Fr. Christopher Kight is seen on Jan. 13, 2025, at Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in Hopkinsville, Ky., where he serves as the parochial vicar. Fr. Kight recently took on the additional role of spiritual director for Springs of Love, a national Catholic foster and adoption support ministry. ELIZABETH WONG BARNSTEAD | WKC

Fr. Kight serving as spiritual director for Catholic foster/adoption ministry

BY ELIZABETH WONG BARNSTEAD, THE WESTERN KENTUCKY CATHOLIC

As the new spiritual director for a Catholic adoption and foster support ministry, Fr. Christopher Kight sees himself as “bringing the Good News of the Gospel to people who have experienced suffering on so many levels.”

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

He recently took on the additional role of spiritual director for Springs of Love, a national organization based in Pennsylvania whose 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 Fr. Kight in a Jan. 13 interview with The Western Kentucky Catholic. “I was adopted at six weeks old… there was never a time I didn’t feel loved or wanted,” 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, Fr. 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, Fr. Kight says this type of ministry had never crossed his mind while in seminary.

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

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

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

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

“I went back and prayed some more,” said Fr. 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, Fr. Kight called Dr. Henkel and said he was on board, as long as he could properly balance it with his parish assignment.

Since then, Fr. 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,” Fr. Kight told the WKC. 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 Fr. 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.’”

Fr. 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 Fr. 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.

Fr. 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.”

Learn more about Springs of Love at springsoflove.org.

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Originally printed in the February 2025 issue of The Western Kentucky Catholic.