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They lived in different centuries, but they are amazingly close in thought and attitude. Pope John Paul II and Father Michael J. McGivney -champions of the dignity of the human person and the sanctity of Christian family life.
From the beginning of his long pontificate John Paul has systematically developed a theology of the human person. Created by God with the supernatural destiny of the vision of God in eternity, the human person can only become truly "human" in becoming truly godly, he explains. Thus, life is the most sacred and precious gift possible. Fostering the "culture of life" is not simply about pro-life activities. It is the recognition of the most fundamental truth of our existence: Life itself is a gift from God. Each moment, from the first to the last, is sacred and must be protected from any influences that would diminish or destroy it. The culture of life, John Paul II reminds us, is set against the culture of death.
Father McGivney wrote no theological tracts. He left no texts of sermons for us to study. Yet his actions proclaimed his reverence for life. His ultimate concern was always to bring those he met to the truth of the Gospel. He wanted all men and women to become more truly "human" by drawing closer to God. He saw all works of charity as leading others to their real purpose and goal in life - salvation in Jesus Christ.
Pope John Paul insists that the sacredness of life is a lens for seeing the true meaning of Christian marriage. Matrimony is the sacrament that celebrates and consecrates this instinct for life. In spousal love, life is honored and reverenced; new life is begotten. The family is the sanctuary that protects and nurtures human life.
Our founder's concern in establishing the Knights of Columbus was the preservation of the family. Good men will make good fathers and husbands. And when the father is lost to the family through death, the Knights must provide the spiritual and material support needed to keep the family strong and unified. Our Holy Father's theology of the person and the family has led to a great emphasis on the role of the laity in furthering the mission of Christ on earth. The call to sanctity is not reserved for priests and religious. It is the proper vocation of all Christians. The new evangelization depends upon the acceptance of this call to holiness by ordinary men and women if the leaven of the Gospel is to counteract the forces of darkness and death on our cultural and religious horizons. We are all called to become saints.
Father McGivney's legacy is not found in his preserved writings but in his record of action. This record suggests an almost identical vision with John Paul II. Father McGivney was an apostle of Christian family life. Such apostolic zeal can only endure if based on a profound sense of the beauty and dignity of the human person. He entrusted the work of Catholic family action to the laymen in his pastoral care. This was at a time in history when the unique contributions of the laity to the life and growth of the Church were not recognized.
It is not Father McGivney's preserved words that reveal his attitude toward marriage and the family, but his apostolic works. The Servant of God, destined to found the Knights of Columbus to carry on his work and vision, was always sensitive to the sufferings of those around him. He was determined to do something to alleviate that suffering. His Knights were to be knights of Christ. To reach out to widow or orphan, to work for better education, to provide care for the sick and imprisoned, meant that a response to the human need was to prepare the neighbor for the advent, the touch of God. A better life meant a life more disposed to the gift of faith.
The intertwining of faith and charity formed the first principles, the first two "pillars" of Father McGivney's fraternal benefit society. The development of the Order and its subsequent expansion can only be understood by returning to these fundamental truths. It was faith in God as the source of all human life and our destiny to share his life in heaven that provided our founder with his convictions about the person and the role of the family in society at large. To value and protect life was for him an act of faith. To desecrate or destroy life was to deny God.
In 1882, the same year that he founded the Knights of Columbus, Father McGivney was battling for the soul of a condemned murderer, young James "Chip" Smith. Father McGivney saw the horror of the young man's crime in taking the life of another, but he also recognized the beauty of the life of the criminal. He was determined to bring him to God. His walk with Smith to the gallows and their final words of farewell witness to the power of the conversion that took place. One life was saved even as it ended through the determination and care of the young curate whose faith and charity could not be extinguished.
As we rejoice in the blessing of the pontificate of Pope John Paul II we rejoice as well in the gift of our founder who was a great forerunner of the culture of life. Father McGivney, intercede for us.
Dominican Father Gabriel B. O'Donnell is working in Rome as postulator of the cause for canonization of Father McGivney.
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