The Dispatch: More from CWR...

Extra, extra! News and tidings, February 23, 2022

Some headlines and essays that caught our attention this past week.*

Detail from "Readers of newspapers in Naples" (1831) by Orest Kiprensky (WikiArt.org)

A win for Catholic schools: Staying open during the pandemic paid off in growing enrollment. Catholic Schools’ Good Covid Year

“Social Emotional Learning”: Public Schools Indoctrinate Even Non-Verbal Special Needs Kids in Gender Confusion. The Gender Cult Marches On

Be careful what you wish for: “Francis could find that the primary person on trial ends up being not Becciu and the rest, but himself.” Pope’s use of authority becomes new front in Vatican ‘trial of the century’

How should the Church help curb drug abuse? Catholic medical ethicists have raised moral and practical objections to the new focus on ‘harm reduction.’ Drug Overdoses Increased During Pandemic: Could ‘Safe’ Injection Sites Make a Difference?

A specter is haunting Rome—the specter of the pope emeritus. Why Benedict Should Speak

Without the one true religion we form our own: “In order for one to believe that masks work, one has to believe they have mystical powers.” Joy Behar’s Strange Mask Religion

Should we be suspicious of the Synod ‘process’? “For the Synod on Synodality, the opportunities for manipulation will be multiplied during the two-year preparatory process.” A Synod ‘process’ that only liberals could love

No coffee for convoy truckers: The owners of the Iconic Cafe, Enrico and Deborah Kuhn, near Parliament in Ottawa are being harassed by police and threatened with arrest. Trudeau’s Police Are Going After The Iconic Cafe, A Small Business That Served Truckers

Winter ‘Olympics ratings down 42 percent from 2018: “NBC experienced a ratings “disaster” after broadcasting the controversial Beijing Olympics, according to multiple mainstream reports.”  NBC’s China Olympics Broadcasts Lead to Ratings ‘Disaster’

The UK has seen over 4,000 crimes on religious property in a 1-year period, which means more than 10 crimes a day happened at places of worship during the covid-19 pandemic. UK Report: More than 4,000 crimes committed at churches in one year

Kreeft changed all that.  “The entire semester with him in the classroom was for me like bright sun burning through the dense religious fog I’d been wandering around in for many years. I was already a believer, but muddle-minded and unclear what I believed or why I believed.” What a generation of Catholic thinkers owes Peter Kreeft

“Menstruating people”? Really? Somehow, colleges founded to celebrate women’s intellect and creative potential are now reducing them to their anatomy. Gender Ideology Is Killing Women’s Colleges Like My Alma Mater

Calvinist attempts to debunk Aquinas and natural theology. “One might think an attack on Aquinas from a conservative ­Christian would at least have the merit of being more interesting than the same old same old coming from the likes of Richard Dawkins.” Doubting Thomas

(*It should not have to be said, but it has to be said, that the posting of any particular news item or essay is not an endorsement of said news item or essay. The editors of CWR, however, read a range of material, including countless pieces with which we disagree, or we question, or which we even find ludicrous and troubling.)


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5 Comments

  1. Walther’s urge likens Emeritus Benedict to the WWII Walther chambered 9mm safe though readily deadly with a simple trigger pull. If Benedict speaks Custodes Traditionis may or may not be shot dead. So muses Matthew Walther.
    Disappointment seems unending with the ongoing absorption with the fate of the Traditional Mass. Exception for many, myself included, was for Benedict to openly restate the faith. He did as much in interviews, books, even personal papers acknowledged by Walther. There’s even the mysterious contemplative pope juxtaposed to Francis in “Gänswein’s windy speculation”, nonetheless Walther revives the speculation quoting Benedict with allusion to the munus.
    As a failed conspiracy theorist [one embarrassment was sufficient] there’s remains hope [not ‘the’ hope of Benedict pulling the trigger on Custodes] in a theological sense, that for the good of Church and world Benedict were to make an outstanding, loud, clear, repudiation of the current mistakes [a kinder term than error]. Perhaps poorly disguised allusion to intrigue but there we are. Benedict’s momentous day of resignation the 28th is upon us. The cause for much woe, anger, vilifying, praise, the whole gamut of emotions, even intelligent assessment and a smattering of philosophy. Very likely his testament will be revealed when he’s left us. All of this shouldn’t discourage, rather it should strengthen our faith in Christ. In him alone.

  2. On the win for Catholic Schools. First: the overall topic of Catholic Schools needs to be emphasized for its role in guiding children to know and grow in the Catholic faith. It is not just about the academics, that seems to be the focus, but learning and practicing the faith, the importance of the sacrament, sacrifice of the mass and prayer (rosary). Second: Laity, Priest and Bishops need to work as a team to fund the Catholic School system. All Catholics and the Catholic Culture benefit and the whole culture benefits.

    • Honor the best of the best… Restore the Catholic Church School religious staffing. Today’s absence of Nun and clerical teachers are needed for shaping the future of our schools is essential for success. Sequestered Nuns and Monks must be reassigned to active teaching roles. Lay teachers should be used sparingly. Open our shuttered schools. The focus is on Catholic tenets in a broadened curriculum.

  3. Re a synod process that only liberals could love.

    Very well said, Messr(s). Lawler (and Mirus). Would that the truth you speak were otherwise.

    Just curious: Has anyone seen the 1996 commemorative cookie jar of Bozo driving a car? If the synod were fantasy, the jar-car could take us to it.

  4. Re: Winter Olympics ratings down 42 percent from 2018.

    Burch concludes: “The drop in viewership marks a shift. Americans are asking bigger questions about media, big corporations, and the place of our loyalties. We all want to watch Americans compete and win. But not at the expense of legitimizing a geo-political adversary that puts its citizens in camps, steals our technology and intellectual property, and has pushed the American working class to the margins. We all sensed this was a huge propaganda event, and Americans refused to fall for it.”

    Now. Next step. Calling God.

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