The Many Places Father McGivney Is Honored

The K of C founder is remembered around the world through buildings and art named for him

The Catholic University of America

The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., renovated a prominent academic building and dedicated it as McGivney Hall on Dec. 8, 2008. The five-story limestone structure of modern-classical design was built in 1958 after the university received a major grant from the K of C. It now serves as the home for the North American campus of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family. Knights in Catholic University Council 9542 also meet in the building.

Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

Right next door to The Catholic University of America is the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. In the sacristy of the lower Crypt Church, a stained-glass window depicts Father McGivney; the window was funded by the Knights of Columbus and dedicated Nov. 15, 1998. Bishop Thomas V. Daily of Brooklyn, supreme chaplain at the time, blessed the image. Today, priests may pray in front of the image as they vest for Mass.

Hometown Statue and Street

Father McGivney’s hometown of Waterbury, Conn., recognized the good name and works of its native son in 1957, when it erected a memorial statue near city and state offices. The monumental bronze statue stands high upon a granite pedestal, depicting Father McGivney holding a copy of the Gospels in his left arm as he lifts his right hand toward heaven. The four polished sides of the pedestal each exemplify a principle of the Knights of Columbus: charity, unity, fraternity and patriotism.

Statue Blessed in Pastor’s Parish

With the encouragement of Father Robert J. Grant, Knights from Atlantic Council 18 of Thomaston, Conn., purchased a 4-foot statue of Father McGivney in 2012 and installed it just inside the front entrance of St. Thomas Church, where Father McGivney served as pastor from November 1884 until his death in the rectory Aug. 14, 1890. When the statue was installed 128 years later, Father Grant asked parishioners to turn to Father McGivney as a heavenly intercessor in times of trouble and illness.

Illinois Catholic High School

The first U.S. high school to be named for Father McGivney was opened in the fall of 2012 with 19 freshmen, in the unused wing of another Catholic school in Maryville, Ill. By 2015, the enrollment was large enough for the Father McGivney Catholic High School to open its own building in Glen Carbon. Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield blessed and dedicated the building. The school motto is Servire Culturae Vitae (To Serve the Culture of Life).

Stained-Glass in Utah Church

Showing that they serve as the “strong right arm” of their pastor, members of Bishop Joseph Federal Council 14399 in South Ogden, Utah, placed an image of Father McGivney in Holy Family Church. The council consulted a liturgical designer to create and install the window, which was blessed by Salt Lake City Bishop John C. Wester on Aug. 18, 2012.

Niagara Falls Cataract Church

The most eye-catching feature of a $200,000 renovation at St. Mary of the Cataract Church in Niagara Falls, New York, is a series of eight roundels, or round portraits, that adorn the church's interior. The mosaics feature North American saints such as Elizabeth Ann Seton, Frances Xavier Cabrini and Katharine Drexel, as well as Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha. One image is of Father McGivney, who studied in the 1870s at the College and Seminary of Our Lady of Angels, which is now Niagara University.

Canada

Ontario Catholic Academy

Father Michael J. McGivney Academy is a state-of-the-art high school in Markham, Ontario, Canada. Stained-glass windows, contributed by Markham Knights of Columbus, depict Father McGivney comforting widows, orphans and the sick.

Father Michael J. McGivney Hall in Alberta

With support from the Supreme Council, Knights from councils in Calgary, Alberta, raised and donated $235,000 to transform an old Protestant church into the Father Michael J. McGivney Hall at St. Mary’s University College in Calgary.

Europe

McGivney Plaque in Ireland

In honor of the Irish heritage of the McGivney family, a bronze plaque was placed at St. Mary’s Church in Crosserlough, County Cavan, the parish where the priest’s father was born. The plaque is adorned with an image of Father McGivney, flags of the U.S. and Ireland, along with an inscription about his father, Patrick, and his mother, Mary Lynch. The two were married after settling in America, and their first child, Michael, was born in 1852 in Waterbury, Conn. Present-day members of the Irish branches of the McGivney and Lynch families attended the plaque ceremony on April 9, 2018.

North American College, Rome

An addition to the 160-year-old Pontifical North American College in Rome features a stained-glass window of Father McGivney, one of two U.S. priests portrayed in the new facility’s chapel. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, then-Vatican secretary of state, dedicated the building with the stained-glass on Jan. 6, 2015, the feast of the Epiphany.

Asia

McGivney House in Iraq

As part of the ongoing efforts to aid Christians in the Middle East, the Knights of Columbus sponsored an apartment building for families who were driven from their homes by ISIS. Opened in early 2019 in Erbil, Iraq, McGivney House features 140 units, with special apartments for the elderly who need extra assistance. The house includes a chapel and is located within walking distance of a Catholic church. Supreme Knight Carl Anderson visited the facility in March 2019, when Archbishop Bashar Matti Warda of Erbil blessed an image of Father McGivney.

Manila Oratory and Cupola

Three sites were dedicated to Father McGivney in the Philippines during the May 2012 visit of Supreme Knight Anderson to the country. They include a multimedia studio at the headquarters of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), as well as a cupola and oratory at the headquarters of KCFAPI, the Knights’ insurance program in the Philippines.

Become a member of the Father Michael J. McGivney Guild, which provides information about the life, works and spirituality of Father McGivney. The guild also publishes a quarterly newsletter and offers a weekly Mass for the intentions of members.