Blessed Michael J. McGivney was “an outstanding witness of Christian solidarity and fraternal assistance” because of his “zeal” for proclaiming the Gospel and his “generous concern for his brothers and sisters,” Pope Francis said in his apostolic letter of beatification of the founder of the Knights of Columbus.
Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, read the letter during the Oct. 31 Mass of beatification for Fr. McGivney at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford, Connecticut.
In his homily, Cardinal Tobin elaborated on Blessed McGivney’s attributes as a parish priest.
“Fr. McGivney’s life is an illustration of how a holy priest can provide that necessary and intimate connection so crucial in the life and mission of a parish,” the cardinal said.
Blessed McGivney “knew the simple, indispensable requirement for a pastor: to love his people. He was with them in their sorrows, in times of death and bereavement. He was sanctified by doing what parish priests still do, day in and day out.”
His parish was not bound by names on his church’s registration rolls, Cardinal Tobin said. “He was not a stranger to jails and hospitals. He fostered respectful relationships with other Christian churches. He was a bridge-builder who shunned walls.”
In Blessed McGivney, “we see the face of a son of immigrants who gave his life in pastoral service of those most recently arrived in this country,” he said. “We meet the eldest of 13 children, who worked to keep families united in dignity and security; we are in the presence of an apostle who cared for victims of an epidemic before he himself died of the disease.
“We praise God for (the) timeliness of this celebration because 130 years after his death, the brief life of this holy man speaks eloquently to our own path to holiness,” the cardinal said.
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