A few months ago, my cousin and I wrote a story in The News Memo about the new Cybercab vehicle that Tesla is developing. The Cybercab is a robot vehicle (there is no steering wheel) through which Tesla wants to develop a fully-autonomous taxi network. I brought up the story a few days later when I was with some friends, saying that I was fascinated by the product and that it could radically change how we transport ourselves.

A friend of mine had a different perspective, which sparked an intense conversation. What started as a discussion about the Cybercab naturally evolved into a deeper discussion about the progression of technology and its impact on our humanity, freedom, and ethical questions. Although my friend and I disagreed — partly about the technology in question and partly about its developer, Elon Musk — it was a great moment of dialogue that I will not forget. It showed me that it is not enough to merely consume the news — rather, it should always push us to a greater examination of things, explored in relationship with others.

The News Memo is a weekly synthesis of a handful of news stories, sent every Friday through email. My cousin John and I started it a few years ago when we recognized two problems: 1) People were rapidly losing trust in traditional news organizations because they all seemed to have an agenda and present stories in a sensationalized way, and 2) People primarily consumed news through scrolling social media or constantly refreshing news sites. This leads to exhaustion, because there is no end.

As a result, many people disengage and don’t follow current events at all. However, recalling chapter 4 of The Religious Sense, this is an inadequate response. Giussani writes, "To discover within ourselves the existence and nature of such a crucial and decisive factor as the religious sense, we must commit ourselves to our whole life. This includes everything - love, study, politics, money, even food and rest, excluding nothing” (page 38).

With this in mind, and encouraged by the witness of friends, we wanted to provide a simple way for people to engage with current events, that was not time-consuming and dominated by ideology. The education received in the Movement has helped shape the vision and method of The News Memo. In particular, Giussani's words on preconception and ideology in chapter 9 of The Religious Sense are a guide for us as we try to write in a factual way and let our readers form their own opinions.

Why is it important or useful to follow the news in the first place?

At the most basic level, it is a need and curiosity we all have. One may not particularly care about news at a national level, but everyone cares about news at a certain level. For example, you want to hear the news of what's happening in your children’s lives, or the news of what’s happening at your company, school, the town you live in, or the parish to which you belong. Starting from this immediate level, there is a desire to know and understand what is happening in the places we live. The connection may not be as readily seen, but the same applies to what’s happening in our country and the world.

However, we don’t want to know what’s happening merely to consume information, which is ultimately a cheap satisfaction. We want to know what’s happening in order to more deeply engage with life. We want to be involved.

So, what has my experience of this been?

In the leadup to the 2024 election, I noticed that some people were uncertain about the decision of which candidate to vote for — which often comes down to what people believe are the core issues we are facing as a country, and how each candidate would deal with those issues.

While I’m not saying the election was not messy or that I had the answers, what I was confident about was that I had paid attention to what had been happening in our country over the last few years. And therefore, I had an opinion about the issues I thought were critical and which candidate I thought would address them better. In the end, we are not asked to make a perfect decision when we vote, but rather to form our understanding and conscience in such a way that we can make a decision confidently.

The mission of The News Memo is “to provide a more human way to engage with the news… and life.” We recently added the last two words (“and life”) to our mission because ultimately we want to help our readers engage with more of life, not just the news of the day. For example, we have started The News Memo Movie List, which suggests movies we think are worth your time. People have really enjoyed this and found it useful. Clearly, the Movie List has nothing to do with the news, and yet it is consistent with what we want to share - interesting material that helps us engage with life more broadly. To not simply consume the news, but work to understand and form opinions about what is happening in the world.

David, St. Paul, MN