A REVIVAL OF MY OLD IDEA FOR HELPING KIDS IN THE MISSIONS

"A USED PEN AND PENCIL DRIVE" 

For The Children Attending The Soon-To-Be Finished 

CARDINAL POLYCARP GRADE SCHOOL

Diocese of Tunduru-Masasi

Tanzania, East Africa 

Bishop Filbert Mhasi With Two of  His Diocese's Beautiful And Curious School Children 

Toward the end of last year, working through the Father John Judie Ministries Inc operated by my fellow retired Louisville priest volunteering in the missions of east Africa, I decided to help Bishop Filbert Mhasi find the funds to restart and finish his half-built new Catholic grade school. 

Miraculously, we reached that goal on Christmas Eve 2025 about 1:00 pm when the afternoon mail arrived. I had promised to call Bishop Mhasi on Christmas Eve to tell him how close we came to our goal of $82,000.00.  When I told him that we had reached our goal on Christmas Eve, not Easter Sunday as I had first predicted, he was truly blown away! We both consider reaching this milestone a miracle to be attributed to Pope Francis's Sleeping Saint Joseph devotion! 

 

Bishop Mhasi was so eager to re-start the school building that he launched the re-start in a day or two after the first half of the new gifts was wired to him! Bishop Mhasi is a man who can get things done! 

The New Concrete Floor In One Of The Classrooms Was Re-started Right Away

The dry-wall ceiling in another classroom has been re-started after the new funding started arriving. 

With this new funding in place, the re-start of this school building is already coming along quite nicely.  However, after raising the funds for three major building projects in the missions of east Africa last year, including finishing the funding for this school, I have sworn off major building projects for a while so I can focus on some smaller mission efforts!

This has led me to revive an old idea I introduced when I was working in the Caribbean missions. I called it a "Used Pen And Pencil Drive." People collected and gave me over 1,000 used ball point pens and pencils they had retrieved from their kitchen, desk and cabinet drawers at home. Most people were surprised to find so many not being used! 

Now that the new school is on its way to being finished and will hopefully open soon, I would like to focus on gathering some used, or even new for that matter, light-weight school supplies (ball point pens, regular pencils with erasers, color pencils, rulers and so on). Father John Judie has agreed to take them with him in a large suitcase when he returns to Tanzania in March. If you are inspired to help with this easy but needed project, you can arrange a drop-off of your collection of used pens and pencils by texting Father Knott at jrknott@bellsouth.net or by leaving them at his door (address listed below) with his name and your name on the package or bag. He trusts his neighbors to secure them for him if he is not at home. Here is Bishop Mhasi's response to his idea. 

"Fr. Ron, thanks so much for this very good idea of school supplies. Some might take it for granted, but in our area and situation, there are many here who are struggling to get these school supplies like pens, pencils, plastic rulers, erasers and so forth. Fr. John will help us so much to carry these with him in an extra suitcase when he returns to Tanzania."

We have decided that it would NOT be wise to accept writing paper, notebooks and writing tablets because of their weight and crayons  because of the intense heat. The paper would take up too much room in a suitcase and shipping it separately would be way too expensive. Melted crayons would probably not be very useful. In fact, it would be much cheaper for them to buy school paper and crayons over there than for us to ship them from here even if we got them for free.  

On the other hand, if you would like to help them be able to purchase writing paper, crayons and other needed heavy weight classroom supplies over there, you can write a check to Father John Judie Ministries, Inc and send the check to Father Knott for deposit in that account (Father Knott's address is listed below).  Put "For Bishop Mhasi's School"  in the blank memo line at the bottom left side of the check. Here is Bishop Mhasi's response to his offer to promote the need for some help with the heavy weight school supplies that they will need to buy or build over there.   

"Fr. Ron, thanks also for making a financial appeal for securing some heavy-weight school supplies. For the heavy weight items like writing paper, any donation might also help us buy or build chairs and tables (desks) for the students."

Rev. Ronald Knott

1271 Parkway Gardens

#106

Louisville, KY 40217

TWO SUGGESTIONS AND ONE OBSERVATION

1. Invite your extended family members to help you collect these used "sometimes-just-laying-around" school supplies for these kids in need.  

2. If your business gives away pens or pencils for advertising purposes, ask if they have a few they would like to pass on to these mission school kids in need.  (Don't just take them without asking!) 

3. I just know that this is going to be another one of those life-changing mission projects that will empower children and families alike for years to come! I was attracted to this project  because I know and trust Bishop Mhasi personally and I hated to see his half-finished school (a dream of his) just sitting there waiting for some more funds to come in after he had worked so hard to raise the first half of those needed funds! I can't wait to see the day when the kids begin to access this desperately needed new Catholic school. This will not only make the kids happy, but it will make me and the other donors proud and happy as well! As the Book of Proverbs puts it, "Those who water others, will themselves be watered!" 

A Half-Full Suitcase of Light Weight Used Pens, Pencils, Rulers and Pencil Sharpeners That Needs To Be Filled Before Being Hand-Carried By Father John

Heavy Weight Paper That Needs To Be Funded From Here and Purchased Over There

Heavy-Weight Desks That Need To Be Funded From Here and Built Or Bought Over There

 

 

 

 

 

ONCE A MISSIONARY, ALWAYS A MISSIONARY?

 One of my twelve trips to the Caribbean Missions in the 32 the islands of the country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.The new airport in Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines

I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. 

Isaiah 49:3, 5-6

When I saw this line in our first reading today, I came to this conclusion about myself - "once a missionary, always a missionary!" It made we realize that my past actually prepared me for this part of my future as a priest. Let me explain that a bit!

In my first and second grade of primary school (1950-1951), down in Meade County, I remember helping "adopt pagan babies." It was a popular program for children in Catholic schools, whereby we brought our pennies to school to "adopt" a poor child in some mission area so as to help prepare him or her for baptism. Some of you might remember this program from your own childhood. The program was a bit simplistic, but well-intentioned!

A Typical Certificate Granted To Those Who "Adopted Pagan Babies" 

In high school seminary, I made rosaries to send to "the missions." I learned that I could really turn them out quite quickly! I remember making hundreds of them as a high schooler at St. Thomas Seminary, out on old Brownsboro Road, here in Louisville.

In college seminary, I was a member and even an officer in an organization called the Catholic Students Mission Crusade. I am reminded of that fact every time I look at an old photo of me from 1965 when I was a third year college seminarian at Saint Meinrad Seminary. In that photo, I was in the chapel, wearing my first cassock and my official C.S.M.C. ribbon and membership medal around my neck.

As a theology level seminarian, I thought about joining the Glenmary Home Missioners. It is an order of priests, brothers and sisters who work here in the "home missions" of the US, mainly in the south where Catholics are rare. I later decided against it, but as a newly ordained priest, I actually ended up being assigned to the "home missions" of our archdiocese for my first ten years. In my life, at least, God always seems to "get his way" in situations like these!

As a retired priest, I decided to volunteer in the "foreign missions" of the Caribbean especially in the countries of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados and Trinidad. I also volunteered to present workshops for priests, deacons and bishops in Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, The Bahamas and at an annual Antilles Episcopal Conference meeting in Trinidad with bishops from all over the English speaking Caribbean as well as a session with their seminarians and a dinner at the Apostolic Nunciature with the Bishops and the Pope's Apostolic Delegate to the capital city of Port of Spain.  

All in all, I made 12-13 trips down there before the volcano erupted in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and COVID caused me to back off mission work down there for a while.

Year before last, I got involved in the east African countries of Kenya and Tanzania through the Father John Judie Ministries organization started by Father John Judie, one of our local priests, who is spending his retirement serving in Kenya and Tanzania. So far, I have raised enough money to build a new church in Kenya, build a new house for a single mother of two young children and finish a half-built grade school in Tanzania. I also raised enough money to pay off the outstanding debts of six impoverished seminarians in Tanzania so they can finally advance to their next level of seminary. Now that re-starting the building of the new grade school is fully funded and in progress, I have turned my attention to finding new and used "school supplies" for the students who will be attending that new school. (See my blog post for this coming Tuesday 1-20-2026 for details)

I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.

The teachings of Vatican II encourage and remind us that "all Christians are called to be missionaries, each in their own unique way." We might think of “missionaries” as only those brave priests or religious people that travel to faraway lands bringing the Gospel to local tribes. That is indeed one aspect, but not the only aspect for living as a missionary. We are challenged today be attentive to that beautiful and vital call and hopefully find a way to answer it. 

Pope Paul VI, who presided over the finish and implementation of Vatican II, wrote extensively about our call to be missionaries. 

Following him, Pope John Paul II explained even further that all baptized Christians are challenged to become missionaries in their everyday lives. In a general audience on April 15, 1998  he reminded us that 'The missionary task of the baptized, in conformity with their  own vocation, was extensively considered by the Second Vatican Council. In the document, Lumen Gentium, it teaches us that each disciple of Christ has the obligation of spreading the faith to the best of his or her ability. In his own encyclical Redemptoris Missio, he stressed yet again that, by virtue of Baptism, all lay people are missionaries.'

The Catechism of the Catholic Church confirms this “missionary mandate” of the lay faithful where it says, “The baptized must profess the faith they have received from God through the Church and participate in the apostolic and missionary activity of the People of God."

Listening to Pope John Paul II does not mean, however, that everyone needs to travel to a faraway land, or stand at every street corner to share the Gospel. The Church believes that being a missionary can take multiple forms, always in accord with a person’s state in life. For example, a person can be a missionary through their marriage, showing others how a faithful, committed marriage is possible in today’s world. Another example is an elderly person confined to their home being a missionary through prayer, offering each day to God and praying for missionaries around the world. 

Pope Francis, in his 2013 Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, said this in #120. "All the baptized, whatever their position in the Church or their level of instruction in the faith, are agents of evangelization, and it would be insufficient to envisage a plan of evangelization to be carried out by professionals while the rest of the faithful would simply be passive recipients. The new evangelization calls for personal involvement on the part of each of the baptized. Every Christian is challenged, here and now, to be actively engaged in evangelization; indeed, anyone who has truly experienced God’s saving love does not need much time or lengthy training to go out and proclaim that love. Every Christian is a missionary to the extent that he or she has encountered the love of God in Christ Jesus."

Pope Francis wisely said, "Every Christian is challenged, here and now, to be actively engaged in evangelization" and "does not need much time or lengthy training to proclaim the love of God he has experienced." Pope John Paul II remined us that this does not mean that everyone needs to travel to a faraway land, or stand at every street corner to share the Gospel. The Church believes that being a missionary can take multiple forms, always in accord with a person’s state in life, each in his own way. 

Yes, you can carry out your duty to be a missionary in your own way. Some personally go to foreign lands. Others support those who do go. Still others follow the news about missionaries and pray for them. Personally, I got involved because I have always seemed to have been a "missionary at heart."  Lately, it has occurred to me that we owe it to mission countries, to do what we can to help with evangelization, especially in those countries who are now sending missionary priests to us because of our own priest shortage. Rather than starting my own mission organization, I decided to partner with another of our Louisville priests who works in east Africa - Father John Judie and his mission organization Father John Judie Ministries, Inc. 

If you too want to get involved in mission work, each in your own way, follow my blog "An Encouraging Word" at fatherknott.com It regularly has stories, opportunities and photos of what Father John Judie and I are doing in east Africa in particular. We use a tax deductible legal system. We send thank you letters. We keep an eye on every penny and make sure it is used faithfully and legally for what the donor intended. We  pay no salaries. We don't even ask people for money. We just tell them what we are doing and tell them if they want to help us do it, they can call us and let us know!  

Here is a story that is typical of many of the "mission stories" I have witnessed. It is a story about the generosity even of the poor themselves. It is one of the main reasons I am "hooked" on helping with mission work. This story comes from Bishop Filbert Mhasi of Tanzania whom I have helped starting last year. He tells the story in his own words, "I went again to one of the mission churches for the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. After the Mass, one little girl, age 6, came to me and said, "Bishop, will you come again next Sunday? I said, "If I get money for petrol, I will come." She looked at me, and said, "I will give you my sandals, go and sell them and use the money for petrol." She actually gave me her sandals! I was shocked! I said, "No please, don't worry, somebody will give me the money for petrol." She was a bit satisfied! This experience is still circulating into my mind. This poor little angel wanted to give me her sandals! What an amazing and lovely gesture of love and support! So, amazing!"

The great part of doing missionary work is what it does for those who get involved, not just the people they help! As the Book of Proverbs puts it, "Those who waters others, will themselves be watered!"