Father Michael McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus in 1882 but died at the young age of 36. Today, however, his organization continues to grow with some 1.7 million members worldwide.
The Patapsco Council 1960 will hold a public meeting on Feb. 28 at 8 p.m. the Patapsco Council Knights of Columbus Hall, across from the Catonsville Library. The address is 1010 Frederick Road. Father Rob Carbonneau, a Passionist priest, historian and director of Passionist achieves for the eastern United States, will be the featured speaker. He will try to answer the questions like, what kind of pastor was Father McGivney? How would he handle parish and ecumenical matters if he were your pastor today?
Father Carbonneau, who is in residence at St. Joseph’s Monastery, Baltimore, holds a Ph.D. from Georgetown University in American and East Asian history. He also reviewed the book, Parish Priest: Father Michael McGivney and American Catholicism. His review was published in the fall of 2006 issue of American Catholic Studies. He will be using notes from his published review to speculate on what a Father McGivney parish would look like today.