About Catholic Financial Life
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Catholic Financial Life was formed by several fraternal benefit organizations coming together over time. They shared a similar purpose and were united by their common bond of the Catholic Faith. Here is a brief history of some of the organizations that came to be a part of Catholic Financial Life.
Catholic Family Life Insurance
The year was 1868 and the ravages of the American Civil War were still evident in the State of Wisconsin. With widows and orphans left behind following the war, the Most Rev. John Martin Henni, first Archbishop of Milwaukee, saw a need to provide for those less fortunate and to develop a system of financial security for Catholics and their families. In August of 1868, he gathered 21 men from a variety of occupations and they established The Family Protective Association.
The new organization was officially incorporated in March, 1869. Its name changed to Catholic Family Life Insurance (CFLI) in 1949. As the oldest Catholic fraternal benefit society, CFLI would go on to become the first to adopt the legal reserve system, first to insure women and children, and first to provide Masses for living and deceased members. Over the years several societies merged with CFLI, including Rhode Island-based Union Saint-Jean-Baptiste in 1991, and Northern Fraternal Life, headquartered in Milwaukee, two years later. At the time of merger with Catholic Knights, CFLI, with headquarters in the northern Milwaukee suburb of Shorewood, had a total of 45,000 members in 78 chapters located primarily in the upper Midwest and New England.
Towering over Interstate-43 on the western edge of downtown Milwaukee is an iconic building, a welcoming sentinel to visitors entering Wisconsin’s largest city. Though the words "Catholic Knights" have been a part of the Milwaukee skyline since 1970, what is the story behind the fraternal benefit society is housed inside.
Catholic Knights of America
The Catholic Knights of America was founded in April of 1877 in Nashville, Tenn. The Society was the result of an inspiration of a man named James J. McLoughlin. This inspiration was received after a very powerful sermon by The Ordinary of the Nashville Diocese, the Most Reverend Patrick A. Feehan, who later became the first Archbishop of Chicago. Our country was trying to heal the wound of the Civil War, and McLoughlin felt it was time for Catholics to unite. The initial meeting took place at Emmett Hall in Nashville on April 23, 1877.
On May 29, 1877, Branch #1 received its formal Charter from the State of Tennessee, and McLoughlin was its first president. Bishop Feehan became the first spiritual director. First known as “The Order of United Catholics,” its name was changed to “Catholic Knights of Honor” on June 5, 1877. Following a suggestion proposed by Bishop Feehan, its name was again changed to “The Catholic Knights of America” on June 19, 1877. Also at that time, St. Joseph, Protector of the Christian Home, was chosen as the Patron Saint of the Society. The Catholic Knights of America quickly expanded, and some of the first states in which it became active in were Tennessee, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Missouri and Indiana.
The Society’s first death claim was paid on July, 17, 1877. Members offered prayers for the deceased and paid the widow a sum of $101. The Catholic Knights of America’s first national convention was held in Louisville, Kentucky, July 9-11, 1878. At this convention, the objectives of the Society were to:
· Unite fraternally all Catholics of every profession, business, and occupation
· Give all possible moral and material aid in its power to the members by holding scientific lectures, by encouraging each other in business, and by assisting each other to obtain employment
· Establish a death benefit not to exceed $1,000.
The Catholic Knights of America celebrated its 125th Anniversary in 2002.
