In the Connecticut parish where Father Michael McGivney served as pastor, a statue of the founder was installed by the local council and blessed by the current pastor. With the encouragement of Father Robert J. Grant, Atlantic Council 18 of Thomaston purchased the 4-foot, gold-colored statue of Father McGivney from the Supreme Council Supply Department and had it installed just inside the front entrance of St. Thomas Church. During Sunday Mass, Nov. 11, Father Grant blessed the statue and asked parishioners to turn to
Father McGivney as a heavenly intercessor in times of trouble and illness.
A Fourth Degree honor guard took part in the ceremony.
Also attending the Mass and blessing ceremony were Connecticut State Deputy Ralph Grandpre, a member of Council 18, and Vice Postulator Brian Caulfield, who delivered a brief talk after Mass on the life and legacy of Father McGivney. He stressed the fact that Father McGivney, who served as the second pastor of St. Thomas Church from 1884 till his death in 1890, walked the very grounds of the parish, which renamed the street outside the church Father McGivney Way.
