The Dispatch: More from CWR...

Extra, extra! News and views for Wednesday, April 22, 2026

Here are some articles, essays, and editorials that caught our attention this past week or so.*

The Golden Dome atop the Main Building at the University of Notre Dame. / RebeccaDLev/Shutterstock.

A Brief History of Catholic Higher Education (From the Academy): “Whatever they are doing and wherever they are headed now, all modern Western universities trace their origins back to the medieval Catholic universities, beginning with Bologna, Paris, Oxford, and Salerno in the eleventh century.”

What the World Missed When the Pope Returned to St. Augustine’s Homeland (National Catholic Register): “When the Holy Father spoke in Algeria, he returned again and again to a simple theme: the search for God, the search for truth, and the dignity of every human person — echoing Augustine’s own restless search.”

Bookish Diversions: Anything Better than a Bookshop? (Miller’s Book Review): “Just a Great Big Post About the Wonderful World of Bookstores: Big Ones, Little Ones, Running One, and Why They Matter. Plus, I Introduce You to the Fantastic Mr. Barton.”

Saving a Lost Generation of Young Men – with Chop Caws (The New Yorker): “The College of St. Joseph the Worker, which combines the trades with a liberal-arts education, is trying to restore its students’ sense of their own competence, and to revive the city of Steubenville, Ohio, along the way.”

Confessions of an AI Skeptic: Part 1 (Spirit of Cecilia): “Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is all the rage these days. ‘It’s going to eliminate all of our jobs!!’  ‘It’s going to become more intelligent than humans!!!’ ‘It’s going to become sentient and turn into Skynet!!’ Pffffft. It’s not going to do any of those things. Not even close.”

A Time for Choosing or Politics as Normal? (The Fourth Watch): “The quandary for Catholics torn between the pope and the president lies in the point at stake: the justification of the Iran War.”

“Does Just War Doctrine Require Moral Certainty?”(First Things): “What has long been the standard teaching in the Catholic just war tradition is that the probability of a war’s being just is not good enough. The case for the justice of a proposed war must be morally certain.”

’60 Minutes’ accused of using Catholic cardinals to push liberal agenda while ignoring abortion stance (Fox News): “‘Liberal TV networks find organized religion useful only so much as it helps sell the liberal view,’ Tim Graham says.”

Carmelite sisters ask for prayers, donations after fire destroys retreat house (EWTN News): “The fire rendered one of the two retreat houses inoperable. Although the repair costs are not yet known, the severe damage requires the building to be rebuilt.”

John Quincy Adams, the Declaration, and America’s Christian Essence (Philanthropy Daily): “Adams’s Fourth of July oration is a particularly eloquent and forceful speech that adumbrates the relationship between liberal America and Christian America, and thus between two vitally important dates on the American calendar: July 4th and December 25th”

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


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