Venerable Father Michael J. McGivney (1852-90)*

Venerable Father Michael J. McGivney (1852-90)*
In pursuit of the truth – www.cinopsbegone.com – Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

“Father Michael J. McGivney was an idealist. He was a man whose youthful vision and creativity expanded and matured even as his physical well-being diminished. His intense idealism is often expressed today in titles ascribed to him as his cause for canonization progresses: “Apostle to the Young” and “Protector of Christian Family Life” and “Founder of the Knights of Columbus.” These provide an outline for a spiritual portrait of Father McGivney.

“He was drawn to young people. Father McGivney was bonded to the young men and women of his flock in a mutual admiration and respect that endured even after his death in 1890. He was relatively young himself, only 25, when he began his priestly assignment at St. Mary’s Church in New Haven, Conn., and so he understood their aspirations as well as their struggles and temptations. His parents came to the New World seeking refuge from the great potato famine that plagued Ireland in the mid-19th century.

“Apostle” means “one who is sent.” Father McGivney was sent by God to the young people of his time to lead them along a secure path to Christian adulthood. Father McGivney is an apostle to those who, in our own era, struggle to find meaning and purpose in life. He is a heavenly patron for young men and women of the third millennium.

“He was a man of pastoral action. Father McGivney expressed the toll of such a heavy workload in a letter to a former seminary professor: “I have not had time for even one day’s vacation since I left St. Mary’s {Seminary} and was obliged to be at my post alone while Father Murphy was away. So pardon me the delay.” His spirituality flowed from his priestly identity and the primary work of bringing Christ to his people in the sacraments.

“His dedication to the ideals of Christian manhood expressed so clearly in the founding of the Knights of Columbus was never allowed to obscure his ultimate goal of protecting the good of the entire family unit just a couple of years after the Order was established, he began to limit his involvement in the Knights in order to be available to his whole flock.

“He fostered collaboration between the priest and the layman in addressing the serious issues Catholics faced in the second half of the 19th century. He spoke of his fellow Knights as “friends” and had the ability to treat them as friends without diminishing the “apartness” of his priestly conservation and identity.

“While always considered a man of exemplary virtue, Father McGivney was still always approachable. He was loved by his people, particularly his young charges whose souls he so carefully nurtured and formed. No less in death than in life is Father McGivney an apostle to the young and the protector of Christian life.”*

George H. Kubeck - *Dominican Father Gabriel B. O’Donnell Postulator, Cause for Sainthood of Father McGivney and Director of the Father McGivney Guild. www.fathermcgivney.com – 203- 772- 2130, x. 787 - www.kofc.org