Extra, extra! News and tidings, April 6, 2022

Move Aside, Disney – The Daily Wire Company will “invest a minimum of $100 million over the next three years into a line of live-action and animated children’s entertainment on its streaming platform.” ‘Americans Want Alternatives’ To Woke Entertainment: Daily Wire Dives Into Kids Content With Massive $100 Million Commitment (Daily Wire)

Catholic identity in education – The Congregation for Catholic Education recently published  an instruction titled “The Identity of the Catholic School – For a Culture of Dialogue”. Vatican clarifies “Catholic identity” for schools (Aleteia)

Religious Rights – In his new memoir, former attorney general William P. Barr defends religious liberty as the most pressing civil rights issue of our time. The Real Civil Rights Issue of Our Time (First Things)

Breakdown of community – For decades, a major source of community for many Americans was their local house of worship.  If You Want America To Come Back To Life, Get Yourself And Your Friends Back To Church (The Federalist)

Knowledge and revelation – According to Roman Catholic theology, there is a crucial difference between the knowledge of God that philosophy makes possible, and the kind that Christian revelation promises. David Bentley Hart’s Post-Christian Pantheism (The Public Discourse)

A movement begun in exile – Soldiers of God in a Secular World, subtitled “Catholic Theology and Twentieth-Century French Politics,” superbly expands our knowledge of the nouvelle théologie. Escaping the Straitjacket (Commonweal)

Parental rights – The language of Florida’s new law affirms a parent’s right to control and be fully informed about the health and development of his or her child. Florida’s New Law Is Only Bad For People Who Believe Parents Have No Rights Over Their Children (The Federalist)

Distorting human nature – “Lia” Thomas has been competing against some of the best female swimmers in the world, defeating them by large margins and transforming the very nature of their sport. We Must Always Tell the Truth About God’s Creation (National Catholic Register)

A time-honored tradition – Players will return to the tradition of attending Mass before walking from the Basilica to the stadium. New Notre Dame football coach brings back game day Mass (Aleteia)

A controversial stance – Rightwinger and Putin ally aims dig at Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy after Fidesz party claims another super majority. Viktor Orbán wins fourth consecutive term as Hungary’s prime minister (The Guardian)

Bad Apple – The tech giant is lobbying, filing court briefs and recruiting allies from other big companies to oppose bills “targeting” gay and transgender people in states like Iowa, Texas and Florida. Apple wields its lobbying might against LGBTQ laws (Politico)

No parental rights – In China, toddlers are lumped in threes or fours on adult hospital beds in one ward, crying out for attention with no adults around. Forced Parent-Child Separations Fuel Outrage in Locked-Down Shanghai (The Epoch Times)

Bible in a Year – Fr. Mike Schmitz and Jeff Cavins used a podcast to bring a sense of peace and calm to over 200 million listeners. Minnesota priest’s podcast reaches 200 million listeners (CBS News)

Unresolved Crisis of Catholic Modernisms – “The Christian life and the Church’s evangelizing mission are not administrative programs but a culture and way of life.” Synodality, Sociologism, and the Judgment of History (Communio, PDF)

Forgotten violence – All too often Western news reports overlook increasing bloodshed in Africa, even as radical Islamist violence is escalating across the continent. Nigeria’s Christians Face Increasing Violence Day after Day (Providence Magazine)

Elon and Twitter – Tesla CEO Elon Musk now owns 9.2 percent of Twitter, Inc, after teasing possible plans to build a new social media platform that promotes free speech. Elon Musk Becomes Twitter’s Largest Shareholder After Shakeup Tease (Daily Wire)

(*The posting of any particular news item or essay is not an endorsement of said news item or essay.)