WITH FAITH, ONE CAN MOVE MOUNTAINS

Every year I start a new journal, with a new theme, to record the events of my ministry. This year, I pasted the image above on the cover of my new 2025 journal.  I had just committed to a new project to build and furnish a new church in Kenya. Since I had organized several projects before, I was starting to believe that I had exhausted my own available resources, as well as those I thought I could raise from my friends and acquaintances. I thought it might help me stay focused on the possibilities that only faith can produce.

Here it is May, half-way through the new year, and this newest project is almost completely funded - a new stone, fully furnished, St. Veronica Church in rural Kenya in west Africa thanks to a few generous benefactors and some of my retirement funds! I am so very close to the finish line now! I am only $8,450 away from finally finishing this entire project - inside and out. I believe that even this last amount will show up somehow because Jesus was right, "With faith, even mountains can be moved!"  Just like the poor parishioners of St. Veronica Parish in Kenya, I consider this project a "miracle" as well!  This "miracle" will serve to remind me throughout 2025 "Not to be moved by how impossible things look!" 

CLAIM THE NAME, YES, BUT MAKE SURE YOU CAN .........

This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

John 13

The topic of “love” comes up so often in the gospels, that I find myself repeating myself sometimes.  However, some of this is so “basic” that it is worth repeating.  

Some recent studies tell us that around 70% of Americans claim to be "Christian," but that only a small minority let their understanding of "Christianity" affect their everyday life. According to recent reports, despite 70% claiming the Christian faith, in reality only a tiny minority of American adults (6%) demonstrate a consistent understanding and application of biblical principles. In other words, only 6% seriously put basic Christian principles into practice . 

In response to these statistics, some of those who are most vocal about claiming the title "Christian" are making "Christianity" synonymous with bigotry, meanness, hate and repression. I reject this current brand of Christianity called “Christian Nationalism.” I, for one, am not about to join their crusade! I am not as angry at such religious narrowness, which 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 agendas nor their religious arrogance. After twelve years in the seminary and fifty-five years of preaching the gospel, I refuse to let them dismiss me and claim that only people who think “like them" are "truly Christian!” I not only object, I simply refuse to let them get away with it!!

How will people know that we are disciples of Jesus? The gospel answer is that it is our love for one another that will 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 everybody 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 men and women who self-righteously proclaim they are "Christian" but engage in rhetoric that is intolerably un-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 funny, to encourage vicious personal assaults on people who think differently from them. They spewed personal assaults on Pope Francis and now they have even started their personal assaults on our new Pope Leo. I do not understand them at all! I have voted for both political parties and I have prayed for both conservative and liberal Popes. Can you imagine the future of our church if individual members only respected Popes they "liked?" Well, we are already there! Nastiness and meanness are epidemic in our culture, even in 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, works and 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 mean-spirited actions and hateful words of "wolves in sheep's clothing!" Christians are called to respectfully resist such mean-spirited behaviors and hateful words, even when those deeds and words come from the enemies of Christianity. Did Jesus not tell us explicitly to "love your enemies" and "do good to those who hate you?" 

Let me give you three simple examples of what I think it means “to love.” I have used all three of them before, in this very pulpit, but I think they are worth repeating. 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.

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 of their own.

“This is how they will know you for my disciples: your love for one another” My friends, this is the very 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 for naught! 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 we 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? I have always considered myself as “Consciously Christian, deliberately Catholic and unapologetically ecumenical and interfaith” Why can't we be good, strong and faithful Catholic Christians and at the same time have a curiosity about, and have a reverent respect for people who practice a different religion? 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 these days with the complexity and contradictions in our world and they feel they must change it by whatever means necessary, even by brutal force, until it conforms to their vision of God's plan. Religious militants need an enemy, someone to hate. They often do it by picking and choosing their preferred religious teachings, usually based on some obscure and misinterpreted Scripture passages that serve their needs and justify their goals, and ignoring those which challenge them! This kind of insanity is being passed off as religion these days in many of the world's religions, including our own!

During these confusing times, let us go back not to some imagined “good old days,” but to the basics of Christianity. Lived Christianity is what will attract people to our faith, not forced conformity. Lived Christianity is about small loving gestures in thought, word and deed by millions of disciples. Lived Christianity, not another Christian "crusade," will transform the world. Don't let misguided religious zealots seduce you with some hate-filled brand of religion. Christianity is, and always has been, about "unconditional love." Those of us who know this must respectfully and firmly disagree with those who spew venomous hate and call it “saving” Christianity!

 

 

"YOU JUST CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP" 2025 #20

                               

                 Below I am standing (with a beard in the early 1970s) close to the same area where the bell  

                                                        tower at Taize as it is today (above).  

                              

MY EUROPEAN TRAVEL ON A FEW DOLLARS

Part Two 

Between 1971 and 1976, I made 5 back-packing trips to Europe with students from Somerset Community College in Somerset, Kentucky, where my first assignment was as a newly ordained priest. Ignorant of how risky and challenging it might be to be responsible for young adults who had never been out of Kentucky, I managed to accompany small groups of from 5 - 10 at a time. After landing in Paris, we always made our way south to Taize, France, where 1,500 youth a week from all over the world would gather for a week-long retreat while camping in the open fields around the tiny town of Taize. Taize was the location of the ecumenical monastery of Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox monks half-way between Paris and Lyon, about two miles from the ancient ruins of the famous Catholic monastery of Cluny. In this second of two blogposts, I will report a few of the odd experiences we "enjoyed" during those trips. 

When our week-long retreat was over we would drive through Switzerland, northern Italy, Austria, Germany, Luxemburg, Holland, Belgium and back to France  for our trip home. On one trip we crossed the border into Spain for an hour so so just so we could say we were in Spain.  

There were two times in Switzerland when 2 of us were forced to sleep in a tent and 4 of us were forced  to sleep in a car because of the rain. Otherwise, we would have slept outside on the ground. Both times, the rain was drizzling most of the night which caused the inside of the tent and inside the car to create a seal to the point that it woke us up in a panic because we had breathed up all the oxygen. In the tent, up a mountainside, we woke up so panicked that we practically tore the zipper off on the front of the tent trying to get out to breathe! In the car, on a side road, four of us in sleeping bags woke up at the same time, opened all four doors and rolled out on the wet ground in our sleeping bags, trying to breathe. 

There was a time in Switzerland when we pulled off the road in an orchard and found what we thought was a safe place to sleep. About the time we all dozed off, I was awakened by a crunching noise about a foot from my head. Startled, I looked up to see a car tire rolling past my head. We all started screaming which caused the car to stop. It was another car with a young man also looking for a place to sleep in the orchard. We all got up, introduced ourselves and became instant friends. He had one of those cheap French cars out of which he had taken all the seats except the drivers seat. He tried to convince us to go with him to Spain, (probably to share gasoline expenses) but we said "no" because we were going in the opposite direction - to Austria. After a bit of negotiation, and a bit skeptical about getting in a car with no seats with a stranger, we agreed to go with him to the next town for a beer. He drove the car and the three of us sat on the floor of his seatless car, seated so low we could not see out of the windows. We had a beer with him, he brought us back to the orchard, wished him well and sent him on his way to Spain. 

It seemed that every young adult in Europe was hitch-hiking during the summer. You could see them everywhere. We had heard that it was safe to pick up hitch-hikers back then because youth jobs were scarce and so parents gave their young adult kids a couple of hundred dollars and told them to "go see Europe!" One of those summers, when there was only three of us in the car, we always picked up a hitch-hiker to fill the empty seat and get to know some of them in the process.  I remember picking up a young man from Scotland in southern Germany. He was headed to Holland and we were going half-way there so we took him as far as we could. When it came time to get in our sleeping bags, he insisted sleeping in the trunk. I did not like the idea, but he insisted that we help him into his sleeping bag and lifting him into the trunk and shut the door. About an hour after we put him in the trunk and got into our sleeping bags for the night in the the car, I was awakened by a sound that sounded like scratching coming from the trunk. I immediately concluded that our friend from Scotland had been overcome with fumes from the gas tank and was scratching to be let out before he died! I work everybody up, got out of my sleeping bag and opened the trunk, fearing to see a dead Scotsman right there in a sleeping bag! What I actually saw a grinning Scotsman eating a green apple that we had taken to bed with him if he got hungry during the night! Relieved, we slammed the trunk and went back to bed! 

I remember one very embarrassing moment in Austria. We met a hitchhiker not far from the area where we picked him up. He invited us to his house for a bite to eat. When we sat down, his mother put a plate of "speck" in front of us. "Speck" is a fatty salted bacon, air-cured, lightly smoked, but uncooked! I later learned that it was a delicacy in that part of the world. I took a piece of speck and put in between a slice of her delicious rye bread and bit into it. It was like biting into a slab of uncooked bacon. The rawness made a crunch that I knew I would not get down my throat. When the host left the room, I pulled it out and put the "speck" in my pocket to get rid of later. The bread however was delicious! When she came back into the room, I went on about how delicious the bread was, but never mentioned the "speck!" 

My experience in northern Italy was the very opposite. We stopped to visit an Italian student that we had met in Taize. His mother served us coffee and the most delicious little pastries I has ever eaten. I tried to wait till she left the room to "go back for more" so as not to appear piggish. She must have noticed how many we ate because when we got ready to leave, she boxed up the rest of them to take with us. I was thrilled with the news, so thrilled that after we got in the car and had driven out of sight, I stopped the car and finished off the rest of them right then and there! After a few weeks of camping out and eating so minimally, I was absolutely ravenous! 

As you can imagine, traveling in Europe under such conditions can wear on one's nerves. I remember one evening, after driving north for three hours when we should have been driving south for three hours because the student I was in the car with simply could not read a map! We were on the Autobahn in German, which can fray one's nerves in the best of times, and we had quit speaking to each other. We stopped at a roadside restaurant with only a small amount of cash with us and had no chance to cash travelers checks. It was cold and rainy on top of the coldish atmosphere between us. When we received our menus, we knew we would have to get something cheap - like a hot dog! We did not know what kind of "wursts" we were ordering so we went by the prices. We ordered in silence. He ordered one type and I ordered another. When the waitress brought out our plates and sat them down in front of us, he had two "wursts" that were thin as pencils and about eight inch long and I had two "wursts" about an inch thick and about four inches long. We both sat there staring at our plates for a a while, looked at each other, and burst out in outrageous laughter! 

At the end of my fifth and final trip to Taize, I was what was called "over it!" I knew that I never wanted to do that kind of traveling ever again! In the airport in Paris, right before getting on the plane, I took all my clothes out of my backpack and threw all of them in the garage can. I looked around the airport till I found a local young man who had just gotten off a plane. I went up to him and asked, "How you you like a newish backpack and tent? I am going home and I never want to see them ever again!" He was delighted and so was I!!!!!

Three, of the four of us from Somerset, Kentucky, somewhere in Europe in our leased car after Taize. That's me with the beard! 

55 YEARS AND COUNTING: "....AND SOME SAID I WOULDN'T MAKE IT!"

ORDINATION DAY - MAY 16, 1970

Cathedral of the Assumption, Louisville, Kentucky 

DRESSED AND READY TO GO BE ORDAINED

A QUIET MOMENT BEFORE GOING INTO THE CATHEDRAL TO BE ORDAINED

KNEELING BEFORE ARCHBISHOP McDONOUGH HAVING MY HANDS ANOINTED IMMEDIATELY AFTER BEING ORDAINED A PRIEST 

FIRST MASS DAY - MAY 17, 1970 

Rhodelia, Kentucky

SAINT THERESA CHURCH - MY HOME PARISH

SUMMARY OF THE LAST FIFTY-FIVE YEARS

"Once a Missionary, Always a Missionary"

Father J. Ronald Knott was ordained May 16, 1970. After ordination, he earned a Doctor of Ministry degree in “Parish Revitalization” from McCormick (Presbyterian) Seminary in Chicago. He has served the Archdiocese of Louisville as a home missionary, college teacher, campus minister, pastor, cathedral rector, traveling evangelist, homiletics instructor and archdiocesan vocation director. He has presented over 80 parish missions and retreats in five states. He was a weekly columnist for The Record for 15 years. He served as a weekend Campus Minister at Bellarmine University for many years. He has led more than 100 presbyteral convocations in 10 countries and addressed the USCCB. He has authored over 30 books, some of them have been translated into Spanish, Vietnamese and Swahili. Father Knott was the founder of the Saint Meinrad Institute for Priests and Presbyterates while serving as a seminary staff member for 10 years. In retirement, he served in the Caribbean Missions for several years, mainly in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and addressed the bishops of the Antilles Bishops Conference in Trinidad. In his home parish, he founded the Saint Theresa Heritage Partners in 2021 that led to building its new Family Life Center and Guest House. He continues to help in parishes and celebrate Masses at the Little Sisters of the Poor’s Home and the Louisville Ursuline Retirement Community at Twinbrook. He is presently sponsoring a seminarian in Tanzania and is involved in building a new St. Veronica Church in Kenya. He blogs every other day on a blog named An Encouraging Word found at FatherKnott.com.

FINAL RESTING PLACE 

St. Theresa Cemetery, Rhodelia, Kentucky 

READY FOR A FINAL DATE TO BE ADDED

THE MARGINAL, THE LEFT-OUT, THE REJECTED AND THE HURTING

 

Pope Leo XIV

"Simply Amazed - Forever Grateful" is carved at the top of my already-installed tombstone. I composed it a few years ago to sum up my life so far. Those are the words that came to mind as I began to realize the implications of what was happening as I watched the TV as they announced the name of our new Pope. The election of Pope Leo XIV will forever add an important event in my growing list of  life experiences that drove me to come up with those words as a summary of how I felt about my life. Yes, I am simply amazed and forever grateful for Pope Leo's election! 

Why am I amazed and grateful? Even though It makes me proud, it is not because he is American born. It is because his election has seriously validated my own ministry in the last fifty-five years and given me hope and enthusiasm again that I thought was beginning to wane within me. 

What do I mean "his election has seriously validated my ministry?"  I have often described myself as "Consciously Christian, Deliberately Catholic and Unapologetically Ecumenical and Inter-Faith." I even did many Parish Missions by that name.  I think today that is some of what Pope Leo XIV is going to be about as he takes Pope Francis' vision to the next level. Once again, we as a church have been given a dynamic inspirational moral leader and this country has been given a dynamic alternative to the immoral, corrupt and mean-spirited fumes that have been breathing in lately. Pope Leo is "An American like no other American," as the Italians are saying. We now have two highly visible American world leaders, side-by-side, presenting opposing options for us to choose from when it comes to us building our futures. 

What do I mean "his election has seriously validated my ministry?"  Secondly, I have been reaching out to, and writing about, marginal, left-out, excluded, rejected and hurting Catholics and various members of other faiths from the the very beginning of my ministry as a priest. I have listed some of them further on in this post, but  the fact is I was doing that ministry most visibly at the Cathedral of the Assumption starting 30 years before Pope Francis was elected. As Pope Leo said on the balcony in his first speech, "God loves all people - unconditionally." I was saying this to the growing congregation of our Cathedral for years, "God loves everybody - no ands, ifs or buts about it!" Because of that message, we earned the nickname "The Island of Misfit Toys" because people were reminded of the children's film, "Rudolf, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" where broken toys could go to be repaired so that they too could be part of Christmas! 

What do I mean "his election has seriously validated my ministry?"  Here is a short list of some of my involvement in ministry to the marginal, left-out, excluded, rejected and hurting Catholics, as well as various members of other faiths - all those who God loves unconditionally and all those we are called to love unconditionally as well! 

(1) When I was in major seminarian, I chose a Disciple of Christ history professor on the seminary faculty to be my advisor/spiritual director, while choosing a priest-monk as a confessor. 

(2) I was first given an opportunity to learn to preach by the United Church of Christ in 1968 when I became one of the first two Catholic seminarians to join their Christian Ministry in the National Parks program and was assigned to preach in Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. 

(3) After ordination, I accepted an assignment in the "home missions" of our diocese. I started an interfaith campus ministry program at Somerset Community College called IF - for INTER-FAITH. I volunteered to do interfaith services at Lake Cumberland Boys Camp for juvenal delinquents and took students of various religious backgrounds, most of whom had never been out of Kentucky, to France on five backpacking trips to the ecumenical monastery in Taize. I opened a used clothing and household items store for the poor called "Clothes 'n Stuff." I preached in several Protestant churches, a baccalaureate service at an all non-Catholic high school three years in a row and had an interfaith radio program on Sundays called "Morning Has Broken" for a few years. 

(5) After ordination, I earned my doctorate in 1980 from McCormick (Presbyterian) Seminary in Chicago in "Parish Revitalization." My doctoral thesis was entitled "Strangers in Town: How One Roman Catholic Mission Church Dealt With Environments (internal weakness and rejection from the outside)" 

(5) At the Cathedral, I led a congregation that grew from 110 to 2100 members by specializing in reaching out to marginal, left-out, excluded, rejected and hurting Catholics. I was co-founder of the Cathedral Heritage Foundation (later called Center for Interfaith Relations) that still exists today. We built a new kitchen for the homeless, supported St. John Day Center for the the Homeless and sponsored an annual Dessert Festival to help house AIDS patients when AIDS was first discovered. 

(6) For 15 years, I wrote a weekly column in our diocesan newspaper, THE RECORD, called "An Encouraged" directed at discouraged, rejected, left-out and marginalized people, especially hurting Catholics. 

(7) While I was a weekend campus minister at Bellarmine University, I offered an annual "Blue Christmas Mass" for several years for the grieving - those who had lost loved ones, but could not identify with the normal happy Christmas Masses offered in their parishes.

(8) While a seminary staff member at St. Meinrad, I annually hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for "those left behind" - the international seminarians studying at that seminary who could  not go home to their families. I started a program there called "World Priest" that helped immigrant priests adjust to American culture and serve in American parishes. I bought them clothes, helped them with spending money and made sure they could afford class trips. 

(9) After retirement, I volunteered to work in the Caribbean Missions, making 12 trips and raising over $1,250.000.00 in financial aid, especially to the Diocese of Kingstown in the poor country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.  

(10) I raised the awareness of my small hometown parish of its connection to 19th century slavery, honored all 222 of our enslaved members in a museum room in a totally renovated closed school that I turned into a rural eco-friendly family life center and restored the tombstone of Father Augustus Tolton's enslaved grandmother, Matilda. Father Tolton is the United States' first slave-to-priest who is up for canonization. Father Tolton's enslaved mother, Martha Jane, was baptized and confirmed in my home parish. Because of these efforts, 35 bishops came to visit the grave of Father Tolton's grandmother last Fall. 

(11) Recently, I have been involved in the missions of west Africa by agreeing to sponsor a Tanzanian seminarian, helping a family add to their house and raising the funds to build a new stone St. Veronica Church, and furnishing it, in Kenya. 

Yes, I feel deeply that the election of Pope Leo XIV has validated my fifty-five years of ministry at a time when I thought the Cardinals might elect a Pope who would try to take us back to some imagined "good old days." His election has made me feel that maybe I have not been blind, deaf and dumb all these years after all! Along with Pope Leo, we old missionaries like to say, "Once a missionary, always a missionary!"  He will no doubt, like Pope Francis, continue to "Make the Church Outward Looking Again."     

GONE, BUT CERTAINLY NOT FORGOTTEN

 MARY ETHEL MATTINGLY KNOTT

Taken at my First Mass       May 17, 1970

September 10, 1917 - May 12, 1976

My mother died 49 years ago today. She died of breast cancer at a little over 58 years old. I was the second of her seven children, not counting a miscarriage. I was holding her hand when she died. 

We were very close, mostly because we both almost died in her giving me birth. I was born at home, delivered by my paternal grandmother and baptized right there in the bed where I was born by this country midwife grandmother. We cried together when I was born. She cried every time I came home from the seminary. We cried together, walking back to the hotel, when the doctors in Dallas, Texas, told us she had breast cancer. She cried when I was ordained and said my first Mass. We both cried when I anointed her in our living room as she left for the hospital for the final time. I cried when she died, at her funeral Mass and when we left her body in the cemetery. 

I always wanted to do something to memorialize her, but I could never afford it when she was alive. Forty-one years after her death, I got the chance. I was able to build a "prayer garden" at Saint Meinrad's Monte Cassino Shrine where I went to the seminary for six years and where I worked as a staff member for ten years. I included my brother, Mark, because I wanted to honor him as well. If you are ever at St. Meinrad, go up the hill to Monte Cassino and visit her "prayer garden" and say a prayer for her! 

Mom, I Still Love You! May You Rest in Peace!

NO PERFECT CHURCH, NO PERFECT POPE

 

On the sabbath Paul and Barnabas entered the synagogue and took their seats. Many Jews and worshipers who were converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke to them and urged them to remain faithful to the grace of God. On the following sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.

Acts 13:14, 43-52

Hardly an Easter goes by that I don’t remember family “picture taking” from childhood, especially on Easter Sunday morning when we were all decked out in our finest new “Easter clothes.” Back then we got new clothes twice a year – when school started and Easter – so it was a big deal.

In those days, people would never think of going to church without being all dressed up. Most women wore hats and gloves and carried purses.  Most men wore coats and ties. Boys wore ironed shirts, shiny shoes and even ties sometimes. Girls wore dresses and hats and carried purses.

On Easter, however, we went all out. There are innumerable photos in our family album to prove it. I especially remember my brother and I all lined up, with and without our Easter baskets, looking very frozen in uncomfortable shoes, bow ties and slickly combed hair. It seemed that we took turns taking pictures of each other – often Mom and the girls in one picture and Dad and the boys in another. We were always smiling, even if it looked forced sometimes. Our clothes were always pressed with an iron.  Our hair was always combed. We always stood there smiling into a blazing sun and trying to look our very best.

It is what the pictures didn’t show that is worth mentioning today. We have no shots of the screaming, yelling and name-calling that went into getting ready. We have no shots of my Dad in one of his rages. We had no shots of my mother, looking haggard and worn, late at night, ironing all those clothes by hand for six kids, herself and my Dad who never did learn how to take care of his own clothes. We have no shots of any of the pain and struggles that we went through as a family back then. If you just look at our Easter snapshots, you would think we were the Walton’s on “mood altering drugs!” Snapshots never tell the whole story! They are only “snapshots” – moments in time!

Such in the case of one of the passages at the beginning of The Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:32-35) where it says, “The community of believers was of one heart and mind.” It is one snapshot of the church during its infancy. If you read only that passage, by itself, you would have to conclude that the church has gone to hell in a hand basket since then! In reality, it is like the “Easter pictures” of my childhood.  It only tells part of the truth. 

The Cardinals of the Church have just gathered and elected Pope Leo XIV - a surprise gift from God! I am ecstatic!  However, the readings today give me a good opportunity to talk about the fact that, like your family and mine, there is no perfect church or no perfect Pope. I believe he will do extremely well serving the needs of the church and world today, but we all have our good days and we all have our bad days, but with love and forgiveness we will manage, with God's grace, to keep going into the future. 

In the beginning, the church did have some days when its members seemed to be “of one heart and one mind,” some days when “many signs and wonders were done,” and some days when “they enjoyed the favor of all the people.” If we just read this one reading and looked around the church today, we would have to conclude that the church’s original luster and beauty has indeed faded. However, if you continued to read on in the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, you would start reading what Paul Harvey called “the rest of the story” and the “rest of the story” would sound very much like the church today.

Thank God that "the rest of the story" stories are included in the Scriptures. It helps us not to idealize the church in its beginnings and be discouraged by its weaknesses today. 

In previous Eater gospels, we read about the doubt of Thomas who refused to believe until he saw and touched Jesus' wounds personally. We read about a bunch of people walking away from Jesus because they could not believe his teaching on being the "bread of life." We read about some of Jesus' family who showed up while he was preaching to take him home because they thought he was "out of his mind." We read about James and John, the "climbers," who made a move behind the other apostles' back to get the best positions in Jesus' new kingdom. Then there is the betrayal of Judas, the denial of Peter and the total abandonment by all the apostles at the crucifixion except John and some women. 

If we kept on reading the Acts of the Apostles reading today, we would quickly read about Ananias, and his wife Sapphira, who made a pledge to give the proceeds of the sale of some of their property to the church.  Later, with his wife knowledge, they held back part of the pledge and even lied about it.  Caught in the lie, they both dropped dead. If we kept reading, we would read about the future Saint Paul hunting down Christians and having them killed and even holding the coats of those who stoned St. Stephen to death. Today we read about Paul and Barnabas, two of the greatest and most effective missionaries in the early church, converting huge numbers of people and whole cities turning out to hear them preach. If we kept reading, we would read about Paul and Barnabas clashing over giving a fellow missionary a second chance, and having such a falling out that they could not work together and having to go their separate ways. If we kept reading, we would read about Peter acting one way around Jewish believers and another way around Gentile believers, resulting in his being called “two-faced” by Paul. If we kept reading, we would hear about Greek and Jewish widows arguing over their fair share and apostles with “too much to do.”

There are many beautiful snapshots of the early Church in the Acts of the Apostles, but they are balanced by some snapshots of the ugly side of the early church as well.  Just as Jesus was fully human and fully divine at the same time, his body, the church, may be of divine origin, but it is also full of real human beings and human weaknesses!  In spite of this, Jesus has promised to be with the church till the end of time and has promised that even the power of hell shall not prevail against it. Therefore, hang in there and hang on! If the church was supposed to be perfect, we would never have been invited to join - and, with us in it, it would no longer be perfect, would it?

 

"YOU JUST CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP" 2025 #19

                           

Below, I am sitting (second from the left with the beard) in front of the welcome building at Taize (above) in the early 1970s.

The same building (above) as it is today. 

MY EUROPEAN TRAVEL ON A FEW DOLLARS

Part One

Between 1971 and 1976, I made 5 back-packing trips to Europe with students from Somerset Community College in Somerset, Kentucky, where my first assignment was as a newly ordained priest. Ignorant of how risky and challenging it might be to be responsible for young adults who had never been out of Kentucky, I managed to accompany small groups of from 5 - 10 at a time. After landing in Paris, we always made our way south to Taize, France, in a rental car where 1,500 youth a week from all over the world would gather for a week-long retreat while camping in the open fields around the tiny town of Taize. Taize was the location of the ecumenical monastery of Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox monks half-way between Paris and Lyon, about two miles from the ancient ruins of the famous Catholic monastery of Cluny. In this first of two blogposts, I will report a few of the odd experiences we "enjoyed" during those trips. 

When you "registered" at Taize, you were "assigned" to a language group. Of course most American were placed in one of the English speaking groups, along with those from other countries who wanted to practice their English-as-a-second-language speaking abilities. We would typically be assigned to a group with students from Germany, Holland, Belgium, Poland, Austria and a few other countries. 

One of my favorite memories were the bonfires in an open field. A hundred or so of us would create a circle of sleeping bags around the fire, two rows deep, while anyone who wished could start a song in whatever language, usually English, and we would sing as a group the rest of the evening. As the night wore on, we would go to sleep in that circle, in our sleeping bags, in what got to be called "a sandwich bed." It was called that because we had fifty or so army blankets to cover our sleeping bags in an over-lapping pattern. It was summer, so it was not a problem, even if we woke up the next day a little damp from the dew. 

One day some of us Americans and Belgians decided to hike a few miles across the fields and walk back on the nearby railroad tracks. As we came around a bend in the tracks, we could see a truck caught between the crossing gates that had closed in front of and behind the truck and a man screaming as he waved angrily at us. We had no idea why he was so angry at us until one of the Belgians translated for us. He was angry because we had triggered the gates as if we were a train coming by our walking! I had no idea what names he was calling us, but the Belgians simple said, "It's not good! Let's run back the way we came until he is gone!" 

The "accommodations" at Taize were "primitive" to say the least! What could one expect for the $2.00 a day for food, "if you could afford it" and some couldn't! For breakfast, you got a plastic bowl of hot chocolate and a fist full of French bread (which was always good." For lunch you got a plastic bowl with lemonade, maybe a hardboiled egg or two and more French bread. For dinner, you got a plastic bowl with mashed potatoes topped with a greasy sausage and me a soft drink. The showers were icy cold and the toilets were, let's say very much like you would imagine in a concentration camp! You di your business with your nose pinched and got out asap! 

The church services were always in French, but the music was so simple and repetitious that you didn't need a music sheet. There were no seats, even for the monks who sat in the center of the church. Everybody sat on their heels, or with their legs crossed, elbow to elbow. When I was there, the crowds were huge.  The "reflections" by Prior Roger were always translated into multiple languages at the same time though headsets that could be picked up on your way into the church. 

 

 

A BOOK RECOMMENDATION

 

Yes, this is another "self-help book," but this is a book about happy and healthy adult relationships, not a book on how to raise children.

LET THEM

available on Amazon Books

If you've ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, or frustrated with where you are, the problem isn't you. The problem is the power you give to other people. Two simple words—Let Them—will set you free. Free from the opinions, drama, and judgments of others. Free from the exhausting cycle of trying to manage everything and everyone around you. The Let Them Theory puts the power to create a life you love back in your hands—and this book will show you exactly how to do it.

In her latest groundbreaking book, The Let Them Theory, Mel Robbins—New York Times bestselling author and one of the world's most respected experts on motivation, confidence, and mindset—teaches you how to stop wasting energy on what you can't control and start focusing on what truly matters: YOU. Your happiness. Your goals. Your life.

Using the same no-nonsense, science-backed approach that's made The Mel Robbins Podcast a global sensation, Robbins explains why The Let Them Theory is already loved by millions and how you can apply it in eight key areas of your life to make the biggest impact. Within a few pages, you'll realize how much energy and time you've been wasting trying to control the wrong things—at work, in relationships, and in pursuing your goals—and how this is keeping you from the happiness and success you deserve.

Written as an easy-to-understand guide, Robbins shares relatable stories from her own life, highlights key takeaways, relevant research and introduces you to world-renowned experts in psychology, neuroscience, relationships, happiness, and ancient wisdom who champion The Let Them Theory every step of the way.

Learn how to:

Stop wasting energy on things you can't control

Stop comparing yourself to other people

Break free from fear and self-doubt

Release the grip of people's expectations

Build the best friendships of your life

Create the love you deserve

Pursue what truly matters to you with confidence

Build resilience against everyday stressors and distractions

Define your own path to success, joy, and fulfillment

. . . and so much more.

The Let Them Theory will forever change the way you think about relationships, control, and personal power. Whether you want to advance your career, motivate others to change, take creative risks, find deeper connections, build better habits, start a new chapter, or simply create more happiness in your life and relationships, this book gives you the mindset and tools to unlock your full potential.

I GAVE WHAT I COULD, BUT I REALLY NEED SOME HELP TO FINISH

THE NEW SAINT VERONICA CHURCH IS PAID FOR AND NEARING COMPLETION, BUT IT STILL NEEDS INTERIOR FURNISHINGS

$40,000 DOWN AND ONLY $10,000.00 TO GO 

THE OLD ST. VERONICA CHURCH

THE NEW ST. VERONICA CHURCH-TO-BE

will be something like this but a bit bigger

St. Veronica, Pray for Us!

THE CHURCH'S NAME SAKE AND HER STORY

The new St. Veronica Church is named for  Veronica Nthambi Kitili, an illiterate catechist and a model of the Christian faith from her small community. She walked great distances to church, instructed people in the faith in her own home at night and taught people Catholic prayers until she died.  She was the godmother to thousands of newly baptized members of the Catholic Church. 

In 2020, as she grew too old to make the long walk to church, she made an appointment to meet with the circuit-riding priest to request the establishment of a small church in her village even though they had no resident priest at the time. The circuit-riding priest liked her idea and Veronica set about securing the land on which to build it. Sadly, she died in October 2021 before the church could open officially.  

After her death, the priest asked the people what name they should give their new church. Many ideas were suggested. The priest proposed the name "St. Veronica Catholic Church"  and everyone clapped in approval. The priest told them: "We want to honor her great example of faith." 

I have agreed to do what I can to replace the present simple stick building with its sheet metal roof (see photo at top of this post) with something larger, more stable, longer lasting and more appropriate. It will be built mostly with stones cemented together, a concrete floor and a metal roof.  

I have a lot of experience in raising funds for mission projects in the Caribbean. I know that donations need to be protected and monitored so that they are not misused, misdirected or confiscated. As a result, I have made arrangements to funnel my donations through the Father John Judie Ministries, an official legal tax deductible 501-3c non-profit organization operated by Father John Judie, a local Louisville priest, who volunteers in Kenya and Tanzania. In appreciation for his help with this project, I have promised to pay for his next flight to his east African missions with my unused American Airlines Frequent Flyer miles. I have no desire to fly long-distance anymore for a vacation so I am happy to give them to him. Father Judie has agreed to oversee the distribution of my funds. He will require receipts and progress photos from Veronica's son, Julius Kitili in Kenya, who has agreed to oversee the purchase of materials, oversee the construction itself and help recruit local volunteer labor to hold down the costs.  

The total estimated cost of this new church is $40,000.00 US Dollars which I guaranteed to Father John Judie Ministries as proven progress is made on the construction. I  made the first two payments so they would have something on hand to buy materials to get started. So far, I have already donated $25,000.00 of my own money to this project from my retirement fund. Another eight generous people have donated together another $15,000.00. This means the total cost of the church itself is now secured, but without its interior furnishings!

What I really need now are some funds to help them with some church furnishing so as to finish the inside of the church. This expense is not included in the $40,000.00 building costs. At first, I thought about sending them a half-size shipping container with some free surplus medical supplies for the local village from our local SOS and some free used local church furnishings from our local parishes, but found out that it would cost $10,000.00 just to ship it.  Rather than spend that amount of money just for shipping used stuff from here, I have decided that it would be wiser to send them the $10,000 to source the church furnishings locally and not risk having the shipping container contents corruptly seized, stolen or held for ransom at the seaport. 

JUST $10,000.00 NEEDED TO FINISH THIS PROJECT

Building a new church, fully furnished, for a grand total of $50,000 sounds like a "miracle" to me! The Catholic Church in Africa is growing, not shrinking, so help me out here so together we can finish funding this project soon. I am not inviting you to help me personally. I am inviting you to join me so that together we can share that good feeling that comes from being part of a visible, tangible and worthwhile project that will continue to serve and build other people up long after we are gone! Help me out, if you can, because..........

"Those who water others will themselves be watered!" 

Book of Proverbs 11:25

Make your tax deductible checks out to: 

                               Father John Judie Ministries - St. Veronica Project

Send your donation checks to me to be forwarded to Father John Judie Ministries for deposit so I can keep up with the totals as we go along and report them to you on this blog.

Rev. Ronald Knott

1271 Parkway Gardens Court

#106

Louisville, Kentucky 40217

502-303-4571

 

 

 

GOOD OLD "OVER-COMPENSATING" SAINT PETER

When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he tucked in his garment, for he was lightly clad, and jumped into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net with the fish. Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you just caught." Simon Peter went over and dragged the net ashore full of one hundred fifty-three large fish.

John 21:1-19

Every time I read a passage about good old Saint Peter, the Apostle, I chuckle to myself!  I have read and preached on them many, many times since I was pastor of Saint Peter Mission Church in Monticello, down along the Tennessee border, south of Lake Cumberland.  Good old Saint Peter has to be one of the worst “people pleasers” in all of scripture. He is always kissing up to Jesus and then proceeding to fall on his face. You have to love this bumbling old fisherman, who had an almost insatiable desire to please Jesus whom he obviously loved so much. 

Peter would have made a great clown for kids. I sure children back then loved him because you can’t help laughing at his antics. Nowhere are those antics more obvious than in the gospel stories about him.

First, his name was originally “Simon.” It was Jesus who gave him the nickname “Peter,” meaning “Rock.” I am sure the other apostles might have thought that “Mr. McGoo” or “Marshmallow Man” would have been more like it. He was always rushing into delicate situations, bragging and making a scene, then falling on his face at the end.

He and the other apostles, in one gospel, are out on a lake in a storm. They are struggling at the oars against the huge waves trying to get to shore, when all of a sudden, they look up and see Jesus walking on the water toward them. Peter, as always, sticks his foot in his mouth.  “Lord, if it is really you, let me walk on the water toward you!” Jesus invites him to get out of the boat and walk toward him. Peter, out of the boat, out into deep water and in high winds, begins to sink. “Lord, help me! I’m going to drown!” Jesus had to rescue him at the last minute.

At the transfiguration, after having been through a powerful religious experience, Peter does not know how to handle it except to open his big mouth and make the outrageous suggestion that the experience be made permanent. “Wow, Jesus, this is so cool! Let’s set up tents and just stay up here forever!”  Jesus is forced to explain to Peter the whole purpose of their peak experience was to strengthen them for the tough days ahead, not something that could be frozen in time!

At the Last Supper when Jesus approached Peter to wash his feet, overcome with humility, Peter begins to protest that he would never allow such a thing! When Jesus explains to him that if he would not allow it, then he could never be a part of him, Peter throws it in reverse! “Well, if that is the case, then wash my hands and head as well! Wash me all over!”  With Peter, it is always an “all or nothing” proposition.

When Jesus predicts that he will be betrayed by one of his disciples, Peter jumps into the discussion to brag. “Even if everyone else abandons you, I will never abandon you!” Not too much later, after Jesus is arrested and the heat is on, Peter denies Jesus - not once, not twice, but three times! “Jesus who?  Certainly, not me! Please, woman, I don’t know who you are talking about!” 

Then there is today’s story of Peter out fishing again after the resurrection. It is so typical of Peter. First, it tells us that Peter was stripped to the waist so that he could haul the wet nets back into his fishing boat. When he is told that Jesus was on the shore, he gets so flustered and excited that it says he “puts on his clothes first and then jumps into the water.” You can just imagine Jesus laughing as he sees Peter dragging himself out of the water with soggy clothes, dripping wet, and gushing with enthusiasm.

Second, it tells us that when Jesus asked Peter for some of the fish he caught to put on the grill he had fired up on the beach, Peter runs back to the boat and drags the net to Jesus, dumping 153 large fish at his feet.  You can almost hear him say breathlessly, “There! How’s that? Is that enough? If not, I’ll be happy to go get some more!” Jesus, knee-deep in fish, probably shook his head in laughter at Peter’s impulsive need to please. Like always, good old St. Peter couldn’t help himself. He was driven to over-compensate for his failures yet again! Jesus, no doubt, sees the big heart inside his clumsy klutz of an apostle, Peter!

When they finish breakfast, Jesus asks Peter three times if he loved him! It sounds so much like teasing him to me! It’s almost like Jesus saying, “Remember before my death when you denied me three times? Well, I am going to give you a chance to take it back!” Each time Jesus asks Peter if he loved him, Peter answers with increasing firmness, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you!” Behind his words, you can imagine Jesus seeing in his expression, “Lord, I am sorry! I was scared! I was a coward! Forgive me!”

Peter should give us all hope. He always teaches me a lot about our relationship to God. Reading about him, I have come to believe that God is more interested in our goodhearted attempts to be faithful than our mistakes and failures. God, I have come to believe, wants a relationship with us, no matter how rocky it might be!

 

 

  

"YOU JUST CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP" 2025 #18

 

VALID, BUT IRREGULAR AND A LITTLE STRANGE

There are seven Sacraments in the Catholic Church: Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Reconciliation, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders and Marriage. I have received five of the seven, with the exception of Anointing of the Sick and Marriage. The fact that I haven't personally received two of the seven, doesn't not preclude that I have not been involved in some strange happenings connected the them. I have also had some interesting issues with the five I have received. 

First of all, I was baptized by my grandmother, not a priest or deacon. I was born April 28, 1944, at home, and delivered by my grandmother who was a country midwife. In danger of death, she knew what to do. She baptized me right there in the bed I was born in. I am told, they took me to church, after I stabilized, not to be re-baptized, but to receive the other ceremonies of the church. 

The noisiest baptism I have ever done was the one I did for one of my wonderful nieces. I remember her screaming at the top of her lungs from beginning to end! Thank God it wasn't done during Mass! I remember cutting things out, reading the prayers as fast as I could and trying to stay focused throughout her screaming tantrum. At one point, I actually thought that an exorcism might have been more appropriate!   

My first experience of the Sacrament of Reconciliation (called Confession at that time) also had its weirdness. For some reason, I missed "the practice" that Sister Mary Ancilla had for those of us who would be going into the confessional for the first time. When my turn came to "go in," I went in, but I could not see anything in front of me but a wall. I was so little that I could not see over the shelf where adults leaned their elbows to whisper their confession through a grill when the priest open the little door. I could hear the priest say, "OK," but I could not see any "little door" so I remained silent. The priest turned to the other side and came back in a few minutes. I could hear him say "OK," but I could still not see any "little " so I remained silent again. The next time he came back and said, "OK," I knew I had to do something - anything! I looked down and say a radiator pipe along the floor with the faint glimmer of light around where it was coming so I got down on my hands and knees and whispered my confession through the hole where the light was coming from! I thought it was odd, but I did not realize my mistake until I came out and the other kids told me about the "little door" above my head! 

I remember my First Communion vividly, from what I wore, exactly where I knelt to receive it and what I worried about getting ready. At age 7 exactly, we rehearsed and practiced for weeks. First Communion was a "big deal." I wore a white suit, starched stiff as cardboard, that had been passed from family to family for years. You only wore it once. Where else would a seven year old wear a white suit in those days? Even today, with the communion rail gone, I can point to the very spot where I received my First Communion. It was right in front of today's pulpit, which I now believe was a "sign" of what I would be the rest of my life - a preacher! In those days, fasting from food and drink, even water, was required before goin to communion. If a drop of water or a crumb of food touched my mouth, even accidently, I would have been disqualified from the First Communion group, until the next Sunday when I would have to receive it all alone - and tragically maybe without my white suit and all the fanfare! 

Confirmation was received when I was in the seventh grade. I was "confirmed" by Auxiliary Bishop Charles G. Maloney. I have very few memories about this Sacrament, except the Bishop sitting in a chair on the top steps in front of the tabernacle. Confirmation involved an anointing on the forehead, but what we were all concerned about was the ceremonial tap on the check, that was inflated in our minds as a "slap" on the cheek! We were worried that the Bishop would "slap the____out of us!"  We were used to being slapped, but not from a Bishop! The reality did not meet our expectations. 

The next Sacrament I would receive would be Holy Orders. I spent 12 years in the seminary, but the preparation for receiving that Sacrament didn't start getting serious until four years out! Back then, there were several "steps" or "minor orders" on the way to priesthood: Tonsure, Porter, Lector, Exorcist, Acolyte, Subdeacon, Deacon and finally Priest. All of these steps involved a Bishop to perform them! 

TONSURE was a ceremonial haircut of sorts. The Benedictine monks had a complete haircut, leaving only a small band of hair around the head like a crown of thorns. Those of us studying to be "diocesan priests" only got snippets cut out of our hair that could easily be repaired at our next haircut. However, in my day, the day when long hair was gaining popularity in the 1960s, the Archbishop of Indianapolis (who hated long hair) would take deep cuts out of long hair, forcing the recipient to get a "good haircut" almost immediately. 

PORTER. A "Porter" was not much more than becoming a glorified church "gate keeper" and "bell ringer."  One by one, we lined up as part of that ceremony to turn a key in a door and pull the rope to ring the monastery bell once. 

LECTOR. A "Lector" was not as important as it is today. Back then, a Lector could not read at Mass, but only one of the "lessons" of seven "hours" of the Divine Office (the priest's prayer book). 

EXORCIST. Becoming an "Exorcist"  was required of all of us studying to be priests, but we were warned not to try to use it! These days, very few priests are deputed by their bishop to perform an outright bona fide exorcism. Yes, I am still an ordained Exorcist, but I hope never to be called on to perform that rite! 

ACOLYTE. Technically, an "Acolyte" was and is anyone who helped the priest, subdeacon or deacon at mass. 

SUBDEACON. The "Subdeacon's" main liturgical charge was to chant the Epistle at Solemn High Masses. This was the first time we were required to wear a fancy vestment, usually matching the deacon and the priest, but in a different shape. 

DEACON. With this ordination, the seminarian entered major orders (deacons, priests and bishops). After Vatican  Council II, the role of the Deacon was restored to its original fullness. Today Deacons can preach, baptize and witness marriages, as well as be involved in many management functions of the church. 

As a priest, I have baptized many children and adults, been delegated by the Bishop to perform Confirmations, celebrated thousands of "confessions" and Masses, anointed hundreds of sick and dying people and witnessed untold numbers of wedding. I will now admit to a few of my 'blunders" during those sacred moment. 

BAPTISM I once baptized a man in a hot tub who desperately wanted to be baptized, but did not want to become a Catholic. He was like an "adopted parent" when I was in major seminary and I lived with him and his wife during summers and holidays. 

MARRIAGE The biggest mistake I ever made in a wedding was the time I called the bride by the groom's old girl-friend's name! I had known his old girl friend for years and had gotten used to calling their names together! The congregation laughed out loud because they knew exactly why I had slipped and used the old girl friend's name. 

ANOINTING OF THE SICK My first anointing took place at the old Somerset City Hospital in Somerset, Kentucky. I had only been ordained for a few weeks when I was called to anoint a dying woman. I grabbed the oil container from the parish office. When I arrived at the hospital, I was taken to an emergency room where she was in an oxygen tent. The nurses raised the plastic for me and I unscrewed the cap on the oil stock. All of a sudden, there was a blast of black smoke, like a miniature explosion. I stood there in shock as I put the parts together. Someone had filled the oil stock with ashes for an Ash Wednesday service at one of the parish’s mission churches in a Lent past. The pump on the oxygen tent pulled the ashes out of my little brass oil container and blew them all over her face and the pillow. All the wonderful Baptists standing around did not bat an eye. They all, no doubt, thought that that was what we Catholics did as a time like that. Not to disappoint them, and to cover my mistake, I ended with a prayer that contained these words, “Remember, man, you are dust and into dust you shall return.” I left there and told no one, especially the pastor who have ordered me to go do the anointing in the first place!

EUCHARIST I have had to handle many "situations" during Masses in Somerset. Monticello, Whitley City, Calvary and here in Louisville, especially at the Cathedral, too many to repeat here. For a longer list, I refer you to one of my more recent books, I JUST HAD TO LAUGH: Amusing Anecdotes, Humorous Stories and Outrageous Episodes from 50 Years of Priestly Ministry,, published in 2018 and available at Amazon Books.com