Six Big Reasons Why You Should Be a Knight!
1. As an integral part of the world's largest and most dynamic Catholic fraternal organization, you will be united with over 1.7 million Brother Knights and their families in more than 13,000 local councils located in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Philippines, Central America, Japan, the Caribbean and now Poland.
2. Your personal involvement as a Knight will provide opportunities, in charity and fraternity, for service to the Church at the local, diocesan and universal levels, to your communities, and to the less fortunate in our midst.
3. Your active participation in council affairs: spiritual, fraternal, family, social, civic-oriented, athletic and recreational, will serve as a school of leadership and enable you to develop qualities that enhance your strengths and abilities.
4. You will enjoy a sense of "belonging" in an organization that shares your religious beliefs, brings together like-minded men joined in a common cause, and offers the opportunity to develop and cement friendships for years to come.
5. Your concerns for your family and for your retirement years can be addressed by the Order's low-cost insurance program, conducted by Brother Knights for Brother Knights, and assure their security and your peace of mind.
6. You will share in the sense of pride all Knights feel in knowing that their Order is second to none in support of Our Holy Father, our Bishops and Priests; in working for our fellow man, especially those most in need; and in binding together to preserve traditional values in the face of attacks against the family and innocent human life.
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I Bet You Didn’t Know the Knights,
1. Support the spiritual welfare of armed services personnel and their families around the globe through a $900,000 fund for the Archdiocese for Military Services.
2. Underwrote completely the renovation of the entire facade of St. Peter's Basilica in
3. Provide support for such varied apostolate as the Eternal World Television Network; the National Clergy Conference on Alcoholism; Morality in Media; the National Catholic Office for Persons with Disabilities; the National Apostolate with Mentally Retarded Persons.
4. Make available to dioceses and religious institutions a mortgage loan program at favorable interest rates. Over the last 15 years $197.5 million were provided to 214 entities, mostly local parishes.
5. Support a multimillion dollar Student Loan Program for members and their children pursuing higher education, with all seminarians eligible.
6. Established a North American campus of the
7. Bring the Pope to the world at least three times a year by providing the uplink cost for the televising of papal ceremonies, especially at Christmas and during Holy Week- and the downlink in poor mission countries.
8. Presented a new mobile television production unit to the
9. Created the $20 million "Knights of Columbus Vicarious Christi" fund, the earnings on which are conveyed annually to the Holy Father for his charities. Since its inception this fund has generated more than $39 million for the Pope's good works, and the corpus remains intact.
10. Committed $8.8 million to the
11. Have distributed millions of special Knights of Columbus rosaries at the rate of 10,000 per month, especially to new members, and now to former members who are readmitted.
12. Sponsor daily Mass for deceased Brother Knights at St. Mary's Church in
13. Paid over $447 million in benefits to beneficiaries and members, death claims, maturities and annuities and over $343 million in dividends to insurance members.
14. Renovated St. Mary's Church in
15. Provide the entire budget of the National Family Planning offices of the
16. Established the $2 million Count Enrico Galeazzi Fund for the Pontifical North American College for the benefit of the College and for U.S. Bishops, priests, and students there; the Bishop Charles P. Greco Fund for the American College in Louvain, Belgium, and the Father McGivney Fund for the Collegio Pontificio Filipino, the Our Lady of Guadalupe Fund for the McGivney Fund for Advanced Studies for Priests in Puerto Rico.
17. Sponsor the
18. Raised $1 million for the Bishop de Laval Fund, earnings on which annually support the work of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.
19. Contributed, since 1981, over $30 million to thousands of seminarians and postulants through the Refund Support Vocations Program, generating $6.5 million in rebated from the Supreme Council to participating councils, assemblies and circles. Also established the $7 million Knights of Columbus Vocations Scholarship Fund, with earnings funding the RSVP rebates and annual $2,500 scholarships based on need to seminarians in theology.
20. Erected the Knight's Tower and carillon of bells at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, completely renovated it recently, and raised a $500,000 memorial fund in honor of Past Supreme Knight Luke E. Hart to promote Marian devotion at the Shrine and to preserve the Shrine in perpetuity.
21. Created the Father Michael J. McGivney Memorial Fund for New Initiatives in Catholic Education in the amount of $1 million, annual interest on which funds projects designed to improve religious education in the
22. In 1998, raised and distributed $110.7 million and contributed 55 million volunteer-hours in service to Church, community, youth and fellowman through the "Surge...with Service" outreach program.
23. Underwrite, through an annual assessment of $.80 per member, the Order's Catholic Advertising Program, which provides free information on the Catholic faith to interested inquirers- more than 8 million responses and more than 750,000 enrollees in correspondence courses through the years.
And you thought you knew us!!!