Support of priestly and religious vocations is a top K of C priority.  State and local council vocations committees foster vocations through prayers, donations and other activities.  Since 1981, the Refund Support Vocations Program (RSVP) has contributed more than $18.6 million to thousands of seminarians and postulants.  The Order's $8 million Vocations Scholarship Fund provides annual $2,500 scholarships to seminarians in theology on the basis of need.

The Order maintains a vocations scholarship endowment fund, now $8 million from which annual scholarships of $2,500 are awarded to needy seminarians. These scholarships are reserved for those who have advanced to the theologate.  In 1999, 112 scholarships were awarded.  Approximately 450 seminarians have been assisted by this program since 1992.  Application for these scholarships is made through the Supreme Council.  Through this program, Knights councils and their families also provide moral support to priestly and religious vocations by "adopting" a seminarian or postulant. They write letters of support, offer prayers, and invite their adopted candidate to council-sponsored activities.

In 1999, approximately 60 percent of all seminarians received some form of financial support from the Knights of Columbus.  The ultimate goal is to provide 100 percent of seminarians with material support.

Some methods for funding the State Vocations Program:

Penny Knight per Day (PKD).  A voluntary program that encourages each Knight in the state of Virginia to give a penny per day, which translates to $3.65 a year to VOCATIONS.  A check from the council representing the funds collected is presented to the State at the annual convention.  The funds are used to help support Vocations within the state.

 Keep Christ in Christmas (KCIC) Christmas card sales.  A program designed as a potential supplemental method of meeting the “PKD” goal.  As the state is not permitted to direct how funds collected by a council are spent, the card sale profits are spent as the council directs, however they are encouraged to use the profits to meet or exceed their PKD goal.

Vocations Committee of Virginia.  Six members elected for two-year terms on alternating years. Committee elects its chairman.  The committee reviews requests for financial assistance and makes recommendations to the state deputy.

Members of the Virginia State Vocations committee:

The Virginia Knights of Columbus vocations grant request form is available in Adobe Acrobat PDF format by clicking here.  You can either snail mail the completed form to Alan Tuck at the address on the form, or email it to him at tuckjr@aol.com.