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Through the Order’s Refund Support Vocations Program (RSVP), councils assemblies and Squires circles “adopt” one or more seminarians or postulants and provide them with financial and moral support. The overall goal of the Order is to have every seminarian and postulant in the areas where the Order exists, supported by a local council, assembly or circle.
In addition to financial support, assistance through this program also involves prayer and moral support, including letters and visits (at least four letters and one personal contact per seminarian in every fraternal year). In this way, besides providing financial assistance, RSVP creates bonds of friendship between Knights and future priests, many of whom join the Order and become chaplains.
For 2004-05, more than 2,500 local units reported raising and donating $2,520,478 to financially assist a total of 4,392 seminarians, postulants and novices, through the RSVP program.
Qualifying councils and assemblies receive a $100 refund for every $500 donated, up to a limit of $2,000 donated to an individual, while the refund for Squires is $20 for every $100 donated. In the Philippines and Mexico, councils and assemblies receive the equivalent in local currency of $50 for every $250 donated. The maximum refund a council or assembly can receive is $400 per individual submitted.
Since the establishment of the program in 1981, more than $34 million has been raised and contributed to nearly 44,000 seminarians and postulants.
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