Michael Sean Winters

Distinctly Catholic: This train wreck of a phone call with Trump has shown just how sectarian (and partisan) some key staffers at the U.S. bishops' conference have become.

Distinctly Catholic: The unity of the church should be more important to a bishop than any political stance, but synodality, as both a method and a mindset, would have prevented this train wreck Dolan has foisted on the church.

Twice-weekly roundup of political news and commentary: Another possible blue wave; guaranteed elections; Pulitzer Prize nominee hero; unlikely opponents of payroll tax cuts; pandemic causing food waste

Distinctly Catholic: There is more evidence that New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, and at least some key staffers at the bishops' conference, knew that the call with President Donald Trump was partly a campaign rally. 

Michael Sean Winters rounds up news and commentary: Appealing to people's power angels; advice for the Joe Biden campaign; defend Sen. Doug Jones; what happened to Sen. Lindsey Graham? 

Distinctly Catholic: Regarding the recent protests against stay-at-home orders, only a deeply inadequate political theory would not see that bringing a gun to the legislature inhibits free speech and threatens the functioning of democracy.

Distinctly Catholic: We Catholics admit there is a hierarchy of values and the protection of human life is at the top of that hierarchy, especially when the arguments opposite are principally about economics.

A twice-weekly roundup of news and commentary: An Irish commentator has sympathy for U.S. lockdown; "Inside the Vatican" was a good documentary; please, U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, don't do it; looking at an election nightmare one way or another

Distinctly Catholic: Former nuncio Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò is back in the news trafficking in yet more incredible theories about popes withholding the third secret of Fatima, as well as their failure to consecrate Russia properly to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

A twice-weekly roundup of political news and commentary: The similarities of the 1920s and '30s and today; hope for a get-out-the-vote movement for Latinos in the U.S.; Liz Cheney is a lot like her father; sign up for a Catholic Labor Network livestreamed Mass for fallen workers; this May Day will be unlike any other

Distinctly Catholic: That the hierarchy of the Catholic Church is being roped into the president's reelection efforts is now obvious. New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan's effusive praise on the call Saturday is clearly part of the reelection effort.

Distinctly Catholic: I would have trouble thinking of another contemporary scholar who is so completely versed in two distinct fields of study that a work like this can succeed as this book does succeed.

Distinctly Catholic: The Boston College theologian and law professor's book brings Christian moral theologians into dialogue with the American legal tradition, yielding real insights.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Irresponsible "doctors" and the queen of pseudoscience on Fox News; Bishop Barron builds an empire; Puerto Rico lags in testing capabilities.

Distinctly Catholic: Unless Biden begins showing up and articulating his vision for a post-virus, pro-worker America, we all need to start preparing ourselves for a diet of crumbs.

A roundup of political news and commentary: The role media plays in White House disinformation; scapegoats crafted by president's core supporters; who should be Biden's running mate?

Distinctly Catholic: Massimo Faggioli is asking why this reformist pope has not moved forward on two areas of internal church reform, the restoration of a female diaconate and the request from the Amazon synod to ordain older, married men.

Distinctly Catholic: All thoughts turn to this question, made more difficult because Trump is so unlike previous presidents, and because the coronavirus has completely upended anything like social normalcy.

A roundup of political news and commentary: Robert Christian writes about how the pandemic exposes libertarianism's limits; Trump's name delays stimulus checks; the economy may not just bounce back.

Distinctly Catholic: In these dark days, people turn to the institutions of government and of the church. While these institutions are not above reproach, I was horrified by an essay published recently at NCR.