‘Everybody needs a little Jesus’: How a Catholic repair man brings his faith into his work

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Washington D.C., Apr 20, 2021 / 15:05 pm (CNA).
A series of letter templates released by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) allows Catholic to contact vaccine makers and ask th… […]

In addition to ranking No. 1 for “most conservative” students, Thomas Aquinas College’s students ranked No. 5 for “most religious” and “happiest” in the entire country. / Credit: Courtesy of Thomas Aquinas College/YouTube

CNA Staff, Aug 30, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Thomas Aquinas College has been ranked by the Princeton Review as having the most conservative collegiate student body in the country.

The Princeton Review selects 390 top colleges each year and then ranks them according to different categories based on student responses to surveys. 

According to student responses, Thomas Aquinas College (TAC), a small Catholic liberal arts college in southern California, ranked No. 1 in “most conservative students.” Other Catholic schools that ranked in the same category included University of Dallas (UD) at No. 6 and Assumption University, an Augustinian liberal arts school in Massachusetts, which ranked No. 20. 

TAC is known for its Socratic, discussion-based approach to education where all students major in the liberal arts. TAC doesn’t have desks in classrooms, and students call faculty “tutors,” not “professors.” 

TAC also maintains a dress code, requiring women to wear skirts or dresses during the class day and at other events, while men are required to wear slacks and collared shirts.

The Princeton Review surveys more than 160,000 U.S. undergraduate students at “the Best 390 Colleges” for their various rankings, according to its website. 

For the “most conservative” ranking, the Princeton Review asked students in a survey to answer if they were politically “far-left, Democrat, nonpartisan, Republican, or far-right.” 

But students’ conservative values are closely tied to religiosity at TAC, according to Christopher Weinkopf, executive director of college relations at TAC.

“Because TAC students are serious about their faith, they care deeply about the unborn and hold countercultural views on a number of social issues that qualify as conservative in contemporary political parlance,” Weinkopf noted. “But contemporary politics are absent from our classical curriculum, which aims at eternal truths that transcend all politics.”

“Our students seek to uphold the Church’s intellectual tradition and moral teachings, which is conservative in the truest sense of the word,” Weinkopf added. 

Several Catholic colleges also ranked high in the “most religious students” category — TAC included. TAC ranked No. 5, UD ranked No. 10, and The Catholic University of America ranked No. 14 based on student surveys. 

TAC’s campus in Santa Paula, California, features a large chapel, Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel, where Mass is celebrated several times a day. TAC also has a campus in Northfield, Massachusetts.

“Our founders were determined that, at Thomas Aquinas College, the Catholic faith would not be merely an adornment on an otherwise secular education but would be at the heart of all that we do,” Weinkopf noted.

Weinkopf said TAC’s curriculum “draws on all the major disciplines — especially mathematics, natural science, and philosophy — in the service of theology, the study of God.”

“Our chaplains offer Mass four times daily, with confessions before and after, plus regular nightly rosary and other devotions,” he noted. “And our campus rules of residence are designed to promote Christian virtue.”

On UD’s campus, the Church of the Incarnation hosts Mass at least twice a day and is adjacent to the Cistercian Abbey. The Catholic University of America, for its part, has five chapels throughout campus, including a 24-hour chapel, and Mass is celebrated several times a day.

Both UD and TAC also have distinctly happy students, according to the Princeton Review: UD ranked No. 4 in “happiest students,” while TAC ranked No. 5. TAC also ranked No. 13 in “friendliest students.”

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Austin, Texas, Apr 10, 2017 / 04:58 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Over 4,000 Catholics visited Texas’ capitol in Austin, including  bishops from the state’s 15 dioceses, to meet with legislators and discuss legislation under consideration.

“It’s important that we present a united voice,” Helen Osman, communications consultant for the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops, told CNA April 10.

“It took many hours of coordination, but the Texas legislators knew that the Church was present in the Capitol on April 4 – and we were there not in self-interest, but for the good of all citizens in the state of Texas,” she added.

“Our motivation – to speak on behalf of the vulnerable and the poor, for human life and dignity – gives our voice a gravitas that many special interest groups lack.”

For Catholic Advocacy Day, each of Texas’ 181 legislators received a visit from a team of “Catholic advocates” who live in his or her district.

They focused on issues grouped under the topics of protecting human life; children and families; health and human services; justice for immigrants; protecting the poor and vulnerable; and criminal justice.

“The team had a list of bills that were prioritized by the Texas Conference of Catholic Bishops since they were relevant to the bishops’ agenda, had been reviewed by the Catholic conference, and were active in the legislative process,” Osman said.

“We also held a rally outside the Capitol, where the bishops addressed all participants,” she added.

Osman said the group was among the more favorably received groups of capitol visitors.

“We bring a spirit of joy and generosity to our conversations, and the legislators appreciate that!” she said.

“These events can persuade a legislator to consider changing his or her position on important legislation. Catholics can effectively exercise their call to be faithful citizens by working with their bishops through their state Catholic conferences. “

Pro-life bills under consideration address partial-birth abortion, “wrongful birth” lawsuits, mandatory reporting for abortion complications, and efforts to increase penalties for abortions coerced by human traffickers. There is a bill concerning parental choice in education and several bills concerning foster care. The Texas bishops oppose a bill that targets sanctuary cities for immigrants, while they support a “targeted, proportional and humane” bill that would increase punishment for unlawful immigrants who commit violent crimes and also guarantee their deportation by authorities.

Some criminal justice bills concern accurate instructions to jurors in death penalty cases and the establishment of a special anti-human trafficking unit in the state’s Department of Public Safety. The Texas Catholic conference backs a bill that would provide better access to mental heath and substance abuse treatment, as well as a bill to establish a state grant to match donations to organizations that provide mental health programs.

On environmental issues, the conference opposes a bill that would limit a local community’s ability to control the export of its groundwater, on the grounds it violates subsidiarity. It also opposes a bill that would repeal the contested case process for environmental quality permits, on the grounds that it “limits the community’s ability to protect health considering potential environmental hazards.”

Osman encouraged Catholics to look to their bishops for guidance.

“The bishops use their state Catholic conferences to research and monitor active legislation, and to convey the Church’s moral guidance.”

Ahead of the event, Bishop Edward Burns of the Diocese of Dallas said it was an exciting opportunity to visit legislators.

“We are able to stand in solidarity as people of faith to meet with our local legislative leaders in order to work together for the common good,” he said, according to the Dallas diocese’s website.

Jennifer Carr Allmon, executive director of the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops, said the event was an “exciting opportunity” for Catholic constituents.

“They are able to stand in solidarity with their bishops, and meet their local legislators who are interested in hearing their point of view on these important issues,” she told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

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