I recently traveled to the Diocese of Columbus to celebrate Mass and attend a picnic for foster and adoptive families in the greater Columbus area. As Spiritual Director of Springs of Love, I thought it was important to personally meet some of these heroic families answering God’s call to bring His beloved children into their homes. I wanted to hear their stories. I wanted to learn of their challenges and joys. I wanted to understand how the Church could better serve foster and adoptive families. I wanted to observe how families interact — with each other and with others who share their journey. Most of all, I wanted to celebrate Mass with them. I wanted to foster (no pun intended) an encounter with Jesus Christ, who is the fullness of love. What started from a priest’s heart to be near the people he has been called to serve quickly turned into one of the most grace-filled moments of my priesthood.
The Mass took place at St. John Neumann Parish in Sunbury, OH. The parish’s pro-life ministry sponsored the event, generating what I’m sure is a new initiative to many Catholic families involved in fostering and adoption. As providence would have it, the first reading the Church gave us for Mass that day was Exodus 2:1–15 — the adoption of Moses. The text recalls how Moses, the infant Hebrew taken from the waters of the Nile by the daughter of Pharaoh, was adopted and raised by a woman who could have easily been shunned by her father after he had decreed that all male Hebrew babies should be executed. The daughter, who is interestingly unnamed, cooperated with God’s plan to raise the Hebrew child who would go on to be the hinge point of freeing the Israelites from Egypt and the establishment of the Jewish faith.
The reading gave us the opportunity to recall how divine providence gives us all the opportunity to play a role in the story of salvation — and the greater good that God brings about specifically through fostering and adoption.
The picnic itself took place in a pavilion on the parish campus, adjacent to a playground where the children played. As soon as I arrived, I noticed foster and adoptive families interacting as if they had known each other forever. Perhaps some of them did; most did not. As the children played and families conversed, I made my way around the space to speak with as many people as I could.
I met one couple who have fostered and adopted children with physical and developmental challenges. I met families who had adopted children from overseas. I spoke with parents who had fostered and adopted children of another race than their own. I met people who were discerning the call to foster or adopt — perhaps attending the event just to see what it might be like. Hopefully, they walked away knowing that the Church, through Springs of Love, stands ready to support them every step of the way.
There were also people present who weren’t necessarily planning to foster or adopt but were looking for ways to get involved — perhaps through respite care or by serving foster and adoptive families in tangible ways.
One of the most enlightening conversations I had was with Mrs. Kathleen Paydo. Kathleen and her husband, Ron, have fostered over 200 children throughout their marriage. To say my jaw dropped when I learned that is an understatement. We talked about the graces and challenges that come with fostering. She shared ways the Church could better support foster families. I asked her about the connections she and Ron have maintained with the children they’ve fostered. She told me about boys’ and girls’ reunion weekends they host for those children. Kathleen also gave me copies of the books she’s written on fostering and parenting. Read them — they’re excellent!
As moving as all these conversations were, the greatest grace I received that day came from my interactions with the children. One little boy approached me after Mass and said, “Father, I loved your homily because I was adopted.” Another child said, “Father, you and I have something in common — I’m adopted too.” One young girl told me about her deep love for Jesus — and shared, with some disappointment, that one of the prizes she won wasn’t a “Jesus prize.”
These brief encounters — and watching the children play and interact with their families — filled me with gratitude and awe. These children were loved. No matter where they came from, what they had been through, or how they arrived at this moment, there was no mistaking it: they were loved by God, loved by the Church, and loved by their families.
You cannot tell me that’s not God’s grace at work. And it was more than worth the five-hour drive from western Kentucky to central Ohio to witness it.
Fr. Christopher Kight is a priest for the Diocese of Owensboro, KY, and the Spiritual Director of Springs of Love. He was adopted into a Catholic family at six weeks old, and believes it is the Church’s responsibility to care for children and families involved in fostering and adoption. On our blog, he offers occasional spiritual insights and reflections that pertain to our mission at Springs of Love.
