Acton Institute PowerBlog - Entries from Thursday, May 8, 2008

Why should your high school apply for the Catholic High School Honor Roll? One reason is ecclesial recognition. The video below highlights the experience of St. Theodore Guerin High School in Noblesville, IN. Bishop William L. Higi of the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana attended the school’s press conference to honor the school’s accomplishments. The video shows the press conference, and does a fantastic job of describing the Honor Roll.

Other schools also saw this type of recognition, including Salesianum School in Delaware.

Bishop Michael Saltarelli of the Diocese of Wilmington, and Very Rev. Joseph Morrissey, OSFS, Provincial Superior of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, were present at the awards assembly.

There is one week left for schools to apply for the Honor Roll. They can apply online at www.chshonor.org by May 15, 2008. Obviously it’s a busy time in a school year, so if schools need extra time, they can contact us at info@chshonor.org to make arrangements.

While the value to schools is quite clear, many fine schools still have not heard about the program or do not take the time to submit an application. It is a tragedy for schools – perhaps even Catholic schools you know – to miss this opportunity. Many of the schools that do not apply may be your alma mater or located in your area. Your encouragement will help them reap the substantial benefits the program offers. Contacting the principal and development director at these schools goes a long way to encourage schools to participate in the Honor Roll. Schools can only benefit from participating.

Michael Franc has an interesting piece on NRO about the demographics of campaign contributions. The gravamen is that Democratic presidential candidates in the current election have exhibited a whopping advantage among all kinds of elite groups, identified by professional, financial, or educational status. Meanwhile, Republicans garnered more support from plumbers, truckers, and janitors.

Franc doesn’t make much of an effort to explain the phenomenon, other than to note that Democrats have enjoyed a $200 million advantage in general, which may go a long way toward generating the more specific category advantages. And which may further be explained (this is my speculation) as being due to a) more people thinking a Democrat will win the White House and wanting to support a winner, or b) the Democratic primary race being more competitive than the Republican, or c) a combination of the two.

Instead of positing explanations, Franc focuses on what the trend may mean for the respective parties’ conventional policy tendencies:

What should we make of all this? National political parties, after all, reflect their supporters, and party leaders traditionally feel a responsibility to cater to their supporters’ whims. A party that receives overwhelming support from elite Wall Street investment firms, corporate bigwigs, and highly educated professionals may find it exceedingly difficult to raise their taxes or impose draconian new Big Government regulations on them. Similarly, a party that is losing well-educated suburban professionals and gaining support from blue-collar workers may find it more difficult to support free trade agreements and embrace globalization.