What does a Catholic life insurance company look like?

It’s an important question to ask. As you consider all the options for your family’s life insurance and financial services, you might wonder if any of them are actually unique. After all, every life insurance company sells life insurance.

But the Knights of Columbus is, in fact, unlike any other company. We do things differently — because both our faith and our members demand it.

We call it the Catholic difference. Here are a few of the things that make us unique:

• We invest morally. The Knights of Columbus screens all of its investments according to guidelines published by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. We will not invest in companies that deal in abortions, pornography, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning and related endeavors.

• We support the Church. Last fraternal year, the Knights of Columbus Supreme Council and local councils together donated $48 million to the Church. The Order gives generously through various programs such as the Refund Support Vocations Program (RSVP), which, in partnership with our councils, has provided more than $67 million in scholarships to more than 110,000 men and women pursuing religious vocations since 1981. The Knights also helped to restore the facade of St. Peter’s Basilica in 1999 for the Millennial Jubilee and purchased satellite equipment that has since broadcasted the recent popes’ messages to the world. The Order’s aid to the Vatican and the pope is ongoing, with an annual donation from the proceeds of the Vicarius Christi fund given to the Holy Father for his personal charities.

• We put our Catholic families first. We are not a commercial company. We have no stockholders. We answer only to our members. We return a share of our profits through dividends to our participating policyholders, and we donate generously.

• We have given more than $1.55 billion to charity in the last decade. Most of these funds are generated by proceeds from our insurance business. The proceeds have gone to causes such as pro-life initiatives, disaster relief or aid to persecuted Christians in the Middle East — wherever help is needed most.

• We put ethics first. Our corporate commitment to ethics and our ethical business practices have been applauded by the business community. Recently, the Ethisphere Institute named the Knights of Columbus a “World’s Most Ethical Company” for the third consecutive year. We are currently one of only two companies to have earned the designation in the “life insurance” category.

Our members, their spouses and their dependent children have exclusive access to our insurance program. Working with your brother Knight field agent, you can purchase top-quality products to protect your family’s future, all while knowing that you are supporting an organization that shares your faith, your beliefs and your values.

More than 130 years after our venerable founder, Father Michael J. McGivney, set our insurance program in motion, we strive to stay true to his mission and our commitment to our members and our Catholic difference.

Other companies may come along and try to convince you that they are just like us. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But on closer examination, you will find what you always suspected: There is only one Knights of Columbus. We’ll be happy to get to know you better and show you that being Catholic always makes a difference.

Our council agent is David Dickinson and you can reach him at (317) 850-8240 or via email at david.dickinson@kofc.org.