Knights' founders' beatification backed by Cardinal Bertone

Fr. Michael McGivney began world's largest lay Catholic organization

photo-credit Fr. Michael McGivney

By ANDY TELLI
Catholic News Service
Nashville, Tenn.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the second highest ranking official at the Vatican, told members of the Knights of Columbus that he is taking a personal interest in the beatification process for the order's founder, Father Michael McGivney.

"I hope this recognition (of sanctity) will arrive soon, and I'll personally work on this, so that this day will come soon," Bertone said during his homily, delivered in Italian, at the Aug. 7 opening Mass of the Knights of Columbus' 125th supreme convention.

Bertone's comments on the sainthood cause of McGivney were met with applause from the Knights attending the Mass.

"I was thrilled," Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., the supreme chaplain of the Knights of Columbus, said of Bertone's comments. "I think he appreciates what it would mean for parish priests in the United States and around the world, to have one of their own canonized a saint."

Founded in 1882

McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus at St. Mary's Church in New Haven, Conn., in 1882. The fraternal order for Catholic men has grown to become the largest lay Catholic organization in the world with more than 1.7 million members around the globe.

Bertone, who celebrated the Mass in Latin, used his homily to praise the work of Father McGivney, who died in 1890 at age 38. Referring to the story of Christ walking on water in the midst of a ferocious storm, which was the Gospel for the Mass, Bertone said: "In many respects the storm-tossed boat on the Sea of Galilee seems an apt image for the situation of the local Church at the time of Father McGivney, when the plight of Catholics in America was far from easy.

"This holy priest, however, like Peter in the Gospel story, found the faith and the courage to walk steadfastly toward Christ, and to inspire others by his leadership," the cardinal added.

Like Peter in the Gospel, Bertone said, McGivney answered God's call when he became a priest.

"He also helped others to recognize the call that Christ addressed to them, and to respond generously," he said. "This was the key to his apostolic vision in founding the Knights. . . . He knew that it is not only priests and religious who have a vocation, but that every Christian is called by Christ to carry out a particular mission in the Church."

The process for canonization for Father McGivney was launched in December 1997 by the Archdiocese of Hartford, Conn. McGivney was a priest of the then-Diocese of Hartford.

The archdiocesan phase of the canonization process has been completed and the case has been presented to the Vatican Congregation for Saints' Causes.

Miracle reported

A miracle connected to McGivney has been reported to the congregation, but there has been no ruling on it yet.

Bertone continued his comments on McGivney in his address during a special gala banquet in his honour Aug. 8.

The cardinal said McGivney "had a deep appreciation for the special characteristics of the lay vocation as being thoroughly immersed in the spheres of the family, civil society and public life.

"He made it his goal to develop practical ways of ensuring that faith could be put into concrete action."

But, the cardinal added, McGivney understood that good works lose their deeper meaning "if they are not rooted in faith."

The laity face many obstacles to living a life of faith, Bertone said.

"It is no surprise then that Christians often encounter resistance, opposition and even persecution in the world," he said.

"In short, being a Catholic in the world today takes courage," Bertone said, "yet it takes no more courage than it did when Jesus called his first disciples in Galilee."

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