The Founder in the Philippines
Msgr. Pedro Quitorio and Philippine Supreme Court Justice Jose C. Reyes, Jr. stand in front of a statue of Father McGivney outside the Manila Offices of KCFAPI. Father Michael McGivney almost certainly did not expect the fraternal Order he established in Connecticut in 1882 to be planted some two decades later in the faraway Philippines, but the fact that the first council was founded in Manila in 1905 is testament to the worldwide and timeless appeal of the Knights of Columbus. The first Knights in the Philippines were Catholic U.S. soldiers stationed in Manila in the aftermath of the Spanish-American…
Remembering Father McGivney 127 years later
MORE than a hundred years ago, a priest who would translate faith into action was born. The Knights of Columbus founder Father Michael McGivney was born on August 12, 1852 to Irish immigrants Patrick and Mary McGivney in Waterbury, Connecticut in a community that was dominantly Protestant and anti-Catholic. The eldest child, Michael experienced pain and hardship at a young age after six of his 12 siblings died in infancy and he was forced to work at a brass factory to help with his family’s finances. Interestingly, it was from his situation of poverty where he answered the call to…
