Fraternal Focus August 2024

FRATERNAL F O CUS

www.kofc648.com

123 Years of Service

AUGUST 2024 Father Maher Council 648 serves Sacred Heart, St. Matthew & St. Pius V Parishes of the Diocese of Saint Augustine

Founded February 16, 1902

Blessed Michael J McGivney

Founder’s Day Edition

FRATERNAL FOCUS AUGUST 2024 FOUNDER’S DAY EDITION CONTENTS

FATHER MAHER COUNCIL 648 2024 -2025 Officers George Fox Grand Knight

GeorgeF4414@aol.com | 904.703.2235

Fr. James Kaniparampil, CMI Chaplain

SHCatholicChurch@gmail.com | 904.771.2152

Rob Martin Deputy Grand Knight

On the Cover Blessed Michael J McGivney as Curate of St. Mary’s Church in New Haven Connecticut

Page 4 Timeline to Sainthood (Part 1)

Martin171@aol.com | 407.448.3561

Open Chancellor

Page 5 Timeline to Sainthood (Part 2)

Brian Higgins Recorder

Brian.Higgins4@gmail.com | 856.701.0602

Alfred Aviles Financial Secretary

FinSec648@gmail.com | 904.742.2276

Edward Collier Treasurer

LTCCollier@aol.com | 904.264.7326

Franklin Herrington, PGK Lecturer

Herr9108@bellsouth.net | 904.868.5783

Don Detky Advocate

DonDetky@gmail.com | 904.465.2313

Kevin Baltes

Page 6 Feast Day of Blessed Michael J McGivney

Page 8 Happy Birthday Blessed Michael J McGivney

Page 9 Prayer for the Canonization of Blessed Michael J McGivney

Page 10 Prayer of Mary, Queen of the Knights

Warden

KBaltes@bellsouth.net | 904.445.8216

James Fallon Inside Guard I

JimnGlo4@comcast.net | 904.463.0534

Dave Smith Inside Guard II

BoatHouse342@gmail.com | 904.303.0666

John Merola Outside Guard

JohnJMerola@hotmail.com | 941.625.2838

Dess Oliver, PGK Trustee 3-Year

Dess.Oliver@yahoo.com | 904.509.9286

Joe Loewenguth, PGK Trustee 2-Year

Jjenguth@gmail.com | 904.589.7507

Tom Measday, PGK Trustee 1-Year

MrGraphicsJax@gmail.com |904.200.5001

St. Mary’s Catholic Church New Haven, CT Father Michael J McGivney’s Parish Church

Timeline to Timeline to sainthood of Blessed Micheal J McGiveny Here’s a timeline of the sainthood cause of Blessed Michael J. McGivney (1852-1890), who founded the Knights of Columbus at St. Mary’s Parish in New Haven in 1882: — Dec. 18, 1997: Archbishop Daniel A. Cronin of Hartford, Connecticut, officially opens Father McGivney’s cause for sainthood. Father McGivney is given the title “Servant of God.” The Father McGivney Guild is established to promote the cause. (The initial work on his sainthood cause began in 1982 on the Knights’ centenary.)

— March 6, 2000: Closing of diocesan investigation into Father McGivney’s life, holiness and virtues.

— Summer 2002: A 1,000-page document — “positio” — laying out the case for Father McGivney’s cause is presented to the Vatican Congregation for Saints’ Causes.

— October 2003: In a message to the Knights of Columbus, St. John Paul II praises the fraternal order and its founder: “In fidelity to the vision of Father McGivney, may you continue to seek new ways of being a leaven of the Gospel in the world and a spiritual force for the renewal of the church in holiness, unity and truth.”

— July 2006: William Morrow/Harper Collins publishes “Parish Priest: Father McGivney and American Catholicism” by historians Douglas Brinkley and Julie Fenster.

Sainthood — March 15, 2008: Pope Benedict XVI confirms that “the theological virtues of faith, hope and love both toward God and neighbor … existed to a heroic degree” in Father McGivney and declares him “Venerable.”

— April 19, 2008: Pope Benedict, in his homily during a votive Mass “for the universal church” at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, cites the “remarkable accomplishment of that exemplary American priest, the Venerable Michael McGivney, whose vision and zeal led to the establishment of the Knights of Columbus.”

— September 2017: Results of an investigation into a possible miracle attributed to the intercession of Father McGivney is sent to the Congregation for Saints’ Causes.

— February 12, 2020: Pope Francis tells the Knights of Columbus board of directors the order has been faithful to the vision of Father McGivney, “who was inspired by the principles of Christian charity and fraternity to assist those most in need.” Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori, the Knights’ supreme chaplain, presents the pope with a copy of “Parish Priest” in Italian.

— May 27, 2020: After extensive medical and theological reviews, the Vatican announces Pope Francis authorized a decree regarding the miracle attributed to the intercession of Father McGivney, opening the way for his beatification.

— Oct. 31, 2020: Father McGivney is beatified during a Mass at Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford, with Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, as the main celebrant and the pope’s representative. Blessed McGivney is the first U.S. parish priest to be beatified.

Blessed Michael J. McGiveny Feast Day: August 13, 2024

The official Feast Day in the Catholic Church of Blessed Father Michael McGivney is August 13.

Patron and founder of the Knights of Columbus. The feast is celebrated annually across the universal Catholic Church.

Bl. Fr. McGivney was born on August 12, 1852 and passed away on August 14, 1890 (aged 38). His feast day is celebrated on the 13th because it falls between these two dates.

Bl. Fr. McGivney was Beatified on October 31, 2020 at the Cathedral of Saint Joseph in Hartford, Connecticut by Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin (on behalf of Pope Francis).

This Cathedral is the Diocesan seat for the Bl. Fr. McGivney’s shrine that also was the final parish church he served at during his life as a Priest and also where he founded the Knights (Church of Saint Mary in New Haven, Connecticut).

Blessed Michael McGivney's Story The eldest son of an immigrant Irish family in Connecticut, young Michael left school at 13 to work in a brass factory making spoons. At 16 he began studies for the priesthood in Quebec but was obliged to leave to help support the family when his father died. Michael completed his education in Baltimore, Maryland, and was ordained for the diocese of Hartford in 1877.

Assigned to St. Mary’s Parish in New Haven, Fr. McGivney was very active in parish and civic affairs, serving as director of public plays and fairs. He volunteered to become the guardian of Alfred Downes, a minor whose father had died leaving a large family in poverty. This situation as well as his own family's circumstances and that of other immigrants impressed on Fr. McGivney the need for lay Catholic men to establish a mutual aid society to provide financial assistance for their families if the primary wage earner died. Protestant fraternal groups already provided this type of life insurance protection for their members.

In 1882, Fr. McGivney formed the Knights of Columbus among a small group of St. Mary's parishioners to promote charity, unity, and fraternity, assisting widows and orphans.

Because of the Knights' emphasis on serving Church, community and family, the organization grew and did not remain strictly parish-based. Patriotism was added as a founding principle in 1900.

Father McGivney died from pneumonia in 1890 and was buried in Thomaston, Connecticut.

Later his body was moved back to St. Mary’s in New Haven where it remains today. He was beatified in 2020.

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity! (Ps 133:1)

Blessed Michael J. McGiveny August 12, 2024

Reflection Michael Joseph McGivney was a genuine pastor who, in the words of Pope Francis, was unafraid to share “the smell of his sheep.” He promoted families whose members were strong in their faith expressed through generous following of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. In a decree read at the beatification Mass, Pope Francis praised Fr. McGivney’s “zeal and the proclamation of the Gospel and generous concern for his brothers and sisters.” These “made him an outstanding witness of Christian solidarity and fraternal assistance.”