PROSPECT HEIGHTS — The unveiling of the first in a series of statues of Blessed Father Michael McGivney spurred joyous enthusiasm on Tuesday, Aug. 13, upon its arrival at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph in Prospect Heights.

Members of the Knights of Columbus from Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island received the statue of Father McGivney, their founder, during his feast day. They honored him with an evening Mass celebrated by Bishop Robert Brennan.

The bishop also blessed and dedicated the bronze-colored statue in the sanctuary before its positioning in the Co-Cathedral vestibule.

Bishop Brennan, who joined the Knights of Columbus at age 20 before he entered the seminary, said Father McGivney represented humility and universal holiness. The statue will remind everyone entering the vestibule that they, too, should pursue those traits.

“Thank you for this image,” Bishop Brennan told the assembled Knights. “I think now of many people, especially during the holy Jubilee year coming up, who will pass through Co-Cathedral and encounter this statue of Blessed Father Michael and be reminded of that universal call to holiness.”

Father McGivney (1852-1890) founded the Knights in 1882 in New Haven, Connecticut, to ease the travails of immigrant Catholics in the U.S., especially widows and orphans.

It has since grown into a global fraternal service organization, dubbed “the strong right arm of the Church” by Pope John Paul II in 2012. An estimated 15,000 Knights belong to parishes in the Diocese of Brooklyn.

Pope Francis in 2020 announced that Father McGivney’s cause for sainthood was approved for beatification and declared him “blessed.” 

Bishop Brennan said Father McGivney demonstrated the “universal call for holiness” before the Second Vatican Council called for it in the early 1960s.

“To say that Blessed Michael McGivney was a man ahead of his time is a little bit of an understatement,” Bishop Brennan said. “He lived holiness in a very powerful way, not in some far off place, but right there in the streets of New Haven.

“He said we have to look after each other; we got to help those who suffer, because of tragedies that go all too common in this land.”

(Photos: Gregory A. Shemitz)

A total of 11 statues will soon appear at each of the other dioceses in New York State — Albany, Buffalo, Ogdensburg, Rochester, Rockville Centre, and Syracuse, plus the Archdiocese of New York.

The New York State Council of the Knights of Columbus has undertaken this initiative at the suggestion of Louis Pepe, grand knight of Bishop Thomas V. Daily Council Knights of Columbus Council, located at the Cathedral Basilica of St. James in Downtown Brooklyn. 

He is also the Knights’ New York State administrative chairman of activities.

Before Mass, Pepe recalled how he suffered from liver ailments in 2017. He prayed to Father McGivney for intercession and subsequently had liver-transplant surgery.

He said this inspired a “brainstorm” to honor the priest with statues in all the major cathedrals in the state, the first ones being in the Diocese of Brooklyn, where the idea for the project took root.

The Cathedral Basilica of St. James will also receive one of the statues in January, said Father Michael Gelfant. He is a chaplain for the Knights of Columbus and pastor of Blessed Trinity Parish in Rockaway Point, Queens.

Father Gelfant and Pepe noted that Cardinal Timothy Dolan has directed that a statue destined for the Archdiocese of New York be posted at St. Joseph Seminary and College at Dunwoodie, Yonkers, to inspire future priests.

Father McGivney continues to inspire people to grow in faith, Pepe said.

“He did everything in his power to keep the brothers and the Catholic faith alive,” Pepe said. “That’s how we started with 12 simple men in the church basement, and now we’re two million strong.”

The Knights have raised $60,000 to purchase the statues, but they still seek donations to cover the total costs of inscriptions and other work, which is estimated to bring the total to $100,000.

Father Gelfant told the congregation that the statues’ design is copyrighted to the Knights of Columbus in New York State.

“Nobody can go and take this statue from us,” he said. “More are already on the way for councils that asked for them. So, people will see this guy — a parish priest who helped the widows, the orphans, and families — all over the place.

“That’s primarily because of you, so thank you.”

How to Donate

Send check payable to New York State Council Knights of Columbus to:

Louis Pepe

93 Rapelye St., 4D

Brooklyn, N.Y., 11231

Write Blessed McGivney Statue Fund in the memo field.