St. Marguerite d'Youville Parish
For the latest information and activities happening at St. Marguerite D'Youville Parish Church, please visit: https://stmargueritedyouville.archtoronto.org/
Pastoral Visits
We welcome the Pastoral Team from St. Marguerite D'Youville Parish Church who will be visiting students in our school throughout the year. We thank them for their blessings and support.
Pastoral Plan
Each year our school, in partnership with St. Marguerite D'Youville Parish Church, prepares a Pastoral Plan to outline and guide the Religious Education, Faith Formation and Social Justice activities and initiatives within the school. Please review Venerable Michael J. McGivney School's Pastoral Plan for 2021-2022 here: Elementary Pastoral Plan
Our Patron - Venerable Michael J. McGivney
SOURCED FROM: Venerable Michael McGivney (http://www.fathermcgivney.org/mcg/en/life/history/roots.html), Retrieved: August 28, 2018
Father Michael McGivney was born in Waterbury, Conn., on August 12, 1852. His parents, Patrick and Mary (Lynch) McGivney, had arrived in the great 19th century wave of Irish immigration. Patrick McGivney became a molder in the heat and noxious fumes of a Waterbury brass mill. Mary McGivney gave birth to 13 children, six of whom died in infancy or childhood. Therefore, the first child, Michael, with four living sisters and two brothers, learned early about sorrow and the harsh grip of poverty. Thanks to his parents' example, he also learned about the powers of love and faith, and family fortitude.
At the age of 16 in 1868, with the priesthood clearly in mind, he traveled with his Waterbury pastor to Quebec, Canada. There he registered at the French-run College of St. Hyacinthe. He worked hard on subjects which would prepare him to apply for seminary admission. After two academic years at Our Lady of Angels Seminary, which was attached to Niagara University in Niagara Falls, N.Y., young McGivney moved to Montreal, where he attended seminary classes at the Jesuit-run St. Mary's College.
He was there when his father died in June of 1873. Lacking funds and concerned about his family, McGivney went home for his father's funeral and lingered awhile in Waterbury. Then, at the request of the bishop of Hartford, he entered St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, Md. After four years of study, on December 22, 1877, he was ordained in Baltimore's historic Cathedral of the Assumption by Archbishop (later Cardinal) James Gibbons.
Father McGivney began his priestly ministry on Christmas Day in 1877 as curate of St. Mary's Church in New Haven, the city's first parish. The original Church of St. Mary's was destroyed by fire and so a new stone church had been built on Hillhouse Avenue, one of New Haven's finest residential streets.
Father McGivney worked closely with the young people of St. Mary's parish, holding catechism classes and organizing a total abstinence society to fight alcoholism. In 1881 he began to explore, with various laymen, the idea of a Catholic fraternal benefit society. In an era when parish clubs and fraternal societies had wide popular appeal, the young priest felt there should be some way to strengthen religious faith and at the same time provide for the financial needs of families overwhelmed by illness or death of the breadwinner.
He discussed this concept with Bishop Lawrence McMahon of Hartford, and received his approval. He traveled to Boston to talk with the Massachusetts Catholic Order of Foresters, and traveled to Brooklyn to consult the Catholic Benevolent Legion. He met with other priests of the diocese. Wherever he could, he sought information that would help the Catholic laymen to organize themselves into a benefit society.
People who knew Father McGivney in this period were impressed by his energy and intensity. William Geary, one of the Order's charter members, said that at the first council meeting in 1882, Father McGivney was "Acclaimed as founder by 24 men with hearts full of joy and thanksgiving; recognizing that without his optimism, his will to succeed, his counsel and advice they would have failed."
Father McGivney had originally suggested Sons of Columbus as a name for the Order. This would bind Catholicism and Americanism together through the faith and bold vision of the New World's discoverer. However, the word "knights" replaced "sons" because key members of the organizing group who were Irish-born Civil War veterans felt it would help to apply a noble ritual in support of the emerging cause of Catholic civil liberty.
On March 29, the Connecticut legislature granted a charter to the Knights of Columbus, formally establishing it as a legal corporation. The Order's principles in 1882 were "unity" and "charity." The concepts of "fraternity" and "patriotism" were added later. Each of these ideals played a major role in ceremonials from the beginning. The Columbus-linked themes, says historian Christopher J. Kauffman, "reverberated with pride in the American promise of liberty, equality and opportunity."
In April 1882, Father McGivney, with the permission of Bishop McMahon, wrote
an informative letter about the Knights of Columbus to all the pastors of the Diocese of Hartford. In the letter, Father McGivney stated that the Order's primary objective was to dissuade Catholics from joining secret societies by providing them with Catholic societies that had better advantages at times of death or sickness. He urged each pastor to exert influence "in the formation of a council in your parish." Father McGivney personally installed the first officers of San Salvador Council 1 in New Haven, in May 1882.
Father McGivney's dedication to the Order was evidenced in trips he made to all parts of Connecticut and in handwritten correspondence—little of which survives—about K of C business. Despite all this, he remained an energetic curate at St. Mary's and had constant concern for every parishioner's problems.
Never robust in health, Father McGivney was suddenly stricken with a serious case of pneumonia in January 1890. It hung on. Various treatments for consumptive illness were tried, but his decline continued. The young priest lost physical strength just as the Order he founded was moving toward new vitality, and died on August 14, two days past his 38th birthday.
To mark their 100th anniversary in 1982, the Knights of Columbus brought the remains of Father McGivney from Waterbury back to St. Mary's Church in New Haven, where he founded the Order. There he now rests, in a setting in which daily Mass is offered for deceased Knights and prayers are said in his honor.
On October 31st, 2020, Father Michael J. McGivney was beatified by Pope Francis. He is now referred to as Blessed Michael J. McGivney. In recognition of this event, our school changed its name on May 1st, 2021 to Blessed Michael J. McGivney School.
Prayer to Venerable Michael J. McGivney
O great and glorious God,
you imbued your holy priest,
Father Michael J. McGivney,
with deep priestly virtue and especially
with pastoral concern for the poor,
the orphan, the widow,
for the Christian education of youth,
for the protection of the faith
of the working man of his day.
Now that his priestly ministry continues
to spread to countless millions
throughout the world through the efforts
and influence of the Order
of the Knights of Columbus,
which Father McGivney founded,
we beseech you,
Heavenly Father,
to raise your faithful servant, Michael,
to the honours of the altar.
We ask this favour
through our Lord Jesus Christ
and His holy mother,
Mary and our mother.
Amen.