ONLY $6,600.0 to GO TO FINISH THIS PROJECT
As a result of the fact that I was leading a Staff Retreat for Our Lady of Lourdes Parish yesterday (Saturday) and preaching at a Our Lady of Lourdes Penance Service tonight (Sunday), I have no Sunday homily to post this weekend. Instead I thought I would offer an update on my latest project - building a new St. Veronica Church in Kenya, Africa.
The above photo shows you what the present St. Veronica Church looks like. My goal is to replace it with a larger church of cemented stones, a concrete floor and new metal roof - with doors, windows, walls and religious art and liturgical furnishings. The total budget for all that is US $20,000.00 for the church building and $10,000.00 for interior furnishings. The new church construction is coming along nicely and we are almost there with our fund-raising. We are only US $6,600.00 short of our goal.
WALLS OF THE CHURCH GOING UP LAST WEEK
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 20,000.00 US Dollars which I guaranteed in four equal payments 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. I have already donated $10,000.00 of my own money to this project. Another eight generous people have donated another $10,000.00. This means the total cost of the church itself is now secured!
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 $20,000.00 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. So far, I have collected $3,400.00 toward this $10,000 goal, leaving me with only a $6,600.00 short fall!
JUST $6,600.00 NEEDED TO FINISH THIS PROJECT
Building a new church, fully furnished, for a grand total of $30,000 sounds like a "miracle" to me! Help me out, if you can, so I can finish funding this project before Easter. I can think of a no-better Lenten resolution! Help me out here, 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
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