Founder of the Knights of Columbus: Fr. Michael J. McGivney

The Knights of Columbus were founded in 1882 by a Roman Catholic priest, Father Michael J. McGivney, in the basement of St. Mary's parish in New Haven, CT. Father McGivney was serving as an associate pastor under extreme circumstances; working conditions were poor, Catholics could not own property and were not able to enter into contracts. Irish need not apply was a sign in the business that many of his parishioners faced. When the breadwinner would die there was no place to turn but the Church. Father McGivney must have been blessed by the Holy Spirit when he created the Knights. He wanted three things: men to come together to support one another, to find strength in the Holy Catholic Church and to protect their wives and children from financial ruin.

To this day the Knights of Columbus continue to carry on Father McGivney's legacy. We are the world's largest fraternal life insurance company. Our membership is growing even in these tough economic times. According to outside sources, the Knights are one of the strongest and most secure insurance companies. Why? The Knights of Columbus remain true to Father McGivney's vision. Our purpose has not changed in 127 years. We have not wavered.

While other companies have chosen to chase huge rates of return; they have knowingly done so by accepting extreme levels of risk. To quote a British comedy team, Bird and Fortune ... "If there is one thing I have learned in my entire life in banking is that the market and real estate prices cannot continue to go up and up... except this one time." I think they hit the nail on the head. Financial institutions and many other sectors in our world economy (in my opinion) believed that the market had become too big to collapse. That a small correction here or there would happen but that the world economy had become so large that we would never see another recession.

The Knights of Columbus have always realized that market will go up and the markets will go down. Real estate prices will go up and they will go down. The philosophy of the Knights of Columbus is that slow and steady wins the race. Accepting smaller more consistent and predictable rates of return will beat the roller coaster approach.

During these difficult times the Knights have remained true to our philosophy. Our clients have not lost one single dime in the economic collapse of 2008/2009. In fact all accounts with a cash value have seen their values rise!

We finished the fiscal year 2009 with yet again impressive growth. Our company made a profit, we returned between 83-85% of our after expense profits back to our policy holders. We have zero debt on our books and have done so while upholding a Pro-Life, Pro-Marriage, Pro-Catholic, anti-stem cell, anti-pornography investment portfolio.