Connecticut Priest take pride in Fr. McGivney's beatification
- Tue, Oct 20, 2020 9:28 AM
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Fr. James Sullivan, rector of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Waterbury, Conn., stands at the McGivney family grave site in the Old St. Joseph Cemetery in Waterbury July 6, 2020. Father Michael J. McGivney — who was buried there for 92 years until his body was moved to St. Mary's Church in New Haven, Conn. — will be beatified Oct. 31 during a Mass at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford, Conn. |
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WATERBURY, Conn. — Msgr. John J. Bevins has been praying a long time that a miracle would be attributed to the intercession of Father Michael J. McGivney and move him one step closer to sainthood.
"I've been praying I would live long enough to see it," he said. "I was elated. We are praying harder now for the second miracle of canonization.”
The miracle needed for Father McGivney's beatification was approved by the Vatican last May. The founder of the Knights of Columbus will be beatified Oct. 31 during a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford, Connecticut.
He will be the first U.S. parish priest to be beatified and will be given the title “Blessed.”
Msgr. Bevins, who served as pastor of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Waterbury from 1991 to 2014, said he holds "great pride" that a man considered for sainthood walked the streets of Waterbury. "I have great pride in the city," he said. “Here, one of our own was raised.”
Waterbury was once a city of parishes where hundreds of thousands of Catholics attended church and were educated in the teachings of the church -- and where many vocations are said to have originated.
One of those vocations was for Father McGivney, the son of Irish immigrants, who was born in Waterbury. He attended local schools and developed his faith at Immaculate Conception Church, now the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, where he was baptized, received the sacraments and said his first Mass as an ordained priest.
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