Knights General Information
Volunteer Service
As the Order has grown, its benevolence has increased. The Order continues to break all of its previous records for charitable contributions and volunteer service. In the past decade, the Knights have raised and donated nearly $1 billion to numerous charitable causes and volunteered nearly 400 million hours of service. Last year alone, the Knights donated more than $125 million and more than 60 million volunteer hours to charitable causes.
The Protection Of Human Life
The Knights of Columbus is unambiguously and proudly pro-life. In accordance with the teachings of the Catholic Church, the Order defends human life from the moment of conception until natural death. Building a new Culture of Life where every human life is welcomed, respected and protected by law is one of the highest priorities of the Order.
Community Involvement
The history of the Knights of Columbus's involvement in community life is a record of outstanding benevolent achievement. Knights volunteer in a variety of charitable enterprises to serve the people and programs of their communities.
Volunteerism informed by Christian concern is the hallmark of the Knights of Columbus. It results in outstanding contributions of time and talent to the Catholic Church, our communities, families, young people and brother Knights.
Much of the success of the Order's volunteer record can be attributed to the fact that the Supreme Council does not mandate participation in any volunteer initiative. Fraternal and charitable programs arise at the grassroots level to meet the local needs.
As the Order has grown, its benevolence has increased. The Order continues to break all of its previous records for charitable contributions and volunteer service. In the past decade, Knights raised and donated nearly $1 billion to numerous charitable causes and volunteered nearly 400 million hours of service. Last year, the Knights gave more than $125 million and more than 60 million volunteer hours to charitable causes.
Church Support
Supporting the Catholic Church has been a hallmark of the Knights of Columbus since its founding in 1882. From funding the restoration of the facade of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome to operating an usher ministry at a local parish, the Knights of Columbus serves the Church in countless ways. Annually, the Order raises and distributes more than $45 million to Church groups in support of programs at the local, national and international levels. Local Knights and their families donate more than 25 million hours of volunteer time to the Church each year.
Supporting vocations to the priesthood and religious life is a top priority of the Knights of Columbus.
One of the greatest services any Catholic can perform for the Church is to foster priestly and religious vocations. State and local council vocations committees foster vocations through prayers and offer wide-ranging support for vocations through the following initiatives:
Refund Support Vocations Program (RSVP)
The Supreme Council encourages local councils to support vocations by giving a $100 refund to a local council whenever it donates $500 to a seminarian or postulant. Since 1981, more than $22 million has been contributed under this program to tens of thousands of seminarians, novices and postulants. In addition to the material support provided by RSVP, Knights and their families also provide moral support by "adopting" a seminarian or postulant. They write letters of support, offer prayers and invite their adopted candidate to council-sponsored activities.
Vocations Scholarship Fund
The Order maintains a vocations scholarship endowment fund, from which annual scholarships of $2,500 are awarded to deserving seminarians. Since 1992, this program has assisted more than 500 seminarians. These scholarships are administered by the Supreme Council and are reserved for those who have advanced to the theologate.
Support of Seminarians Abroad
The Knights of Columbus also has funds to support the missions of the national colleges for priestly training in Rome: the North American College, the Pontifical Canadian College and the Pontifical Mexican College. Another fund supports the American College in Louvain, Belgium.
Keep the Faith Alive
This series promotes vocations awareness through full-page color advertisements on the back cover of each issue of Columbia magazine. Each month features pictures and a vocation narrative of a person who has chosen to answer God's call to the priesthood or religious life.
