ONCE A MISSIONARY, ALWAYS A MISSIONARY?

MY PAST PREPARED ME FOR MY FUTURE 

In grade school, I helped "adopt pagan babies," a popular program for children in Catholic schools, whereby they brought their pennies to school to help "adopt" a poor child in mission areas and help prepare them for baptism. Some of you might remember this program.

In high school seminary, I made rosaries to send to "the missions." I learned that I could really turn them out! I know I made hundreds of them as a high schooler. 

In college seminary, I was a member (and once an officer) of the the Catholic Students Mission Crusade. I was reminded of that fact in this old photo of me from 1965 when I was a third year college seminarian at Saint Meinrad Seminary. I am wearing my first cassock and I have my official CSMC ribbon and membership medal around my neck. 

                 

As a theology level seminarian, I thought about joining the Glenmary Home Missioners order of priests and brothers. I decided against it, but as a newly ordained priest, I was actually assigned to the "home missions" of our archdiocese for my first ten years.  

As a retired priest, I have been a volunteer in the "foreign missions" of the Caribbean in the countries of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago.  I have also volunteered to do workshops for priests and bishops in Saint Lucia, The Bahamas and the Antilles Episcopal Conference. 

MY LATEST MISSION PROJECT IN KENYA 

This past Sunday my latest mission project, St. Veronica Church in the east African country of Kenya, was dedicated. Father John Judie, one of our local retired priests who volunteers in Tanzania, represented me and my ten or so co-sponsors at this wonderful event. The local people keep calling it a "miracle." I concur because it turned out to be three-times bigger and three-times more costly than I had counted on when I agreed to take it on! I call it a "miracle" because of the fact that if I had known what I was getting into, I may not have agreed to start the project! Like my other mission projects, I did not come right out and ask people for money, I simply told people what was I was doing and they called me offering their help. Together, we performed this "miracle" because we believed it was possible and, with God's help, it all came together quite quickly! 

This project has reinforced my belief, and the belief of those who have worked with me to complete it, in the power of faith to work miracles. The success of this project makes all of us a bit happier knowing we made a village of poor people on the other side of the world a lot happier. As Pope Francis famously said, "Rivers do not drink their own water; trees do not eat their own fruit; the sun does not shine on itself and flowers do not spread their fragrance for themselves.  Living for others is a rule of nature. We are all born to help each other. No matter how difficult it is....life is good when you are happy; but much better when others are happy because of you."             

ORIGINAL ST. VERONICA CHURCH 

Mr. Julius and Sister Stephen, son and daughter of Veronica Kitili, after whom the church is named. 

Mr. Julius Kitili, who lives in Nairobi, oversaw the construction of the new St. Veronica Church.

Sister Stephen, a local Little Sister of the Poor here in Louisville, planted the idea in my mind. 

 PRESENT ST. VERONICA CHURCH AS IT LOOKED ON AUGUST 7, 2025 WITH BELL TOWER 

ONE OF TWO SIGNS LEADING TO THE CHURCH

THE ALTAR CHAIRS AND SIDE TABLES READY TO BE INSTALLED

SOME OF THE 86 PEWS WAITING TO BE INSTALLED IN THE CHURCH

BEGINNING TO GATHER FOR THE CELEBRATION

WAITING TO GET IN FOR THE DEDICATION

A FULL HOUSE FOR SURE

A FULL HOUSE WITH REGIONAL GOVERNMENT DIGNITERIES IN FRONT ROW

ONE MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL PARLIAMENT WAS AMONG THE GROUP

MR. JULIUS KITILI, SON OF VERONICA KITILI, AND VOLUNTEER PROJECT MANAGER

LOCAL CHOIR AND MUSICIANS - SEE VIDEO AT BOTTOM FOR DANCING CHILDREN

(CENTER) SISTER STEPHEN, OUR LOCAL LOUISVILLE LITTLE SISTER OF THE POOR AND DAUGHTER OF VERONICA KITILI, AND TWO LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR FROM NAIROBI, KENYA. 

(CENTER) OUR LOCAL LOUISVILLIAN, FATHER JOHN JUDIE, LED THE CELEBRATION OF THE MASS AND PREACHED.

ON THE LEFT IS THE PASTOR, FATHER BENEDICT MUTINDA. ON THE RIGHT IS A VISITING PRIEST OF THE MUCHAKOS DIOCESE.  

THE RECEPTION AFTERWARDS

ONE BULL AND TWENTY CHICKENS WERE SERVED

LIVE-STREAM LINK TO THE DEDICATION CEREMONY

and

COMMUNITY CELEBRATION 

The video begins with a tree planting, door opening, Mass and community meal of celebration. This video is four hours long. The Catholic Church in Africa takes its time for celebrations of the Eucharist, especially on special occasions. 

Click here to view the video. 

 

 

FAITH IS MORE ABOUT TRUST THAN IT IS ABOUT BELIEFS

TODAY IS "DEDICATION DAY" AT OUR NEW SAINT VERONICA CHUCH IN KENYA

(watch this blog this coming Tuesday, August 12, for photos)

Faith is the realization of what is hoped for

and the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

 

I have been at this “priest thing” almost all of my life. I really never wanted to be anything else. I first felt that I may be “called” to it when I was seven years old. I started seminary at age fourteen. I was ordained at twenty-six. I have been a priest now for fifty-five years. Twenty-one years ago, for the first and only time in my life, I actually thought about quitting. It was back when we were going through the sexual abuse scandal here in Louisville. I was so angry, disappointed, embarrassed and disillusioned that I thought about throwing in the towel, moving out of state and finding a job that had nothing to do with God, the church or the priesthood.  I really wanted to quit, but I didn’t – and I won’t!  

I felt like Jeremiah who was called to be a prophet at a very tender age. Jeremiah gave his all to his job, but one day when he was so frustrated he reached the point where he wanted to just quit. He screams at God, “You seduced me into taking this job and now I feel like I have been used! I keep telling myself that I won’t even mention your name ever again, but when I do, a consuming love for your word burns in my heart. I can’t help myself. I feel that I really can’t quit. I feel that I have to keep going!” 

When I was deep in my depression, the question I kept coming back to was this one: “Ron, where is your faith placed?” Is it in priests? No! Is it in bishops? No! Is it in the Pope? No! They are merely the “earthenware jars” that hold the “treasure,” but they are not the “treasure.” Is your faith in organized religion? No! Organized religion, has and will always be, in need of reform. I knew that to leave would be to turn my back on God. I also know enough scripture to know that I cannot have God without his church, no matter how many people try to have it that way! When others say “I’m spiritual, but not religious,” to me they are like the kids who want to eat the filling out the Oreos, and leave the cookies! My faith is not just personal. It is also communal!   

No, for me to leave would be to turn my back on God and his people. (1) How could I turn my back on the God who called me to be a priest, simply because of the gross sins of a handful of pathetic brother-priests and those who were misguided in their efforts to protect them?  (2) How could I turn my back on God who “adopted” me at baptism and made me a member of his family, the church? How could I victimize my “faith family” again by leaving, when it has been severely wounded and in need of spiritual care? How could I go off and leave my “faith family” in its time of need?  

After my mind explored the possibility of leaving, after I wallowed in my depression for months, after I wrestled with the question of faith, I finally came to the realization that, if I have any faith at all, then this is the time to prove it - to prove it by staying, by remaining faithful, by remembering why I am doing this to begin with! 

Today, Abraham is held up to us as a model of faith, and so he was! In fact, Eucharistic Prayer I refers to him as “our father in faith” because of his extraordinary ability to trust God, even when God’s promises seemed utterly impossible. Even at age 75, Abraham did not bat an eye when God called him to leave his country, everything that was familiar to him, and head to a place unknown. He went simply because God told him to go. In his old age, when God told him that he would father a son, his first, one that he had longed for all his life, he did not bat an eye, despite all the natural evidence to the contrary. Abraham and Sara were both senior citizens. When Abraham heard the news, he did not bat an eye, but believed that somehow God would do it. Sara, on the other hand, snickered with laughter when she heard the news, and worse yes, denied having laughed when she was caught. Abraham's ultimate test of faith came when God asked him to sacrifice his precious, one and only, son Isaac. Without batting an eye, Abraham prepared to kill his precious little boy in unflinching obedience, not knowing how God would keep his promise of making his descendants as numerous as the stars, if he did!  

What about you? Do you have faith? No, I don’t mean do you have beliefs or do you believe this or that Bible story or this or that Church doctrine to be true. I mean, do you really trust God?  Can you believe in things you can’t see, realities you can't prove and promises that God hasn’t kept yet? Can you keep walking with God, even when you can’t see where you are going, even when your most precious things, relationships and assumptions are taken away from you?  

I am amazed at people who say they have “lost their faith” when an old church was renovated, when an altar rail was removed, when a Mass time was changed or when a priest did something to disappoint them. I am also struck when I hear that someone has lost their faith over the death of a loved one or a major health crisis. They surely lost something, but it wasn’t faith! If faith only holds up when things are going well, when the world is the way we like it, when we are blessed with all that life has to offer, when we are young and in perfect health, then it is not faith. Faith is only faith when we cannot see where we are going or cannot understand the things that happen to us, when we are swamped by doubt and confusion. It is only then do we know whether we have faith or not. If we can go on loving and trusting God, after we hear the diagnosis of cancer, then we can say we have faith. If we go on loving and trusting God, after our house burns down, when we lose our job, when a family member dies and if our friends abandon us, then we can say we have faith. If we can trust God after we have lost everything we can lose, then we can say we have faith!  

If your faith hasn’t been tested yet, and surely it will be, I hope you can, without batting an eye, keep on loving and trusting God in the darkness and confusion. If you can do that, then you will know that you really are a man or woman of faith!  

                         

Faith is the realization of what is hoped for

and the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"YOU JUST CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP" #32

 

I'LL NEVER FORGET OLD WHAT'S HIS NAME

One of the most confusing thing about a Sunday Mass for a priest is the number of people who want to inform you about some need, some schedule or some prayer request just as you are about to go up the isle. The bigger the parish, the more confusing it can get. Sometimes, you get home with loose dollar bills people give you for a donation to some charity, maybe a Mass request or even a personal gift. By the time you get home, you can't remember what amount if or what cause. It gets even more complicated for prayer requests 

I remember one event in particular in particular. Someone asked me to add a family member to the petitions read at Mass. They do not realize that they may be the third or fourth person in a row with an emergency request because they are facing a crisis.  Sometimes, I can remember who made the request, but not what the request was about!

In one of my smaller parishes, a woman by the name of Nancy approached me and asked me to pray for one of her family members. I agreed to add her intention at the end of the petitions that the lector read. By the time we got to that point in the Mass, I tried very hard to remember the request details. Rather than admit my lapse of memory, I tried to "wing" it in the hopes that I would hit the target. "Let us pray for Nancy's mother who died this week!" I looked out at Nancy and she was shaking her head and mouthing "no!" I tried again, "Let us pray for Nancy's mother who is seriously ill!" I looked out at Nancy and again she was shaking her head and mouthing "no!" I tried again, "Let us pray for Nancy who will be having surgery this week!" I looked out at Nancy and again she was shaking her head and mouthing "no!" By this time I was panicking, so I said, "Nancy, will you stand up and tell us your prayer request so we can pray for it?" She stood up and said, "Let us pray for Father Knott who can't remember anything and for my daughter who is going away to college! 

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When I left for the seminary at age 14, I entered St. Thomas Minor Seminary to start high school. We  were not allowed to call home or even go home except for two weeks around Christmas and over the summer months. One day, after I had been gone for several months, I got the chance to secretly call home. I thought my family would be missing me and would be thrilled to hear my voice again. My father answered the phone. When he answered the phone, he asked, "Who is this?" I proudly answered, "It's Ronnie!" In an embarrassing "out of sight, out of mind" moment, he asked again, "Ronnie who?"  I learned a hard lesson that day - with six siblings at home even parents can have so much to do that they can afford to lose track of one or two! 

----

There were moments of great celebration after month's of hard work when I was pastor. After one of those truly successful programs that we had worked so long and hard to pull off, a few staff members and I met in my office to "debrief." I think we may have even opened a bottle of wine for a toast. After the celebration had gone on for a while, I turned to Elaine Winebrenner (Music Director) and supposedly famously said, "It's hell being wonderful!" With that, they looked at me as if they didn't know me and I had just rained on the parade! In my own defense, I was just trying to remind them that "great success" always requires "great effort!" They repeated my observation every chance they got after that day. but we always laughed at it!      

----

I recently presided at a funeral when a family did not even inform me as to when and what time the funeral service would be held. They just expected and assumed that I would be there to lead the funeral service whenever they planned it. When I heard that he had died and I had not heard from them yet, I had to look it up on his obituary in the newspaper to find out. Luckily, I could rearrange my schedule to be able to honor their request. If not, it could have been a real embarrassment for both of us! 

This has happened at both funerals and weddings when people just "assume" you are available and have "nothing better to do" on their schedule. 

I remember standing in front of church greeting people, several years back when I was in a small country parish. A young couple came up to me to show me their shiny new engagement ring. "We are getting married,"  they said triumphantly! I answered, "That's great! Congratulations!" I went on to ask when they were getting married. They answered confidently, "At 10:00 am on October 15!" Trying to show my interest and support, I continued to ask question. "Where is the wedding?" They quickly responded, "Here, of course!" I was beginning to panic since I had not heard of any wedding being scheduled at my church. I just assumed that they had invited another priest they knew, so I plowed on with my questions. "Who is doing it? They shot back in short order, "You!" With so many of their family members and friends standing within ear-shot, I had to hold my tongue. Believe me, it was one of the hardest tongue-holding I have ever done! Lamely, I was able to get this out and get away from them before I "let loose!" Well, I will check my calendar when I get back to the rectory and let you know whether I have anything else going on that day! I went home and started a list of wedding do's and don'ts to publish in the parish bulletin! RULE NUMBER ONE: No weddings will be scheduled in this parish until after the bride and groom have met with the pastor! 

SHOULD THE BAND GET BACK TOGETHER?

 REMBERING OUR "PARISH MISSIONS"

I have conducted over 70 PARISH MISSIONS on various topics in Kentucky, Indiana and Florida. Some I presented alone (out-of-state), but many of them were presented with Elaine Winebrenner and her gospel music group REFLECTIONS.  All of them were "magic" in their own way, but our two "favorites" were the ones we did at St. Augustine Church in Lebanon, Kentucky and the Meade County Fairgrounds in Brandenburg. Kentucky. Once we gathered the gospel music group, we created "regional" and "county-wide" Parish Missions.   

After paying expenses, the money was given to support some of the mission dioceses in the Caribbean. 

Here are just some samples of some of the many Parish Missions we presented over several years. 

HOLY FAMILY CHURCH - LOUISVILLE, KY

CHRIST THE KING CATHEDRAL - LEXINGTON, KY

THE FORMER ST. BARNABAS CHURCH - LOUISVILLE, KY

ST.  AUGUSTINE CHURCH - LEBANON, KY

CATHEDRAL OF ASSUMPTION - LOUISVILLE

MEADE COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS - BRANDENBURG, KY

FROM BEHIND THE ALTAR LOOKING OUT AT THE CONGREGATION

ONE PRIEST'S REFLECTION ON SUNDAY MASS

Father Ronald Knott

As I look out at the congregation every weekend, I don't just see a crowd. I see individuals. In a sea of mostly gray hair, some individuals stand out: young families with small children, immigrants, widows and widowers, special needs children, struggling youth, racial minorities, old people with canes and walkers and even military personnel sometimes.  

I SEE THEM AND I PRAY FOR THEM

I pray especially for those married couples in church with 1,2,3,4 or more kids in tow. They have given up their own comfort and convenience and have committed themselves to becoming servants of their children for several years. They provide them with food, shelter, health care, entertainment, education and protection. They cook for them. They do their laundry, cut their hair or take them to the barber shop, shop for their clothes, meet with their teachers, wash and maintain the family car and teach them how to use technology properly. They take them to endless sports events, make costumes for Halloween and take them Trick or Treating, help them with their homework, serve on boards and committees, take them to the doctor, fund extra-curricular activities, bake cakes, muffins and cookies on demand for school and parish events, volunteer at church, look after their own elderly parents, celebrate their birthdays, decorate the house for holidays, help them with Sacramental Preparation, get things repaired and try to keep things running smoothly around the house. 

I pray especially for the older parishioners, especially widows, widowers and those who are single either by choice, circumstance or divorce. I pray for the immigrants who still struggle to adapt and find their way. I pray for the sick, the home-bound and those in institutions like prisons, hospitals, nursing homes and the military.  

As I look out and see immigrants, I am reminded to pray for them and my many friends in other countries around the world. Because I was lucky enough to lead over 150 priest convocations in 10 countries and because I was lucky enough to establish the "World Priest" program at St. Meinrad serving priests and seminarians from several more countries serving in the US, I know people from around the world and hear from many of them especially around the holidays. I intentionally and regularly pray for them and their families especially that they will be spared the cruelty of anti-immigrant words, deeds and policies.    

I pray with a special intensity for youth and young adults, especially those who are bullied, those confused about their sexual identity, those who have been abused, those with low self-esteem, those who are lonely, those battling addictions, those who suffer from debilitating physical conditions including obesity and those who risk life and limbs serving in the military.  I pray that they will choose to embrace the church especially when they grow into adulthood and settle down.

I SEE THEM AND I PRAY FOR MY OWN ABILITY TO INSPIRE THEM

I pray for my own ability to inspire people to be better disciples through my words from the pulpit, through my efforts to give them the best quality service I can give them and through my example as a friendly and compassionate person at the door when they arrive and leave.  

I pray especially for my own good health. So far, so good! I am lucky. Realizing that I am so lucky, I also pray that if I do have some serious health issues coming up, I will somehow be able to model for them how to handle pain and suffering with as much poise and grace as possible like I have witnessed many of them handling.   

Besides my past blessings and present good health, I pray with deepest gratitude for my faith, my vocation and what I have materially. I do not pray for a bigger house, a newer car, a better job, a better family, another vacation or even for more income. I find myself "satisfied" with what I already have and for the people who already love me. 

 

YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU, BUT YOU CAN LEAVE A LEGACY

 

‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you;

and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’

Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves

but are not rich in what matters to God.

It may sound a bit pious, but I believe in the depths of my being that I have a “vocation,” a “call” from God to be a priest and to be that priest wherever God puts me. Most, maybe all, of my assignments as priest have not been in places that I would have chosen for myself. I feel like I was being “sent” there!

When I was ordained in 1970, I had spent my whole life in rural areas. I grew up in Rhodelia. When I decided to go to the seminary, I was sent to high school and two years of college in a rural setting outside the city of Louisville. We rarely saw the insides of Louisville during the six years that I was there. After that, I was sent to St. Meinrad Seminary in the countryside of southern Indiana. After twelve years of seminary formation “in the country” and hearing about “city life,” I had my heart set on being assigned to a city parish where I could take advantage of its nice restaurants, movie theatres and “things to do” that I had always heard about! Instead, I was sent to the seven-county home missions down along the Tennessee border.  After ten years there, I was sent to Calvary, a small rural community outside of Lebanon, Kentucky.  Finally, to my complete surprise and deep fear, I was finally called and sent to Louisville to be pastor of our Cathedral. After that I felt called to be a vocation director, a campus minister at Bellarmine University, a seminary department head, an international priest retreat director, a weekly columnist for The Record and finally a missionary in the Caribbean missions. I don’t think I really asked to do most of those things. It seems I was mysteriously called to do them. Most of them seemed to fall accidently into my lap.

I have always felt that God was behind every one of those assignments. I felt that they were the result of my being led to do them, or sent to do them, rather than something I initially thought of doing on my own.

When I was getting ready to retire, it occurred to me out of nowhere that maybe I could start a program for retired priests like myself who wanted to serve either in the missions of Alaska during the summer if they liked to fish or hunt or maybe in the missions of the Caribbean in the winter if they wanted to escape the cold winters up here in the United States. The problem was, I didn’t know anyone in the Alaskan missions or the Caribbean missions. Then one morning, as I was eating breakfast alone at the seminary, I looked up and there getting his breakfast was a visiting bishop from the Caribbean countries of Barbados and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. We were the only ones in the cafeteria.

I left the cafeteria without introducing myself, turned around and went back, introduced myself and a few months later I was flying down to volunteer in his two Caribbean countries. It seemed like an accident on one hand and like I was being sent by a higher power on the other. 

I made twelve trips altogether. I never had time to develop the option in the Alaskan Missions. Then COVID hit and the volcano in St. Vincent erupted causing me to have to quit and look for another ministry closer to home. I almost felt that I was being sent home for another purpose, but I didn’t know what it could be!  

After fretting a couple of weeks about what to do next, I was tossing and turning one night when, all of a sudden, it hit me like a bolt of lightning. I had the feeling that I was being sent back home to see what I could do for my own home parishes of St. Theresa and St. Mary Magdalen down in Meade County. Slowly, the dream of a new Family Life Center and Guest House to serve both communities came into focus during the following few months.

After that, I swore off any more “mission projects” until one day I was talking to Sister Stephen, one of our local Little Sisters of the Poor who is from Kenya. Before I knew it, I had committed to build a new church in Kenya in honor of her mother, an illiterate catechist, who instructed hundreds in the Catholic faith. When she grew old and could not walk the great distance to church, she dreamed of having a nice church in her village and did what she could to advance the idea. Maybe you read Her amazing story in The Record a few weeks ago. It will be dedicated next weekend and our own Father John Judie will represent me at that dedication.

Wrestling with today’s gospel text, I realized that I have been wrestling with the question of “what will I leave behind” when “my life is demanded of me” as the gospel today puts it. I have no children to leave behind. As the gospel put it, I have never desired to be “rich for my own good,” but “rich in want matters to God.” Here is what stood out in today’s gospel when I read it.

‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you;
and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’
Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves
but are not rich in what matters to God.

My tombstone, already in place in St. Theresa Cemetery down in my home parish, sums up my life as I lived it out these past 55 years. About those 55 years, it says at the top: “Simply Amazed – Forever Grateful.” About the future, it says at the bottom: “Home at Last.” I want to go "home" when this is all over - home to heaven, of course, while leaving my bones in the cemetery where my parents and many close family members lie! I am grateful for the wonderful experiences that God has offered me, especially over the last 56 years of ordained ministry, and I am amazed that God has helped me be able to say “yes” to those offers!

What about you? What do you want to leave behind? What do you want your “legacy” to be? Are you more interested in storing up treasure for yourself or being rich in what matters to God? Your “legacy” cannot be built in a few days or months or years. It has to be built over a lifetime!  A ‘legacy” is not about money. It’s about whether, at the end, you have lived for yourself or lived for others! For most of you, you have lived for your children! Your “legacy” is about how they will remember you! Will you be remembered as a pathetic hoarder of your gifts and talents or a generous sharer of your gifts and talents? You can start building your “legacy” now by turning outward toward others, rather than inward toward yourself! Don’t be like that “fool” that Jesus talked about in the gospel today who thought he could “take his precious stored-up wealth with him when he died,” rather than leaving something behind, rather than giving something back, so as to better the lives of those he left behind! 

My friends! This is the bottom line! When it’s all said and done, will there be anyone to even care whether you lived or died? Yes, will there really be anyone to even care whether you lived or died? That's really the only legacy you can leave behind!

Speaking of leaving a legacy, I would like to leave you with the most challenging question I have ever read. I read it just a few weeks ago. It asked this question. “At the end of your life, what are the very last words you want someone to say to you?” Let me repeat that! “At the end of your life, what are the very last words you want someone to say to you?”

What you hear them say, for good or bad, will probably describe what your "legacy" will be!