At a memorial service for Father McGivney, with delegations attending from nearly all of the 57 local councils that had been chartered in the Order’s first eight years, this tribute was given by a brother Knight who later became a priest:
He was a man of the people. He was zealous of the people’s welfare, and all the kindliness of his priestly soul asserted itself more strongly in his unceasing efforts for the betterment of their condition ...Oh, Reverend Founder. . .that act alone which gave life to the Knights of Columbus has surely secured for thee everlasting joy and eternal peace.