New web site devoted to founder of the Knights of Columbus priest is candidate for sainthood

New Haven, CT - A new Web site (www.fathermcgivney.org) devoted to the life and legacy of Father Michael J. McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus, has been launched to promote his cause for canonization and spread the message of his spiritual genius. An assistant parish priest at St. Mary’s Church in New Haven when he founded the Knights with a handful of laymen in 1882, Father McGivney was given the title Servant of God by the Vatican after his cause was opened in 1997. His remains are entombed at St. Mary’s Church.

Pope John Paul II recently praised Father McGivney’s “prophetic

vision,” and the Vatican is investigating a possible medical miracle performed through the intercession of Father McGivney, a step toward beatification.

The new web site is hosted by the Father McGivney Guild, the official organization promoting his cause for sainthood, and by the Knights of Columbus. It is offered in three languages: English, Spanish and French.

The Guild, with 85,000 members worldwide, is responsible for gathering information about Father McGivney’s life and work, as well as personal testimony regarding miracles and other favors attributed to his intercession. An interactive section of the site allows users to post prayer intentions and favors received, and to read the postings of other users.

Father McGivney was a deeply spiritual man who experienced the

hardships common to urban families of the mid-19th century. The eldest child of a large family in Waterbury, Conn., he went to work at age 13 in a brass factory before beginning studies for the priesthood. His father died while he was in the seminary, leaving his mother to care for the family.

These experiences were among the reasons Father McGivney was determined to found a Catholic fraternal benefit society. The Knights of Columbus is a fraternal benefit society offering low-cost life insurance to immigrant families facing destitution if a breadwinner died. Today the Knights of Columbus has more than $50 billion of life insurance in force. Its insurance program has received the highest possible ratings from both the A. M. Best Co. and Standard & Poor's.

Father McGivney’s greatest legacy is the growth and vitality of the Knights of Columbus, which today has more than 12,000 local units in the United States, Canada, the Philippines, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Panama, the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands, Guatemala, Guam and Saipan. Over the past decade, Knights have raised and donated nearly $1 billion to charity and given nearly 400 million hours in humanitarian service.

For example, the Knights donated $1 million to Special Olympics to send athletes from the United States, Canada and Mexico to the 2003 international Summer Games in Ireland. They provided 2,000 wheelchairs to land mine victims and people with disabilities in Afghanistan. The nature of most service by Knights is determined locally.

Through the Knights of Columbus, Father McGivney gave Catholic laymen a new opportunity – the chance to grow in holiness while contributing to their parishes, communities and security of their families. Today, more and more church leaders are recognizing his spiritual genius in animating the laity.

In Pope John Paul II’s welcome to the Knights of Columbus Board of Directors to Rome in October, 2003 he stated: “In fidelity to the vision of Father McGivney, may you continue to seek new ways of being a leaven of the Gospel in the world and a spiritual force for the renewal of the Church in holiness, unity and truth.”