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. 

By this Author

Gas prices are on the rise across the U.S. Here prices are seen in Carlsbad, California March 7. The U.S. House voted with a wide bipartisan majority March 8 to pass a ban on importing Russian oil, natural gas and coal into the U.S. (CNS/Reuters)

Politicians shouldn't take credit — or accept blame — for gas prices

If Biden is going to take credit for the fact that the economy is finally improving, he has to take the blame for the lingering problems like supply chain issues and rising inflation, too.

Bishop Daniel Fernández Torres of Arecibo, Puerto Rico, is pictured in Arecibo in this this Oct. 19, 2016, file photo. (CNS/Catholic Extension/Rich Kalonick)

Why did the Vatican sack an anti-vaccine bishop in Puerto Rico?

Michael Sean Winters: The Vatican took the rare step of sacking a bishop against his will. It appears that the final straw was Bishop Daniel Fernández Torres' anti-vaccine stance.

Yo-Yo Ma, world-renowned cellist, performs during the Concert for Peace at St. Sabina Church June 10, 2018, in Chicago. (CNS/Chicago Catholic/Karen Callaway)

Links: Yo-Yo Ma honors Ukraine; evangelical churches and Latinos; the state of higher ed

Michael Sean Winters: Yo-Yo Ma plays the Ukrainian national anthem; a look at the role of evangelical churches in politicizing conservative Latinos; self-censorship on college campuses and attacks on public education.

A woman near the White House in Washington holds a sign during a March 6 protest against Russia's invasion of Ukraine. (CNS/Reuters/Sarah Silbiger)

The West's moral calculi become more fraught as genocide looms and oil prices rise

Michael Sean Winters: With the possibility that the war in Ukraine will become genocidal, and as the pain of economic sanctions hit home, the West's political and moral leaders must recalculate what the war demands of us.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy poses after an interview with Reuters March 1 in Kyiv, Ukraine (CNS/Reuters/Umit Bektas)

Links: Paranoid politics at LifeSiteNews; Ukraine's debt; Trump exposed too late

Michael Sean Winters: LifeSiteNews essay on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reflects "The Paranoid Style in American Politics"; a call to restructure Ukraine's sovereign debt; why is Bolton only telling us about Trump now?

A woman at Madison Memorial Hospital in Rexburg, Idaho, holds the hand of a COVID-19 patient in her isolation room Oct. 28, 2021. (CNS/Reuters/Shannon Stapleton)

What two years of COVID-19 have taught us about the abuse of conscience

Michael Sean Winters: We have learned a lot about what ails our society during the pandemic. Near the top of the list is that many Catholics do not have the foggiest idea what the church actually teaches about conscience.

President Joe Biden delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress in the House of Representatives Chamber at the Capitol in Washington March 1. (CNS /Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein)

Biden's State of the Union needed some Catholic social doctrine

President Joe Biden started the State of the Union speech strong, praising the heroic Ukrainian people. But the unity that greeted the first part of the speech ended abruptly. This year called for more.

Links: Looming humanitarian crisis in Ukraine; State of the Union reactions; elections in Texas

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: You can count on Caritas International to get humanitarian aid to the Ukrainians who need it.

A truck displays an electronic message while protesters demonstrate outside United Nations headquarters in New York City, as diplomats inside hold an emergency session of the 193-member U.N. General Assembly. (CNS/Reuters/Mike Segar)

Some conservative Catholics' apologies for Putin reveal fascist sympathies

The fascist nonsense in some Catholics' comments about Russia's invasion of Ukraine is viciously unconcerned with justice of any magisterial teaching.

Ketanji Brown Jackson, pictured April 28, 2021, in Washington (CNS/Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)

Links: The Supreme Court nominee; partisan redistricting; unionizing at Seattle U

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: GOP efforts to block Ketanji Brown Jackson's Supreme Court nomination; how partisan redistricting furthers party radicalization and the country's polarization.

Bishop Andrew Cozzens listens to a question during a Nov. 17, 2021, session of the fall general assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore. (CNS/Bob Roller)

Warning to bishops: Please make sure the Eucharistic Congress isn't a very expensive boondoggle

About 600,000 Catholics joined the eucharistic procession ending the 1926 International Eucharistic Congress in Chicago. The U.S. bishops are planning the 2024 National Eucharistic Congress in a different world.

Smoke rises from the territory of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's unit in Kyiv Feb. 24 after Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized a military operation in Ukraine. (CNS/Reuters/Valentyn Ogirenko)

Russian invasion of Ukraine raises moral questions about how to achieve peace

Michael Sean Winters: Russian President Vladimir Putin traffics in morally obscene lies to justify his invasion of Ukraine. Is he likely to be moved by moral concerns at all?

U.S. dollars (Unsplash/Engin Akyurt)

Links: Neoliberal economics; working-class faculty; the dud Winter Olympics

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Economists and public policy; how nontenured college faculty are working class; setback for efforts to combat climate change; Israel's liberal values.

Then-President Donald Trump speaks at the 2019 Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, held that year in Oxon, Maryland. (Flickr/Trump White House Archived/Tia Dufour)

Buckle up for a scary ride, as CPAC comes to Orlando this week

Michael Sean Winters: If you thought the roller coaster in Space Mountain at Walt Disney World was scary, just wait until you see the speakers' list at this year's Conservative Political Action Conference.

A wooden statue of a pregnant woman, often referred to as "Pachamama," is pictured in the Church of St. Mary in Traspontina as part of exhibits on the Amazon region during the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon in Rome Oct. 18, 2019. (CNS/Paul Haring)

Links: Pachamama and COVID, Wisconsin Republicans, and the Ottawa convoy

Michael Sean Winters: Crisis editor-in-chief thinks Pachamama caused pandemic; how another conspiracy is ripping apart Wisconsin Republicans; why the possible invasion of Ukraine is qualitatively different from past wars.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., holds a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., July 15, 2021, about expanded child tax credit payments. (CNS/Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)

Annett's 'Cathonomics' should be required reading in Catholic business schools

Michael Sean Winters: Anthony Annett's new Cathonomics may be the best book on Catholic social teaching out there. Every Catholic business school should make it required reading.

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., listen during an Oct. 19 meeting of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The Republican National Committee voted Feb. 4 to censure Cheney and Kinzinger.

Backlash to RNC censure reveals fractures in Trump's GOP influence

When the RNC called the Jan. 6, 2020, attack on the Capitol "legitimate political discourse," many Republican leaders said "Enough!" Could this be the Trumpian straw that will break the GOP camel's back?

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) speaking at CPAC 2011 in Washington, D.C. (Wikimedia Commons/Gage Skidmore)

Links: Latina voters and the GOP; synodality at Catholic universities; and Lake Placid's Olympic legacy

Michael Sean Winters: Many immigrants still believe in the American Dream; Catholic universities give space for voices to be heard; Republicans' false allegations about voter fraud

Bishop Shelton Fabre of Houma-Thibodaux, Louisiana, speaks during the fall general assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Nov. 13, 2019, in Baltimore. Pope Francis named Fabre as the new archbishop of Louisville, Kentucky. (CNS)

Selection of Archbishop-designate Fabre brings US church closer to Francis' pastoral vision

Michael Sean Winters: The appointment of Shelton Fabre as the next archbishop of Louisville makes sense, and strengthens those who want to take up the pastoral challenges posed by Pope Francis.

A believer attends a liturgy at the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Kyiv, Ukraine, Jan. 26. (CNS/Reuters/Valentyn Ogirenko)

Links: A free Ukraine; appalling Blackhawks comments; legislating curriculum

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Coming of age with a free and independent Ukraine; Russian disinformation; Rocky Wirtz and the hubris of nonclerical hierarchies; in defense of schadenfreude.

Advertisement