a hobby - writing! As an "introvert" who loves living alone, I get to spend lots of time writing. I not only write a lot, but computers make it easy to "save" everything I write. Here are a few examples of some of the writing I have saved. I wrote a weekly column for our Archdiocesan newspaper, The Record, for fifteen years. I preached over 65 Parish Missions in several US states. I wrote and delivered a week's worth of talks for  over 150 Priest Convocations in ten different countries. I created and ran the Institute for Priests and Presbyterates, a seminary-based ongoing formation program for priests, for fourteen years. I preach in parishes every weekend and in a nursing home once or twice a week. I preside at several funerals a year. I blog every other day on my Encouraging Word blog. Together, all that writing and saving on the computer, has made it possible to turn some of that material into books - mostly in English, with some translated into Spanish, Vietnamese and even Swahili. 

In the photo above, I have been able to frame most of the book covers and hang them in the downstairs level hallway of my condo. Yesterday, I just finished hanging the fortieth book cover in the gallery which prompted me to write this blog post. I call them my "baby pictures" like a proud parent would of his or her children. 

Reaching forty "baby pictures" reminded of a situation that happened to me in 1970 when I was first ordained. I was assigned to Somerset, Kentucky, an area with very few Catholics. I was at Lake Cumberland with several young adults one Sunday afternoon. They were calling me "Father" loud enough for people around to hear. Not used to seeing Catholic priests and hearing the title "Father" from a swarm of young adults, one woman finally asked me in all seriousness, "Sir! How many kids do you have anyway?"  

I think I can say in all humility that most people have responded positively to my writing. Thankfully, most of those who don't appreciate my writing kindly keep it to themselves. However, I do know of two vocal critics - both priests. One said in public, not out of my earshot, "Oh, that Knott! He has never had a thought he hasn't published!" Another one ridiculed me and one of my columns in The Record a few years back in a mean put-down Letter to the Editor. I heard both of them, loud and clear, but my greatest consolation is realizing that I get enough  affirmation and support to keep me going.  

The responses have been mostly generous and affirming and some of those books may still be effective. A few books that I wrote several years ago, published as paperbacks and e-books, are still selling on Amazon Books every once in a while. Since I give a lot of books away and donate many of them to charitable organizations, I am not getting rich from writing and speaking, but some of those books are still contributing  a few dollars to my retirement "nest egg."  Even more importantly, some people are still "getting something out of them" and I have a hobby that will serve me well as I age and become less mobile. Writing is something I can hopefully do at home for years to come! 

I know for sure that I am not a "great" writer, but I have learned another thing for sure - to write something and put it "out there" for others to read and judge, is a brave thing to do. It definitely opens oneself up to criticism. (If you don't believe me, try writing something, putting it out there in the public and signing your name to it!) Even though I may not be a "great" writer, I do know that I have reached quite a few very good people who have shown their appreciation. As a result, I have always treasured these words of President Theodore Roosevelt who said:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF MY BOOKS, GO TO: 

ronknottbooks.com 

GOOD NEWS! NEWEST BOOK IS PUBLISHED AND AVAILABLE!

 

With the help of Mr. Tim Schoenbachler and Ms. Christy Brown's staff, I have just published a new book about the completed Saint Theresa Family Life Center down in my home parish of St. Theresa of Avila in Rhodelia Kentucky. It is entitled The Little Community That Could in a nod to the old children's book The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper. The essence of both books can be explained in the words of Henry Ford who said, "Those who think they can and those who think they can't are both right." 

Dedicated to Ms. Christy Brown, a major Louisville environmentalist in the spirit of Pope Francis, this colorful book tells the story, in detailed descriptions and photographs, of the transformation of the old closed-for- thirty- years St. Theresa/Cross Roads School into the new Saint Theresa Family Life Center to serve all ages in the communities around St. Theresa Church in Rhodelia and St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi in Payneville.  

Christina Lee Brown

At the heart of this extensive renovation is a new geothermal/solar panel HVAC system and various other new ecological technologies that cut its energy operational costs by 50% while doing our part in helping to save the planet. Color pictures of its equipment, its installation and the way it operates are scattered throughout the book. 

The body of this book tells the story of how the new Saint Theresa Family Life Center could be a place where Ms. Brown's eight-fold Circle of Health effort might be implemented: environmental, intellectual, psychological, spiritual, physical, economic, cultural and nutritional health.  

Table of Contents

Introduction ........................................................................................................9

A Brief history of St. Theresa Church ..............................................................13

A Problem and a Solution ................................................................................19

Building a Culture of Health - Educational Programming ................................23

   Part one: Preserving our Cultural health ........................................................25

   Part Two: Preserving our Spiritual health ......................................................35

   Part Three: Preserving our Intellectual health ................................................39

   Part Four: Preserving our Psychological health .............................................41

   Part Five: Preserving our Environmental health .............................................43

   Part Six: Preserving our Economical health ...................................................51

   Part Seven: Preserving our Nutritional health ................................................53

   Part eight: Preserving our Physical health .....................................................55

Family Life Center - From Beginning to end (Photo Gallery) .........................57

Conclusion ........................................................................................................69

After reading and re-reading this book when it was done, it occurred to me that it could also be a book about parish revitalization in small rural communities in general.  It has many direct and indirect messages about the much needed use of imagination in ministry especially in small rural communities.  

This book is not meant to get others to do what we did. It is meant to inspire and motivate them to consider the ministry opportunities and possibilities right in front of them, in their own situation, so that they might help it reinvent itself through making new imaginative connections and creative partnerships. 

Let it be known that any such parish revitalization will require even more than imagination. It will require (a) the faith of our pioneer ancestors who passed the faith on to us and (b) the focus and the purpose of a person who understands the power of belief in getting things done as demonstrated by the determination of  The Little Engine That Could. In a revitalization process like this, the building is not the only thing that is transformed. The participants in such processes are often themselves transformed internally as they make external changes to a building. 

In conclusion, as I have said many times before, "The biggest shortage in the Catholic Church is not money, but imagination."  You really can move mountains with enough faith, imagination, hard work and a bit of outside help! If you have those things going for you, money will find you! 

AVAILABLE NOW AT AMAZON BOOKS

All of Fr. Knott's books are available from Amazon Books through his online bookstore.

ronknottbooks.com 

 

 

OUR OBLIGATIONS TO GOD AND COUNTRY

 

Knowing their malice, Jesus answered the Pharisees, "Give to Caesar what

belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God."

Matthew 22:15-21

We have been reading about the ongoing battle between Jesus and the religious leaders of his day. Since Jesus was very popular among the ordinary people on the streets, these religious leaders could not attack him directly so they resorted to trying to trap him in his speech so that they could have something to accuse him of should there be a heresy or sedition trial. It's sort of like the old "loaded question" joke where a person asks, "Do you still beat your husband?" If you say "yes," you are doomed for agreeing that you do beat your husband! If you say "no," you are doomed because you have just admitted that you used to beat him previously!  You are trapped in your own speech no matter how you answer! 

This week, they thought that they had Jesus cornered. First, they schmoozed him with false flattery to get him to open up. “Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.” They then asked him whether it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not. They thought they had boxed in with a clever “damned if you do and damned if you don’t” dilemma. If he said “yes it is lawful” he would offend and lose his followers who hated Caesar and his taxes, but if he said “no it is not lawful” then the Roman government would come after him for sedition.   Jesus outsmarted their trickery by answering, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s!”  

I may have worked for the Church all my adult life where I was expected to give God and his people my best, but what many Catholics do not know is the fact that I am not tax exempt as far as the government is concerned! I have had to give to Caesar like many of you - in fact at a higher rate than some of you! You may not know it, but tax-wise diocesan priests are considered "self-employed." That means that the Church does not pay half of my 12.4% social security taxes. I pay the whole 12.4% as well as the 2.9% standard Medicare taxes, income taxes and I am expected to donate to the church, the annual Catholic Services Appeal and other charities. When I was working at St. Meinrad, Bellarmine and the Archdiocese, I was paying Spencer County and Indiana state taxes, Kentucky state taxes, Jefferson County taxes, Louisville City taxes, United States income taxes. In other words, the Church may be tax-exempt, but we diocesan priests are certainly not! I would say with confidence that I have followed the direction of Jesus in today's gospel as far as "giving to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's" and I have felt happy and privileged to do it! 

One of the things that Jesus seems to approve of in his "give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's" statement is the separation of church and state, something I whole heartedly accept. The ideal for government, as far as I can see is the delicate balance of "freedom of religion" and the "freedom from religion." I want to be free to practice my religion, but I also want to be free from being forced to practice somebody else's religion.  I know enough of history to know, that when one religion dominates the government then people get hurt and all sorts of abuse develops whether it is a country where the only religion allowed is Moslem or where the only religion allowed was Catholic. As Christians, we are still suffering from the results of the Crusades, the Inquisition and the days when the Pope and the bishops ran governments. Even in our own country. we Catholics especially should never forget that there were days when being a Catholic was illegal in most of the colonies and our colonial ancestors could have been killed for practicing our Catholic faith because our Protestant brothers and sisters still remembered how they were treated in the history of Europe when we were in charge!  

(1) The Catholic Church, at the Second Vatican Council, taught us in very clear terms in its Document on Religious Freedom that all people are to be immune from being forced to act in a manner contrary to their own beliefs nor be restrained from acting in accordance with their own beliefs, whether privately or publicly, as far as possible. (2) We were taught in the Document on Ecumenism that even though we believe that the Catholic Church has been endowed with all divinely revealed truth, we must joyfully acknowledge and esteem the truly Christian endowments from our common heritage which are to be found among our separated brothers and sisters. In fact, we were taught that whatever is wrought in them by the Holy Spirit can contribute to our own edification. In other words, we can learn a few things from our Protestant friends and we need to accept the fact that we contributed to the division we experience. (3) We were taught in the Document on Non-Christian Religions that our church rejects nothing which is true and holy in non-Christian religions and looks with respect on those ways of conduct and of life, those rules and teaching which, though differing in many ways from what we hold and teach, nevertheless often reflect a ray of truth. It speaks of our "special bond" with the Jewish people and says that the church looks at Moslems with esteem and challenges both sides to strive for mutual understanding. In summary, it teaches us that the church rejects, as foreign to the mind of Christ, any discrimination  or harassment of other religions because of their race, color, condition of life and religion. 

What we have been taught is clear! Let us commit ourselves to living it - to practicing what we have been taught! If we did, the world would be a whole lot more peaceful than it is now!