A GREAT ACCOMPLISHMENT

DOING PRIEST RETREATS PAYS OFF 

$10,000 Evangelization Request Answered by Catholic Second Wind Guild

OFFERING CATHOLIC TV FOR TWENTY-EIGHT CARIBBEAN COUNTRIES.

NO PAIN NO GAIN

"There Is No Gain Without Some Pain"

Rev. Ronald Knott

September 4, 2016

This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.

Luke 14:25-33

Six years ago, I was invited to go to Ireland to lead a retreat for the archbishop and priests of the Archdiocese of Tuam in the very western part of the country. It was not a vacation in any sense of the word. They were quite demoralized and I had to deliver eight conferences, lead a Penance Service and preach at several Masses.

They did have time to drive me around a bit and show me the countryside and a few small towns. It was picturesque enough, but what shocked me time and time again was the number of big half-built houses that had been left abandoned. They were simply everywhere! For the last several years Ireland had one of the fastest growing economies in Europe until a few of years ago - and now, like here, the housing bubble has burst big time!

Obviously, Jesus has witnessed similar situations in his day - men with big building projects who ran out of resources and had to face the scorn of onlookers, "Look at him! He began to build but did not have enough to finish his project! With wars and scarcity of resources being as they were back then, the landscape might have been littered with such unfinished projects.

The gospel tells us today that "great crowds" were traveling down the road with Jesus. They were new disciples, filled with enthusiasm, brimming with new hope and the promise of a kingdom to come was right there in their mind's eye.

Passing one of those unfinished towers on the side of the road, one that some man started out so enthusiastically to build, but had to abandoned because he did not have what it took to finish, became a show-and-tell for the group. Jesus turns to the crowds and says, "I know you want to be my disciples, I know you are excited about a new way of living, but I need to tell you something. It's not just about walking down the road together and listening to wonderful stories about the kingdom to come! To go all the way with me, to complete the walk, you will have to be ready to let go - sometimes to some of the attachments you hold most dear. If you don't, you will drop by the wayside, one by one, until only the strongest will be standing - and they will be few.

My fellow Catholics, I have baptized hundreds of beautiful babies, held by adoring parents and all wrapped up in antiques baptismal gowns. Their parents looked me right in the eye and "promised to raise them in the practice of the faith," but many of them never followed through. They probably intended to do it, but in reality they didn't have the internal resources or the personal faith to carry through on that commitment.

My fellow Catholics, I have witnessed the marriages of hundreds and hundreds of wonderful young couples, surrounded by their family and their friends, who will look dreamily into the eyes of their new spouses and promise, in front of God and two witnesses, to "be true to each in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, till death do they part." They no doubt, intended to do just that, but about 50% of the time one or both of them didn't have the internal resources or personal faith to carry through on those commitments.

The subject of today's homily comes at a critical time for those who will be going off to college or leaving home for the first time. Almost 90% of Americans believe in God, but only 38% of college students attend church once they are away from home. That rate drops to only 29% by graduation, the lowest rate of church attendance for any age group in the United States.

One of the great parts of being a college student, or just moving away from home, is a new-found personal freedom. Without Mom and Dad waking them up, prodding them to get dressed and get in the car, they have a personal choice to make. They have to decide whether they want to maintain their Catholic faith so that it can be the glue that holds their future sacramental marriages together and so that they can pass the Catholic on to their own children someday. The very word "tradition" means to "hand on." Many today, after centuries of their forefathers and foremothers "passing it on" to them, drop the ball in this generation. How sad! What they died to hold onto, we so casually let slide from our grip merely because we find it "inconvenient!"

To "hand on" the faith, we must be strong enough to be counter-cultural and able to stand up to our own lazy streaks and sometimes no doubt, the judgment of others. I am proud to say that I had the privilege of accompanying many young adults over the last 17 years when I was chaplain at Bellarmine University. I tried to help them not be one of those college students, about whom it is said, "He started out well in his first semester, but he did not have the inner resources to finish at graduation!"

Being a priest these days is also counter-cultural. Sometimes my vocation is ridiculed on TV, sometimes we are lumped into cruel pedophilia jokes and sometimes it gets tiresome trying to swim against the popular current. Most of the time, however, it is more than worth it. I am always amazed at how many appreciative and loving people support me with their faith.

I remind myself all the time that at my baptism, I was adopted by the church as a "child of God" and committed myself to always "walk as a child of the light." At my ordination, I believed it when I was told, "you are a priest forever." When I die, I do not want the words "former Catholic" and "former priest" used about me. I would hate to have people walk past my grave and say, "This man used to be a "catholic" and he used to be a "priest," but he did not have what it took to finish!"

It’s almost always easy to start something, but very difficult to finish. The newspapers and news reports tell us every day, all day, about people who cannot finish their commitments: neglected children, abandoned animals, unpaid debts, adulterous marriages, school drop-outs, absentee parents, unpaid child support and on and on.

Jesus is so right today when he spoke to his would-be followers. It is easy to commit to something, but hard to carry through. In my little book for seminarians leaving the seminary and enter priesthood, I begin with these words: “It’s one thing to pledge one’s life to a high purpose, but it’s another thing to carry through on that pledge.”

Weddings are easy, marriage is hard! Ordinations are easy, but priesthood is hard! Being baptized is easy, but living like a Christian day after day is hard! It’s easy to borrow money, but it’s hard to pay it back! It’s easy to have a baby, but hard to be a parent! It’s easy to brag, but hard to deliver! This is the truth about things, but every day the world keeps selling us the lie that we can have gain without pain and that there is a quick and easy way around honest work.

Meanwhile, human disasters are stacking up all around us, chaos is overtaking us and self-inflicted suffering is swamping us! What’s missing here? In a nutshell, I believe the decline of personal discipline – the ability to make a commitment and follow through on it – is our worst enemy as a culture. This, I believe, is what Jesus was teaching his would-be followers in today’s gospel – there is no gain without some pain, no matter how you cut the cake! It’s pay now or pay later!

MAY SHE REST IN PEACE

EDNA MAE LEWIS

Well done, good and faithful servant! 

                                                  There was also a certain prophetess, Anna

                                                  by  name. She  had  seen  many  days. She

                                                  was constantly in the temple, worshipping

                                                  day and night.                            Luke 2: 37

I can’t help it, I’m an old lady magnet. No matter what parish I’m in, no matter how old I get, there is always an old lady or two who latch onto me like white on rice. They must see me as an abandoned puppy or an orphaned child, but whatever it is, it happens over and over again. As one dies, another moves in to take her place. I once told Archbishop Kelly that one of my “old lady friends” had died. He responded without batting an eye, “I’m not worried! You’ll have another one before sundown!”  

Edna Mae was one of those women. I think we have known each other a little over thirty years. I am not sure how it started, but I think it started when Ed Buchart and his mother, Celanaire, introduced her and Helen Morehead to me at the Cathedral when I was pastor there. Masses led to dinners – hundreds of dinners with her, Helen, Edward, Tom and myself! Birthday dinners! Christmas dinners! Easter dinners! Dinners just for the hell out it! We consumed large amounts of wonderful food over the last thirty years.

There are a lot of things “special” about Edna Mae, but one in particular. We are related! She was descended from one Breckinridge County Mattingly brother and my mother from another. We were what you might call “kissin’ cousins.”  That gave me a right to kiss her on the forehead the other day, about 20 minutes before she died.

When I heard that Edna Mae had died, I immediately thought of two Scripture readings. We read them both.

The first one was from the Book of Proverbs. It is a description of the ideal Jewish wife of ancient history: strong, industrious, creative and eternally faithful in her role as mother and wife.  She made her husband and children proud and the community had a deep respect for her and her husband.

I remembered another widow, an eighty-four year old woman named Anna from the gospel reading, who liked to hang out in the temple in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus. Anna and Edna Mae have a lot in common.

Anna was a widow. She had known sorrow, but she never grew bitter. Sorrow can do two things to us. It can make us hard, bitter, resentful, and rebellious against God. It can make us lose faith or it can make our faith grow deeper. It all depends on how we think of God. If we believe that God is mean, we will resent him. If we know God as a friend, we grow even closer to him. Like Anna, Edna Mae loved and trusted God, even in her losses.

Anna, of the gospel reading, was eighty-four years old. Even though she was widowed early in her marriage, she never gave up. She pushed herself, she got out of the house and she went where she could mix with people and make new friends. Age can take away the strength of our bodies, but age can do worse. It can take away the spark in our hearts and make us grimly resigned to a life of despair. Edna Mae, like Anna, never gave up. She stayed connected to life, to her friends, to her family and to her church as long as she could.

Anna, in the gospel readings, never ceased to worship and pray.  It says “she never left the temple” and “day and night she worshipped with prayer and fasting.”  No minimal “Sundays and holy days of obligation” for Anna. She had an intimate relationship with her God and enjoyed living in his presence. Like Anna, Edna Mae and God were close, daily companions and friends. Like most Catholics her age, Edna Mae was faithful to her religious upbringing even when she was not able to get to church any more.  

Family and friends, we are not here to mourn the end of Edna Mae’s life. We are here to celebrate her entry into eternal life. Edna Mae lived long and well. There was nothing more here for her to do. She squeezed all she could out of this life and prepared herself for the next. What else can we do, but celebrate with her and thank the God who created this faithful and committed woman, sustained her for so many years and now calls her to his side?

Emory, Billy, Edna Mae and Mary Ellen, I want to thank you for sharing your mother with the rest of us! Be proud of yourselves for the love and care you showered on her! I thank Edna Mae, as well, for her faithful friendship over the last 30 plus years!

Finally, I would like to end with my favorite prayer from the funeral rite. “Edna Mae, may the angels lead you into paradise. May the martyrs come to welcome you and take you to the holy city. Where Lazarus is poor no longer, may you have eternal rest.”

Edna Mae, may you and your dear husband, Emory; you and your parents, William and Edna; you and your many friends and relatives who have gone before you, rest in eternal peace.

“Well done, good and faithful servant, well done indeed!” 

WHO SAID "YOU CAN'T GO HOME AGAIN?"

After being pastor there from 1983-1997, during this renovation,
I'VE BEEN INVITED BACK TO HELP OUT!

FATHER KNOTT’S MASS SCHEDULE FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR

CATHEDRAL OF THE ASSUMPTION
443 South 5th Street
Louisville, Kentucky

SUNDAY MASSES

September 4, 2016

9:30 am

September 18, 2016

9:30 am

12:00 pm

October 30

12:00 pm

November 20, 2016

9:30 am

12:00 pm

November 27, 2016

9:30 am

12:00 pm

December 4, 2016

5:30 pm

December 11, 2016

9:30 am

12:00 pm

December 18, 2016

9:30 am

12:00 pm

WEEKDAY MASSES

August 29
noon

October 31
noon

November 21
noon

November 28
noon

December 5

noon

December 12
noon

TWO HIGHLIGHTS OF MY WEEK

MY WEEKLY NURSING HOME VISITS

Patricia Kirchdorfer

My dear friend, Patricia Kirchdorfer, lives at the Episcopal Church Home.
We laugh a lot, gossip some and pray a little. I am pushing her to use her iPad.
It intimidates her a bit, but I believe she can learn it in time.

Here she is at the dedication of the space she renovated in honor of her father, Paul Tafel, on the third floor of  Saint Meinrad's Bede Hall. It is part of the INSTITUTE FOR PRIESTS AND PRESBYTERATES that I founded when I was employed there. The space especially houses program for training retired priests who want to learn new skills for ministry. It is called the St. Simeon Residences. Mrs. Kirchdorfer is escorted by her daughter, Anne Locke.  

Here Patricia is again (flowered blouse) at a dinner in honor of Bishop Gordon of Barbados at Volare's.


Jack Anderson



Jack, as a young man, around 1968.

Jack Anderson and I go back to about 1964. He was very helpful and supportive when I was a struggling seminarian at St. Meinrad --- and ever since. To honor him, I had the coffee shop I founded at St. Meinrad named after him at his 80th birthday . It's called "JACK'S IN THE COMMONS." It is a full service coffee shop, ice cream parlor and gathering place for seminarians, monks, staff and visitors.

Jack lives at Nazareth Home and that is a "visitor dog" belonging to Chef Dean Corbett, a mutual friend.

Jack's Coffee Shop's Logo










This is a good shot of the bar end of the coffee shop with the JACK'S neon sign on, which tells people it is open for business. 

LITTLE SISTERS CELEBRATE THEIR FOUNDRESS

FEAST OF ST. JEANNE JUGAN

August 30, 2016

Rev. Ronald Knott

They were astonished at his teaching

because he spoke with authority.

They were all amazed and said to one another,

“What is there about his word?

I retired recently from St. Meinrad Seminary, after ten years of running the continuing education division called the Institute for Priests and Presbyterates, of which I was the founder. It was really a “leadership training program” for priests and bishops.

One of the most important things I learned about “leadership” I learned back in my thirties, long before I started that leadership training program at St. Meinrad, back when I first came to Louisville to be pastor of the Cathedral of the Assumption.

Until that assignment, I had been a home missionary and the pastor of a small country parish in the center of the state. I was not prepared to lead a large city parish, much less the archdiocesan cathedral. I had to play it by ear and learn on the job.

When I arrived at the cathedral, I was given an even younger associate pastor. When we would go to staff meetings, I would come with an empty yellow pad and he would come with hand-outs. As a result of his preparation and my lack of it, we reached a collision point. I was the “designated leader” and he was the “real leader.” I had the title and he had the power. Something had to be done. I had to either kill him or step up to the plate and become a leader, not only in name, but also in fact! I learned very quickly that a title means very little unless there is some ability to go with it!

This was the situation in the gospel we just read. The scribes and Pharisees had the designated titles of leadership, but Jesus with no titles at all, was becoming the real leader. The people were amazed that a person without any religious credentials was such an effective religious leader. Like my own situation, it was destined to come to a collision point. Unlike my own situation where I stepped up to the plate, rather than eliminating my competitor, the Scribes and Pharisees had Jesus condemned to death. Instead of pulling themselves up to Jesus’ level of spiritual leadership, they pull him down and had him put to death.

This was also the situation that poor Jeanne Jugan faced in her life. She was poor, uneducated and powerless, but she showed the world that the power of simplicity and poverty can sometimes be more powerful than the power that "people in power”hold.

With basically nothing but faith and determination, she founded a community of sisters now serving the elderly in 31 countries. She suffered the indignity of having the leadership of her beloved community seized by a priest who decided that he would replace her as leader and send her into retirement without any say in the decision. Even when others saw this as an injustice, Jeanne simply accepted it as the will of God and took the lowly obscure job of begging for the community. The Holy See later removed the priest, but by the time she died 27 years later, few of he young Little Sisters even knew she was the foundress. Father Le Pailleur might have grabbed her title, but Jeanne Jugan really kept her power. She became a saint, but he didn’t. That’s true power!

My friends, a designated leader if not always a real leader! Jeanne Jugan was powerful whether she was recognized as Mother Marie of the Cross or not! What made her powerful was not her title, but her goodness. The famous Charles Dickens said this when he met this powerful powerless woman, “There is in this woman something so calm, and so holy, that in seeing her I know myself to be in the presence of a superior being. Her words went straight to my heart, so that my eyes, I know not how, filled with tears.”