CHURCH CHAT #7

 

LAST CALL - CHRISTMAS DAY DEADLINE IS APPROACHING

WE ARE GETTING CLOSE TO OUR GOAL 

LET'S DO THIS

IT'S GOOD TO DO, ON SO MANY LEVELS 

Eager school kids, somewhere in Tanzania, making the most of crowded schools when and where available. 
 

HELP BISHOP FILBERT MHASI FINISH HIS NEW SCHOOL

 A CREATIVE APPROACH ADDRESSING HIS THREE MAJOR PROBLEMS

(1) - lowering ongoing generational poverty through education

(2) - reducing Moslem-Christian conflicts through shared early education experiences

(3) - helping immigrants stay home and thrive in their own country through education

Below are some beautiful Tanzanian children, with Bishop Mhasi, eagerly waiting for their new school to be built.

A New "Cardinal Polycarp Grade School" Was Started

It Is A Little Over Half-Finished - So Far, So Good!

$102,000.00     

Has Already Been Raised By Bishop Mhasi

Four classrooms, the administration block, clearing the property and a kitchen have been funded. 

WORK HAS STOPPED BECAUSE FUNDING HAS RUN OUT

$82,000.00 

More Is Required To Re-Start And Finish This Very-Much-Needed New School

Three classrooms, toilets, water tank, septic system and burning chamber still need funding.

This Christmas, Help Us Close That Gap!

 

You have the option of naming your gift in honor of one child, a group of children, a favorite teacher or any special person. You can share this story and the pictures on this blog post by printing it off and telling them what you are doing in their honor. For children, this can be a teaching opportunity. If you like what you see, you can recommend this project to others by forwarding this blog post to anyone who might be interested in adding it to their gift list.    

 

As A Christmas Present, Father Knott Will Call Bishop Mhasi On Christmas Day To Tell Him How Close We Came To Our Goal Of Helping Him Re-Start and Finish the Construction of His New Catholic School. 

Soon Afterwards, Father Knott Will Report That Total To The Readers Of This Blog. 

A few kids are lucky! Many are not! 

A few school kids have school uniforms, shoes, socks and endless enthusiasm - many do not!  

"I believe deeply in this project! I am certainly planning to do my part!"

Father Knott

The Catholic DIOCESE OF TUNDURU-MASASI, in a majority Muslim area of Tanzania, faces a critical shortage of accessible and quality education facilities. Many children of school-going age travel long distances to attend government schools leading to high absenteeism and dropout rates. Existing schools are overcrowded, with limited classrooms, inadequate teaching resources, and strained teacher-to-pupil ratios. As a result, children are deprived of a strong educational foundation and formation, which negatively affects literacy and numeracy. 

Establishing a Catholic school in Tunduru is therefore essential to provide equitable access to education, reduce dropouts, foster long-term social and economic growth, and build a strong bond between Christians and Muslims from a very early age. Moreover, access to primary education is a foundational human right and critical for long-term community development. Tunduru's largely rural, low income, population is disproportionately affected by educational gaps and perpetuating cycles of poverty.  Establishing a new primary school would help promote equitable access, improve learning conditions, and support onward transitions to secondary education. 

Bishop Filbert Mhasi has a lot on his plate. He has 22 parishes and 140 outstations (mission churches) and lots of distance between each one. I remember clearly how much energy, focus and fund-raising it took for me as a young priest assigned to just 2 mission churches down along the Tennessee border as a young priest.  Since I have "been there and done that" on a much smaller scale, I am honored to help him in whatever way I can!

 

Father Ronald Knott and Bishop Filbert Mhasi

on a visit to Louisville last summer

"We both believe in miracles!"

FOR AN OFFICIAL TAX-DEDUCTION "THANK YOU" LETTER, MAKE YOUR  CHECK OUT TO:

Father John Judie Ministries, Inc

Mention "School Project in Tanzania" in memo line. 

THEN SEND YOUR CHECK TO ME FOR DEPOSIT INTO HIS ACCOUNT

If it is more helpful for your tax purposes, you can date your check January 1, 2026 and we will hold it for deposit until then. 

Rev. Ronald Knott

1271 Parkway Gardens Court

#106

Louisville, KY 40217

 

 

DISTINGUISHING THE CROCKERY FROM THE TREASURE IT HOLDS

ANOTHER RETIREMENT REFLECTION

 "We ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure."

II Corinthians 4:7

Being familiar with both the "crock" and the "treasure," throughout my fifty-five years of priestly ministry, I have not been reluctant to point out organized religion's weaknesses and limitations. However, I have also been very careful to try to inspire people to not let organized religion’s many failures cause them to miss out on religion’s many positive contributions! Even a "treasure" needs a "container." Without organized religion, we would not have authentic Scriptures passed on to us over centuries to guide us along a common path. Without organized religion, we most certainly would splinter into hyper-individualism or into small little cliques and cults, instead of being a world-wide community of faith and good works. In my estimation, without organized religion, we would certainly dissolve pretty quickly into a bigger mess than we are in now!  

With that said, Vatican Council II reminded us that organized religion, like Catholicism, has it's weaknesses. They said quite bluntly that our organized religion is "semper reformada," "always in need of reform."  Organized religion, in my estimation, is that "fragile clay jar" that St. Paul referred to, while the core message it carries is that "treasure it holds." 

In retirement my attention has dramatically shifted from the "crock" to the "treasure." I am now more free to pay less attention to the "crock" and more attention to the "treasure." This means I am choosing to spend less time going to organizational and structural meetings and more time trying to provide quality ministry to individuals in need of spiritual guidance. In retirement, I have decided to let the younger priests go to the organizational and structural meetings and fuss over the "crock" while I choose to focus on the "treasure" itself!

I have enjoyed my whole fifty-five years of priesthood, but in retirement I can also say this without regret, "Free at last! Free at last!" I am free from so much responsibility for the "crock" itself.  I am now free to focus mainly on the "treasure" that it holds! 

BE PATIENT! DON'T JUDGE!

You must be patient. Make your heart firm because the coming of the Lord is at hand.  Do not complain about one another that you may not be judged.

James 5:7-10

In my last four houses, I have lived on the busy street of Eastern Parkway. You can see the world from my front porch or deck. It walks by, drives by and shuffles by like a marvelous circus parade. It is some of the cheapest entertainment available.

Some passers-by are regulars. Some pass by only once. There is the middle-aged woman with a distended belly who walks like she has had one or two drinks too many. There is the scruffy middle-aged man, carrying a beat-up old guitar, who likes to aggravate cars with a few in-your-face chords from an old Elvis tune. There is the screaming married couple, with windows rolled down, who decide to have it out with each other while waiting for the traffic light to change. There is the elderly couple, shuffling hand in hand, savoring every squirrel, baby and flower they pass.

There are the St. X and U of L athletes in the Spring, tanned, lean and rippled with muscle, strutting their stuff, proud as peacocks. There is the African-American nurse’s aide from the local hospital with grocery bags in each hand, waiting in the rain for a bus to take her to another day’s work at home. Too tired to stand, she sits on a wet set of steps. Right after New Years Resolution time, there is the overweight, well-intentioned, if not short-lived, jogger who huffs and puffs his way to that leaner and trimmer waistline in his mind’s eye.

What do you see when you see people like these? Do you judge them and score them or bless them? I am embarrassed to admit that I found myself judging some of these people one day as I sat and watched them go by. I was reminded of a line from the movie “On Golden Pond.” Katherine Hepburn says to Jane Fonda when she was terribly frustrated with her aggravating, old father, “If you look closely enough, you will realize that he is doing the best he can.” Remembering that line, I decided to try my hardest to try to bless those who walked by my house and pray for them, instead of judging them and thinking the worst about them! Who knows how lonely, scared, abused or stressed they are? If I have learned one thing for sure in my fifty-five years of priesthood it is this, “You can’t judge a book by its cover! Even when I do slip and judge them, I try to catch myself and remember, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” I try to remember the times I have stood in front of a congregation like you and wondered what you were thinking about me! Are you praying with me or are you thinking to yourselves, right now, “He repeats himself! He must be losing it!! He has such a terrible singing voice that I wish he would stop trying to sing the responses! I can’t hear him or he is too loud! Why can’t he remember to turn his microphone on or off! Has dementia started being a problem for him?”

When I catch myself doing that to others, I am trying to reverse my thinking and stop judging people and start praying for them! I am trying to remember that prayer has the power to help those who don’t even know you are praying for them. In the words of Isaiah, “Why break the “bruised reed?” Why quench the “smoldering candle?” A reed that is bruised may be damaged, but it is not irreparable. A “smoldering wick” may be about to lose its fire altogether, but it can still be reignited! Jesus said in another place, “Do not judge and you will not be judged.” St. Paul says, “The member of the body that hurts the most needs the most care.”

Judging others, especially those we do not know, is a bad habit that says as much about us as the people we judge. Judging another person does not define who they are, it defines who we are! This bad habit can be replaced with the good habit of blessing others and praying for them! All we have to do is monitor our own thinking, check it and replace it with new thinking. A new world is often just a new thought away! Starting today, monitor how you think about and how you judge others! Then make a u-turn if needed! It will be good for them and for you!

CHURCH CHAT #6

 

"BIG" GIFTS CAN COME FROM "LITTLE" PEOPLE

 GIVEN AT THE LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR 11-1-24-2025

           

When Jesus looked up, he noticed a poor widow putting two small coins into the temple treasury. He said, "She, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood."

Luke 21:1-4

The closest thing today to the Temple in Jerusalem of Jesus’ day - at least in my experience - is a downtown cathedral. Just as the Temple in Jerusalem attracted a host of characters at the time of Jesus, most downtown cathedrals today attract a cross-section of humanity: millionaires and street people, tourists and residents, the non-religious, the marginally religious and religious fanatics. Like bees to honey, an important religious landmark, be it the Temple or a Cathedral, attracts a human circus.

For 14 years, from 1983-1997, I had the privilege of being the pastor of the Cathedral of the Assumption in Louisville. From confessions that would curl your hair, to mental cases that would work your nerves, it was, by far, the most interesting pastoral assignment I have ever had, bar none! On my first day, I had to deal with a homeless man who had the urge to take off all his clothes to scare old ladies. I had to pull a drunk out of the bishop’s throne. I had to wrestle a stalker to the floor who pulled a knife on me over a homily. I mistakenly called the cops on the archbishop. I have had a man drop dead during a wedding, babies pee on me during baptisms and altar servers vomit on me during Mass. I had to drag a screaming woman from the altar steps to the back door through a wide-eyed congregation, too frozen to move. I was panhandled and manhandled.

In my 14 years, I probably met at our Cathedral most of the types that Jesus met in the Jerusalem Temple, including the poor “widow woman” of today’s gospel. This woman taught me a very important lesson about priesthood.

I was running late for the noon mass. I was going to the back of the Cathedral for something when I was confronted by a “bag lady” coming at me, with both arms waving to get my attention. I was used to it, so used to it, that I thought I “had seen it all” when it came to “street people.” As soon as I spotted her, I just assumed that she wanted money. I had been down that road so many, many times. Before I could get my well-rehearsed “come back later” or “go see our social worker” speech out, she asked excitedly, “Father, where is the poor box? I want to make a donation!” At that she opened her dirty hand and there she clutched her gift of a few nickels and pennies for the “poor box.” I had stereotyped and judged her by her appearance. Her generous “widow’s mite” judged me!

This modern-day version of the “widow and her mite” taught this priest several lessons. (1) You never know what is going on inside the people, merely through external observation, so always “take off your shoes” and approach them as you would “holy ground.” There is nothing as dangerous as a judgmental, “know it all” priest, be he a young priest or an old priest. (2) As Jesus taught the Pharisees, some of the people may have the appearance of saints, but inside are like whitewashed tombs, while some of those who appear to you to be terrible sinners may just turn out to be living saints. “Do not judge, lest you be judged.” (3) Generosity has very little to do with the size of the gift. Many big givers give once in a while from their surplus, but the ones who really keep parishes going are the many consistent little gifts from people who have to sacrifice to give.

The woman today has an important lesson to teach us and that is: generosity is always rewarded, and often extravagantly! As Anne Frank, the young Jewish girl from Holland who was forced to live for two years in a secret attic by the Nazis, being caught and ending up dying in a prison camp, wrote during World War II, “No one has ever become poor by giving.” Generosity is what many women have taught me over my lifetime!