Refund Support Vocations Program (RSVP)

Through the Knights of Columbus Refund Support Vocations Program (RSVP), councils, assemblies and Squires circles “adopt” one or more seminarians or postulants and provide them with financial assistance and moral support.

RSVP money is used by seminarians and those in religious formation for tuition and books, car insurance and maintenance, travel during vacations, emergency expenditures and other living expenses. Knights provide more than financial support, though. Members write letters to students, sponsor dinners for them, invite them to join the Order and, most importantly, pray for vocations.

Last year, financial help from 3,224 councils, assemblies and circles to future priests, sisters and brothers, exceeded $3.7 million. Since 1981 the Order has provided more than $60 million in aid through RSVP, helping more than 91,600 men and women follow their vocations.

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.

Other Vocations-Related Projects

Other vocations-related projects include:

  • Support for the missions of the national colleges for priestly training in Rome: the North American College, the Pontifical Canadian College and the Pontifical Mexican College.

  • Support for the American College in Louvain, Belgium.

  • Publication of the Keep the Faith Alive series of 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.

  • Funding to the Bishops' Conference of Cuba for a seminary there.

  • Assistance for the construction of a house of discernment for women religious in Brazil.

  • Financial help with renovations for the Polish Pontifical Institute in Rome, and for new construction of a seminary in Tlalpan, Mexico.

  • Financial support for an international meeting of priests convened in Rome by the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy.

  • Contribution to the U.S.-based Institute for Priestly Formation and Institute on Religious Life.