National Honor Society Induction Remarks

Note: These were my remarks to our newest National Honor Society class, inducted on March 16, 2022

Good evening.

Students, on behalf of our teachers and St. Michael Catholic High School, congratulations on this significant honor tonight.  We are a small school, and we know each other well. That your teachers think so highly of you speaks volumes. 

Let me share with you why I think National Honor Society is so important. 

Before I was a principal, I was a theology and English teacher. 

One day, a student asked me,” Mr. Weber, why do Catholics make such a big deal about the saints. I mean they’re dead, right? Shouldn’t we be looking to the future and not the past?”

It was a good question—he wasn’t being snarky. I could tell he meant the question seriously. 

I thought for a moment, then said, “For the same reason I have a picture of both of my grandfathers.” One was a chair of the school of orthodontics for the University of Tennessee for 30 years, and the other was a Naval Captain, who fought in WWII and later retired as an admiral. 

Why keep their pictures? Because they were both deeply ethical men who began their careers at the bottom of the ladder, and through hard work and the respect they gave and earned from others, rose to the top of their profession. Their pictures remind me of where I came from, who I am, and what I am called to do. 

But it’s even more than a reminder—the fact that my grandfathers lived this way helps me, inspires me, and pushes me to live the same way. 

And that’s why Catholics honor the saints—not out of a morbid fascination with dead people, but to remind us of what it looks like to live a virtuous life, and to inspire us to do the same. 

You see, we’re not very good at thinking about abstractions like sacrifice, or honor, or love. We live in a world of distractions, and our minds quickly drift away when we’re asked to reflect on these ideals. But when we SEE an honorable man do honorable things, when we WITNESS someone really sacrificing, when we are IN THE PRESENCE of two people who truly love each other, these virtues become real to us. We are inspired to live similarly. 

Which brings us to the reason we honor you tonight: Yes, we want to recognize what you have accomplished in this life and praise you for it. But much more importantly, we commission you to become EVEN MORE of a leader in this school and in our community, EVEN MORE a scholar, EVEN MORE a person of high character, willing to lead and inspire your friends to those same ends. 

Our world needs flesh and blood examples of virtue more so today than ever. Your classmates need you to stand strong, and to encourage others to stand strong. If the saints can inspire us to do these things, how much more can you do so as living, breathing examples to your peers? 

My congratulations as your principal for all you have done. It’s nice to be recognized, and you deserve it. But the pledge you took tonight— not just to maintain the ideals of the NHS, but to encourage others to live that way, too—is an important commission. Our world, our school, and your classmates need you to lead others to those ideals. 

May God bless you. If you seek his will, He will always give you the strength to follow it.