Michael Sean Winters

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Abuse at Chicago Public Schools; billionaires endorse wealth tax; beautiful essay takes us to Paris and El Paso.

Distinctly Catholic: The Democratic Party's presidential nominating contest takes a big turn tonight, and the candidates should take it under advisement to stick to labor issues in these early debates.

Political news and commentary: Bishop Robert Barron owes us a non-dismissive response; trying to shut down the Democratic field prematurely; property rights quietly advance in the conservative U.S. Supreme Court; money talks, even when it is speaking against logic, science, health

Distinctly Catholic: Whether the issue is reparations or the Bladensburg Cross, the desire to rummage around the past, with no sense of how culture has changed in the meantime, is ill-advised. Healthy political parties and cultural institutions seek converts, and unhealthy ones seek heretics.

Distinctly Catholic: Make the point unmistakably clear. These are not normal times, what is being done to these desperate people is the real crime, and the Catholic Church stands with them.

Political news and commentary: Jerry Falwell Jr.'s endorsement of Donald Trump has a strange backstory; AFL-CIO leaders decry the NAFTA; the partisan divide on abortion; let's give thanks for hotel maids and farmworkers

Distinctly Catholic: Pope Francis' comments in Romania demonstrate a different attitude towards evangelization than what we heard last week from Bishop Robert Barron at the U.S. bishops' conference meeting.

Political news and commentary roundup: There are voters who only vote for change; Puerto Rico's oversight board reached a deal; the public is not as extreme as the Democratic Party on abortion

We have a president who routinely, and almost daily, defines deviancy down, making normal or even acceptable what once did and still should provoke horror.

Political news and commentary roundup: What are Trump's true motives? People who "approve" of him might not vote for him, and he might win solely on the anti-abortion vote, if Democrats remain extreme on the issue

Distinctly Catholic: The U.S. bishops' conference, as predicted, passed the implementing documents, but perhaps at the next meeting, the bishops can consider how they can overcome the polarization within the flock that is fed by the media as well as by other sources.

Distinctly Catholic: Barron is a master at apologetics, but apologetics is not evangelization and, in fact, to the degree the Catholic Church highlights his brand of apologetics, I will predict our efforts at evangelization will be stillborn.

Distinctly Catholic: It is shocking that there was apparently no effort to build a consensus among the bishops before they got to Baltimore. It is past time for new leadership at the bishops' conference.

Political news and commentary roundup: Trump's approval rating tanks in key swing states; Warren carves out her own lane; Dems become intolerant to their own pro-lifers; O'Hanlon on polemic limits

Distinctly Catholic: Starting with personal attacks on Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and the mayor of London, US President Donald Trump blundered his way through his trip to England, Ireland and France.

Distinctly Catholic: The worldliness that has become part and parcel of leading the Christian community, the need for all bishops and pastors to curry favor among the wealthy in order to fund our ministries, is antithetical to a church of the poor.

Political news and commentary roundup: Abortion debate is one for the extremists; old-school progressive movement was successful because it was broad and flexible; what if your favorite coffee brand was founded with Nazi money

Distinctly Catholic: The dangers the rise of nationalistic populism poses are real. Over 4,000 soldiers gave their lives on D-Day to combat the evil that emerged the last time nationalistic populism came to power in Europe.

Political news and commentary roundup: Elections and religious talk; what does Figueiredo really know; problematic tech philanthropy; William Barr is boggling; reliving the AIDS epidemic

Distinctly Catholic: When the U.S. bishops gather for their annual meeting in Baltimore next week and work out implementing the Vatican's norms on handling sex abuse, they also must get on record with defending immigrants.