IWKnights Corner For August 22, 2021
– Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

Did you know this about the IW Knights of Columbus?

"Blessed Michael McGivney is known especially for favors related to employment and finances, reconciling family members, overcoming addiction, recovering from serious illness, and conversion or return to the Church.  His first feast day was Aug. 13, so in this series we share the stories behind three of these reports below.  "This story is entitled 'WHEN TWO OR THREE ARE GATHERED' by Brian Caulfield- the vice postulator of the cause for canonization of Blessed Michael McGivney".

"Vince Famularo had a case of COVID-19 that quickly went from bad to worse to death’s door. Doctors told his wife, Joan, and their four grown children that he was failing fast and perhaps beyond treatment.  Yet, today he is back home and relatively healthy — thanks, he believes, to the intercession of Our Lady and Blessed Michael McGivney.

Famularo, grand knight of Msgr. Joseph Kerin Council 12654 in Huntersville, N.C., was hospitalized Jan. 8 and admitted to the intensive care unit a few days later.  When members of Council 12654 heard about his serious condition, they quickly organized a prayer vigil at St. Mark’s Church.  Knights and other parishioners turned out in large numbers to pray the rosary, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and the Prayer for the Canonization of Blessed Michael McGivney.

'Turning to Father McGivney was the logical thing to do,' said John Passarelli, deputy grand knight. 'His intercession would be particularly important, I believed, in trying to bring back the fellow who is in charge of our council.'

'It was amazing to see the community of the church, and to know that [Vince] was loved by so many,' recalled his wife, Joan.

Soon after the prayer vigil, doctors saw a marked improvement in Vince’s condition and told Joan that she could visit him.  They had been separated for 23 days, the longest they’d ever been apart in their 50 years of marriage.  Vince vividly recalls the moment he opened his eyes and saw her in the room.

'When I saw it was my wife, I really brightened up,' he said.  'Just being able to hold her hand; it was an exciting moment.'

He was released from the hospital in late January and heard about the prayer vigil for his recovery.  'It really began to come together, why I recovered soon after that,' he said.

'God was with us,' said council member Ray Fitzgerald.  'It’s one of those things that makes your heart feel fonder for the Knights, seeing what we can do together.'

Recalling his days in the hospital and the prayers of his family, friends and brother Knights brings tears to Vince’s eyes and joy to his heart.  He believes he has been touched by the divine.

'I am convinced that the Blessed Mother and Father McGivney, by their intercession, allowed me the opportunity to complete my mission here on earth,' he said.  'I have such a new understanding of the power of prayer.  It is real.  When two or three people are gathered together in Christ’s name, he is in their midst. He can change anything.'"

To find the link to our feature story - information on the Knights of Columbus can be found atIWKnights9981.com/bulletin or on facebook.com/IWknights9981 and NOW on Twitter at twitter.com/IwKnights.

Links Related to this week’s column:

A Friend in Times of Need
	Devotion to Father McGivney is growing — and so are reports of his intercessory help.
		By Brian Caulfield, Knights of Columbus' Columbia Magazine (7/1/2021)
			Click here for Article

Prayer for Protection in Time of Pandemic
	A Novena which seeks Our Lady’s Intercession for Protection in Time of Pandemic
		By His Holiness, Pope Francis (3/2020)
		A PRAYER FOR PROTECTION IN TIME OF PANDEMIC (PDF Version)
				Click here for the Prayer