Church must walk with adoptive, foster parents on their journey, says Kentucky priest

OWENSBORO, Ky. (OSV News) -- As the new spiritual director for a national Catholic adoption and foster support ministry, Father Christopher Kight sees himself as "bringing the good news of the Gospel to people who have experienced suffering on so many levels."

Father Kight, the parochial vicar of Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in Hopkinsville, was himself adopted, as was his younger brother.

He recently took on the additional role of spiritual director for Springs of Love, which is based in Pennsylvania. The organization's mission is to raise up more Catholic foster and adoptive families and to support those whose lives have been touched by fostering and adoption.

"I'm an anomaly," said Father Kight in an interview with The Western Kentucky Catholic, newspaper of the Diocese of Owensboro. "I was adopted at 6 weeks old. ... There was never a time I didn't feel loved or wanted," he said, adding that his family annually celebrates his adoption day on Jan. 31 and his brother's on July 24.

"But what I've come to realize is that many people who were adopted were told that they are burdens and not treated with dignity," he said. "By the grace of God, I was spared from that."

As the Springs of Love spiritual director, Father Kight hopes to be "someone who can enter in and walk with them on that journey" -- whether "they" are adoptive or foster parents, or people who themselves were adopted or in foster care.

Ordained a priest of the Diocese of Owensboro in 2023, Father Kight says this type of ministry had never crossed his mind while in seminary.

But shortly after his ordination, his friend Father Jamie Dennis connected him with a parishioner who is an adoptive parent, who emphasized the Catholic Church's responsibility to respond to the needs of children in the foster care system.

Over the next few months Father Kight prayed about what his role might be in this area. Through a series of providential conversations, he was put in touch with Kimberly Henkel, the founder and executive director of Springs of Love.

After meeting and conversing on Zoom, Henkel asked Father Kight if he would consider serving as the spiritual director for the organization.

Father Kight knew his assignment as parochial vicar of Sts. Peter and Paul took precedence and discussed this idea with his pastor, Father Emmanuel Udoh. Father Udoh immediately affirmed the idea and urged Father Kight to speak with Bishop William F. Medley for his perspective.

"I went back and prayed some more," said Father Kight -- and scheduled a meeting with Bishop Medley. The bishop gave his permission and even shared some of his experiences from his previous life as a social worker for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

This past fall, Father Kight called Henkel and said he was on board, as long as he could properly balance it with his parish assignment.

Since then, Father Kight has participated in the ongoing creation of a Springs of Love curriculum for Catholic foster and adoptive families. He also reached out to his fellow diocesan priests to spread the word about Springs of Love, inviting them to consider starting a foster care/adoptive ministry in their parishes.

He said there needs to be greater awareness of and support in the Catholic Church of "parishioners around us who have adopted or are considering it, and parishioners around us who have struggled with infertility and the trauma of that."

"One of the things we do well as a church in the United States is talk about abortion," Father Kight told The Western Kentucky Catholic. But in a post-Roe v. Wade society, in which the conversation is more complex, "how do we become more pro-life?" he asked.

He said Springs of Love does not sugarcoat the challenges and heartache of foster/adoptive parents seeking to grow their families, nor the pain and neglect experienced by many children in the foster care system: "They don't hide the messiness."

Instead, the ministry hopes to follow Christ's example and sanctify "the muck and nastiness of the human condition," he said.

"From the pulpit you can say 'your suffering is redemptive,'" said Father Kight, "but you can't just say that to a foster kid who has been abused and abandoned," adding that "the worst thing you can say to someone who's gone through that kind of trauma is 'I understand what you're going through.'"

Father Kight said there are currently about 400,000 children in need of homes across the United States. In Kentucky, there are approximately 8,300 children in out-of-home care, according to Kentucky Health and Family Services.

About 2,200 of these young people have a goal of adoption, with about 30% coming from the 33 western counties of Kentucky. Historically, Daviess, McCracken and Christian counties have reported the highest number of children needing placement; all three of these counties are within the Diocese of Owensboro.

"I firmly believe that it's the job of the church to help in this area," said Father Kight, urging all Catholics to prayerfully discern how they might support foster and adoptive families in their area.

He said this could be as simple as starting a prayer team for these families or coordinating a Meal Train for the foster and adoptive families in one's parish.

Father Kight encouraged those who are considering fostering or adoption to check out Springs of Love and to remember that "if God is calling you to foster or adopt, his grace is sufficient, and he would never call us to do something beyond us -- I firmly believe that."