new Blessed Michael McGivney Pilgrimage Center in New Haven, Conn.

NEW HAVEN, Conn., The Knights of Columbus marked Father Michael McGivney's beatification with a weekend-long celebration, consisting of a ribbon slicing at the new Blessed Michael McGivney Pilgrimage Center in New Haven, Conn.

 

The weekend's festivities commenced with individuals of the clergy, Knights of Columbus and friends gathered at St. Mary's Church in New Haven, Conn., on Friday, Oct. 30, the eve of Father Michael McGivney's beatification, for a "Prayer Vigil for Priests." Archbishop Leonard Blair of Hartford presided over the vigil, which covered reflections about Father McGivney's every day lifestyles as a priest and classes on the instance he gives clergy today.

The reflections had been provided via Msgr. Joseph Donnelly, pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Southbury, Conn.; Dominican Father Gabriel O'Donnell, director of the Father McGivney Guild and vice postulator of the motive for canonization; Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, who serves as supreme chaplain of the Knights of Columbus; and Daniel Schachle, a Knights of Columbus familiar agent and the father of Michael McGivney Schachle, the 5-year-old recipient of the miracle which led to Father McGivney's beatification.

During the vigil, Daniel Schachle spoke about his son's astounding recovery and the ride that led them there.

Daniel Schachle said, "We are so humbled by way of this greater grace from heaven. We did not deserve it; we simply saved doing what we concept God would want." Schachle added, "Our founder is proof that one proper priest can make a distinction for the total world."

On Saturday, Oct. 31, the Catholic Church declared Father Michael J. McGivney "blessed," the ultimate step earlier than canonization as a saint.

Father McGivney used to be accorded the title "Blessed" via an apostolic letter from Pope Francis that was once examine in Latin by means of Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, N.J., as section of the Mass of beatification at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford, Conn. A tapestry of Father McGivney's portrait used to be unveiled in the cathedral sanctuary after the letter used to be read.

Pope Francis credited Blessed Michael McGivney for his "zeal for the proclamation of the Gospel and beneficiant challenge for his brothers and sisters" that "made him an first-rate witness of Christian cohesion and fraternal assistance."

After reciting his Angelus on Sunday, Nov. 1, Pope Francis spoke of the Knights' founder: "Yesterday, in Hartford, in the United States of America, Michael McGivney, diocesan priest, founder of the Knights of Columbus, used to be proclaimed blessed. Committed to evangelization, he did his utmost to meet the wishes of the needy, merchandising mutual aid. May his instance stimulate us all to undergo witness greater and extra to the Gospel of charity. A spherical of applause to the new blessed!"

Celebrations persisted in New Haven with a ribbon slicing at the Blessed Michael McGivney Pilgrimage Center on Sunday. The core will be positioned at the modern-day Knights of Columbus Museum in New Haven, Conn.

When he first introduced the middle this August, Supreme Knight Carl Anderson said, "While the museum will proceed to recount the Knights' history, it will additionally develop its mission through focusing greater on the spirituality and charitable imaginative and prescient of our founder and his legacy. A go to to the Blessed Michael McGivney Pilgrimage Center will beautify the formative journey of a pilgrimage to Father McGivney's tomb at St. Mary's."

The weekend concluded with a Mass of thanksgiving for newly Blessed Michael McGivney at St. Mary's Church in New Haven, Conn. Supreme Chaplain Lori used to be the essential celebrant of the Mass, joined through Archbishop Leonard Blair of Hartford, his predecessor Archbishop Daniel Cronin who initiated Father McGivney's purpose for canonization in 1997, and additionally Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki of Lviv, Ukraine, to which the Knights improved in 2013.

Anderson spoke at the conclusion of Mass about McGivney. He described his missionary spirit, working on the peripheries in a century when the Catholic Church viewed the U.S., and even St. Mary's parish, as "mission territory." It was once additionally a time when Catholics confronted prejudice and violence for their faith. But it used to be these situations that stimulated Blessed McGivney's "great achievement" — the founding of the Knights of Columbus.

"Father McGivney would now not enable his parish to end up a ghetto," Supreme Knight Anderson said. "Nor would his rectory be a cloister. He would now not be a bystander to the exceptional challenges of his day. He was once a parish priest who would be in the world, however no longer of it."

Supreme Knight Anderson added, "This is how Father McGivney lived his lifestyles as a parish priest. This is why these days we name him blessed. And this is the place we discover his religious genius: He opened a sensible course for hundreds of thousands of guys to comply with him in dwelling this reality of Christian charity."

The Mass concluded with Supreme Chaplain Lori providing Archbishop Blair with a principal relic of Blessed McGivney for the Cathedral in Hartford, as properly as a recitation of the prayer for canonization at Blessed McGivney's tomb.