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Father Michael J. McGivney has been getting a lot of attention in recent months. In January, Parish Priest (William Morrow, $24.95 US/ $32.95), the biography by Douglas Brinkley and Julie M. Fenster, generated lots of interest in him and his cause for canonization. Book signings, television and radio interviews, and newspaper articles abounded. In March, the play He Was Our Father was staged both in New York City and New Haven to mark the 124th anniversary of the founding of the Knights. Like the biography, this dramatic portrayal of Father McGivney drew rave notices and was a great success. Playwright Dominican Father Peter John Cameron captured the spirit of Father McGivney and brought it to life in the theater with the Blackfriars Repertory company of actors. Father McGivney is getting better known and more appreciated beyond the Knights of Columbus.
At one book signing, co-author Julie Fenster commented that Father McGivney might one day become the patron saint of “fun.” She meant, of course, that he spent so much time and energy providing diversion and entertainment for his parishioners, and he was happiest when his life of faith was combined with some rest from the difficulties in a 19th century immigrant community. Baseball and theatrics were his strong suits. Relaxation and fun were an important part of his pastoral vision.
This vision tells us much about Father McGivney’s humanity and his deep understanding of the nature of faith in God. A relationship with Jesus Christ, given to us at baptism, is not a reality to be cordoned off into some “religious” part of our lives. Christ is with us at every moment, and life “in Christ” is meant to be charged with his presence and the power of his grace. No part of a Christian’s life is alien to the one who gave his life for us on the cross and who desires to help us shape our lives according to the example of his self-sacrificing love.
While the young curate of St. Mary’s was somewhat serious and shy by temperament, his consistent life of prayer and his encounter with Christ in daily Mass shaped him into a man just about everybody felt able to approach. As with so many holy men and women, people from every social class and profession saw something in the young priest that drew them to him. He spoke of God whether he was in the pulpit, in the rectory parlor or on the ball field. It was all of a piece for Father McGivney.
The Servant of God was at home in his own humanity and so he understood the weaknesses of others. Even though parishioners attested to his purity of life when he was transferred from St. Mary’s in New Haven to St. Thomas Church in Thomaston, Conn., Father McGivney knew that it was only by God’s grace that he could be faithful and persevering in his vocation and its call to holiness. This basic attitude of humility made him the friend of everyone he met. Children and adults, rich and poor, Catholic and Protestant, ignorant or uneducated were all welcomed into the warmth of Father McGivney’s embrace of charity and priestly zeal.
The source of his virtue is clear: faith in Jesus Christ and a relationship built on meeting him daily in prayer and in the sacraments. The biography Parish Priest and the play about Father McGivney recount facts and incidents in his life, but the deeper, invisible reality of his relationship with Christ and his commitment to the Church must be inferred by each man or woman of faith. The spiritual source of his remarkable virtue and holiness of life can only be attributed to his inner life of union with God.
This is a critical point for a full understanding of Father McGivney’s life and why many believe he should be canonized. More pressing for us, though, is to understand his message and the meaning of his great work in founding the Knights of Columbus. We who are devoted to Father McGivney’s memory and bear the title of his spiritual sons are called to imitate him in a life of daily prayer and frequent reception of holy Communion and the sacrament of confession.
To deliberately omit or neglect one’s morning or evening prayers, no matter how simple, is sinful. Our relationship with God can only flourish when we pay attention to him. That is the lesson we must draw from the life of our founder. Prayer and the sacraments lead us to eternal life with God. If we do not make the development of a life of prayer a priority, we have not yet understood our membership in the fraternal society founded by Father McGivney.
Dominican Father Gabriel B. O’Donnell is postulator for the cause of sainthood of the Servant of God Father Michael J. McGivney.
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