Michael Sean Winters

Michael Sean Winters is the author of Left At the Altar: How Democrats Lost The Catholics And How Catholics Can Save The Democrats (Basic Books, 2008). His biography of the Rev. Jerry Falwell, God's Right Hand: How Jerry Falwell Made God a Republican and Baptized the American Right was published by Harper One in January 2012 to critical acclaim. 

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The U.S. Capitol is seen in Washington June 7. (CNS/Tyler Orsburn)

EWTN failed its viewers by not airing testimony about Jan. 6 attack

Michael Sean Winters: The decision by Fox News and EWTN not to offer live coverage of the June 9 hearing of the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack tells us a lot about both organizations' values.

A Ukrainian flag flies in front of the destroyed regional administration building following shelling by Russian troops June 8 in Mykolaiv, Ukraine. (CNS/Reuters/Edgar Su)

Ukraine may not lead the news anymore, but it still needs Western arms

Michael Sean Winters: Other news items have pushed the war in Ukraine off the front page, but that should not lead Western nations to push Ukraine into a negotiated peace that would not meet the challenge posed by Putin.

Seminarians Oscar Romero and Augustine Mang prostrate during the Litany of Supplication at their April 9 ordination as transitional deacons at Sagrado Corazon Church in Nashville's Catholic Pastoral Center. (CNS/Tennessee Register/Katie Peterson)

Links: Primary results; gay pride and the Tampa Bay Rays; Latino priests

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: A look at June 7 primary results; DeSantis vs. Trump; 'MAGA bullies' and the GOP brand; the 2022 class of newly ordained priests.

President Joe Biden takes questions from reporters at the White House May 4 in Washington, after delivering remarks on economic growth, jobs, and deficit reduction. (CNS/Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein)

If only Americans, or even Catholics, knew about Catholic social doctrine

Michael Sean Winters: Voters are getting ready to punish the Democrats for all the wrong reasons, but both parties could use a big dose of Catholic social teaching.

President Joe Biden speaks about gun violence during a primetime address from the White House in Washington June 2. (CNS/Reuters/Leah Millis)

Links: Biden's poll numbers; gun control hopes; the queen's jubilee

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: "Let Biden be Biden"; change of generation vs. change of ideas; pioneering bioethicist James Gustafson; the study of ignorance; Montreal architecture.

Auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron of Los Angeles, right, and other U.S. bishops concelebrate Mass at the Basilica of St. Mary Major while making their "ad limina" visits in Rome in this Jan. 30, 2020, file photo. (CNS/Paul Haring)

Here's hoping Bishop Barron settles in to new job leading a Minnesota diocese

Michael Sean Winters: As Bishop Robert Barron takes leadership of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester in Minnesota, it is time for him to think less about his media ministry at Word on Fire and more about being a bishop.

Pope Francis speaks during his general audience in St. Peter's Square June 1 at the Vatican. That day Francis also gave a talk to an international conference of educators. (CNS/Paul Haring)

Pope Francis warns Catholic educators against false traditionalism

Michael Sean Winters: I recently wrote about the danger of ideology to synodality. As if on cue, the pope gave a talk June 1 that evidenced both my concern and pointed to some remedies which have a wide application.

Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego celebrates a commemorative Mass for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at St. Rita Church June 19, 2020. He was among 21 new cardinals named by Pope Francis May 29, 2022. (CNS/Diocese of San Diego/Howard Lipin)

Links: McElroy and Cordileone; guns in Australia; the Lincoln Memorial

Michael Sean Winters: McElroy named a cardinal; political attitudes about guns; 100th anniversary of dedication of Lincoln Memorial

American flag and bullet casings (Dreamstime/Aleksandr Kichigin)

Guns are an idol in American life. It's time for the bishops to say that.

Michael Sean Winters: The U.S. bishops need to argue that Americans idolize their guns and that offends God, and the church's pro-life witness needs to engage gun control with the ferocity it has engaged abortion.

People receive bread during the May 8 distribution of humanitarian aid in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine, during the Russian invasion. (CNS/Reuters/Alexander Ermochenko)

Links: Helping Ukrainian refugees; Texas politics; architecture in New York

Michael Sean Winters: Jesuit center in Poland helping Ukrainian refugees; GOP's narrative of gun violence; church's position on abortion.

Gettysburg National Military Park in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, is seen Aug. 11, 2020. (CNS/Reuters/Leah Millis)

Honoring soldiers this Memorial Day, and saying a prayer against the scourge of war

Michael Sean Winters: In most of Europe, war memorials like the Arc de Triomphe glorify the war and list the great battles. In America, we tend to memorialize the individuals who fought. Our way is better. 

Francis' choice of new Cardinal McElroy an unmistakable sign for US church

Michael Sean Winters: The news that Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego has been named a cardinal is thrilling. Pope Francis has rendered an unmistakable sign of the kind of episcopal leadership he is seeking. 

Southern Baptist pastors gather in June 2019 in Birmingham, Alabama, during a conference ahead of the denomination's annual meeting, which drew more than 8,000 delegates.

The Southern Baptist report exposes some canards about causes of clergy abuse

Some people have claimed for years that gay clergy and celibacy are central to sex abuse by Catholic clergy. A new report about decades of clergy sex abuse by Southern Baptist ministers shows those claims as false and foolish.

Law enforcement officers guard the scene of a shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, May 24. (CNS/Reuters/Marco Bello)

Links: Mass murder in Texas; good news in Georgia; getting journalism right

Michael Sean Winters: Coverage of the school shooting in Texas; humanitarian assistance in Ukraine; midterm elections results

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone is seen outside St. Augustine Church in South San Francisco Oct. 16, 2020. (CNS/Catholic San Francisco/Dennis Callahan)

With his Communion ban, Cordileone harms the church more than Pelosi does

Michael Sean Winters: San Francisco's Salvatore Cordileone is a bomb thrower of an archbishop and he has thrown a bomb all right. But the real damage will not be done to the halls of government.

A man reviews his ballot at a polling station in Nesconset, New York, on Election Day Nov. 6, 2018. (CNS/Gregory A. Shemitz)

Links: Assessing the midterms; voter turnout; Southern Baptists' abuse crisis

Michael Sean Winters: A powerful analysis of the Southern Baptist Convention's report on cover-up of sexual abuse allegations; the Post examines what is driving the midterms; does Donald Trump's endorsement matter?

Cardinal Mario Grech, center, secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops, and other Vatican officials lead an online listening session with 30 people who have disabilities May 19. The meeting was part of the process in preparation for the Synod of Bishops.

Seek the openness of synodality, not the barrenness of ideology

The synodal process benefits from embracing a Catholic worldview rather than ideology. The ability to resist ideology is absolutely necessary if the synodal process is to create a more vibrant and faithful church.

State Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Franklin, the Republican candidate for governor of Pennsylvania, gestures to the cheering crowd during his primary night election party May 17 in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. (AP photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Pennsylvania bishops should speak out about Mastriano's Christian nationalism

Michael Sean Winters: Pennsylvania bishops should teach their flock that Catholic theology does not traffic in the often hateful, sometimes lunatic, ideas that Doug Mastriano claims are part of his divinely inspired platform.

The Valletta City Gate in Malta (Wikimedia Commons/Didi8600)

Links: Student debt relief; the Afghan withdrawal; a disinformation homily

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Bad analogy for student debt forgiveness; damning report on the U.S. leaving Afghanistan; Kremlin disinformation from the pulpit; architectural beauty.

By closing Catholic News Service, bishops show they've lost interest in civic engagement

Michael Sean Winters: The decision by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to close down Catholic News Service was terrible in terms of lowering the standards of Catholic journalism. It was terrible, also, because of its ecclesial significance, which strikes at a deeper issue for the nation's bishops. 

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