I just finished a group chat among Catholic journalists and communicators, brainstorming ways that we could help the dioceses of Biloxi and New Orleans. One important thing we all can do right away with just a phone call: Call your senator and ask that federal aid to New Orleans students include money for those who were in private and Catholic schools.

One of the Senate's best known Catholics has worked to reject a proposal by President Bush that would have given families displaced by Hurricane Katrina financial aid to send their children to private or parochial schools. A bipartisan student relief package put forth by Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy and Wyoming Senator Michael Enzi did not include a provision that would have given students up to $7,500 because Kennedy opposed the provision, according to a high level Congressional staffer who spoke with Culture & Cosmos.

Culture & Cosmos also learned that a prominent Church prelate said he was furious that aid to private schools had been kept out of the package and he was especially angry that it is being blocked by "four Irish Catholic Senators."

25% of students attended private schools in New Orleans and of them 81% or 50,000 attended Catholic schools. The poor educational system in New Orleans is no secret and Catholic and private schools have long been the main opportunity for an excellent education.

Despite the high percentage of New Orleans students who attend private school, Kennedy said "we need to focus on rebuilding the public school systems which are the cornerstones of the Gulf Coast communities and economies." (Reprinted from Culture and Cosmos)

Catholic schools have taken in thousands of students from New Orleans and are educating them free of charge. After the brainstorming today, if it clear that money is tight for everyone, yet at the same time people are reaching out above and beyond their means. You can help today by calling your senator asking that private and Catholic schools be included in the student relief package.