Bellarmine will award an expected 275 degrees during its
December commencement ceremony on Wednesday, December 21. Rev. J. Ronald Knott will deliver the commencement address.
The 6 p.m. ceremony takes place in Knights Hall on Bellarmine’s campus. The university plans to award degrees to 184 graduate and 91 undergraduate students.
Knott, who served as Bellarmine’s director of Catholic worship from 1999 until his retirement this year, will also receive an honorary doctoral degree.
Knott is a Louisville native who was ordained in 1970. As rector of the Cathedral of the Assumption, he oversaw an $11 million renovation of the downtown Louisville cathedral and revitalized its parish, expanding it from 100 members to more than 2,000.
He was founding director of the
Institute for Priests and Presbyterates at St. Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology, which provides lifelong training for ordained priests. The institute’s work has been used in nearly 100 dioceses around the world.
In 2008, he received the Touchstone Award from the National Federation of Priests’ Councils. He also received the National Conference of Christians and Jews Humanitarian Award and The Louisville Forum’s "Fleur-de-lis Award” for community service.
In addition to being the longest-serving campus minister in the university’s history, he created Bellarmine’s annual Blue Christmas Mass in 2010. The service, a more subdued mass for those who are grieving during the holidays, continues to draw a standing-room-only crowd.
He publishes a regular column, “
An Encouraging Word,” in The Record, the weekly newspaper of the Archdiocese of Louisville.
Bellarmine University's commencement
will be livestreamed online.