Michael Sean Winters

Links: Lawyers for Kyle Rittenhouse argued their client acted in self-defense when he shot and killed two people and wounded another two days after a white police officer shot and killed a Black man. It's appalling the hateful Fox News troika lionized the defendant.

Michael Sean Winters: Part 1 of a review of Our Dear-Bought Liberty by Michael Breidenbach, who argues that Catholic experience and thought laid groundwork for the U.S. constitutional separation of church and state.

Michael Sean Winters: The U.S. bishops do not know how to embrace, still less to influence or evangelize, the culture of today.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Good news for Don Bosco Christo Rey High School; bad news for the Democrats and 2022; the words of Michael Flynn vs. James Madison; Bill Donohue has slanted understanding of the clergy sex abuse crisis

Michael Sean Winters: The second day of the U.S. bishops' meeting, which finally included public sessions, continued the somewhat surprising quietude reported the day before, after months of anticipating fireworks.

Reporting from Baltimore on the first day of the U.S. bishops' conference fall assembly, Michael Sean Winters says that a consensus seemed to be emerging that the current version of the document on the Eucharist was a compromise and probably the best they could agree to.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Clarification on Haidt; Notre Dame's John Cavadini outshines the bishops; C.S. Lewis' invitation to intellectual humility; Iceland, where water is wet.

Michael Sean Winters: This week the meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops gets underway. If the bishops vote to approve the proposed document on the Eucharist, it will not be because the text is good, but because the document is so mediocre.

Michael Sean Winters: A new survey of Catholic priests shows —unsurprisingly — that younger priests are increasingly more conservative than their forbears. But how can you be "orthodox" when you disapprove of the pope? 

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Happy Veterans Day to those who served, and their families; Gov. Chris Sununu disappoints Republicans; Bishop John Stowe speaks with Commonweal before the U.S. bishops' meeting

Michael Sean Winters: The job of selling the infrastructure bill has only begun. The American people need to see that what the president and the Congress accomplished is going to make a difference in their lives.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: At National Review, Ashley McGuire defends EWTN; Politico looks at Democrats' post-election blame game; throughout the U.S., school board members face threats.

Michael Sean Winters: Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez's dreadful speech attacking social justice movements in our time showed him to be a prophet of doom and a culture warrior, not a pastor.

Michael Sean Winters: Tuesday's election results bode ill for the Democrats as they look toward next year's midterms. The loss in Virginia and near-loss in New Jersey should serve as a wake-up call to the party.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Cardinal Blase Cupich on Traditionis Custodes and the word "reform"; for some, the political is bonkers; examining the TV series "Dirty Jobs."

Michael Sean Winters: When the US bishops gather in Baltimore this month, they will choose whether to pursue the culture war approach some bishops prefer, or to pursue communion with the bishop of Rome. They can't do both.

Michael Sean Winters: The fear Big Pharma is stirring up would evaporate as soon as this happened; Antisemitism rises on the left; tracking pledges to reduce carbon emissions; "Meta," but on one condition.

Democrats usually do really well with voters for whom education is the most important issue. But in Virginia's governor race, Republican Glenn Youngkin could best Democrat Terry McAuliffe, thanks to parent anger, much of it based on misinformation, about teaching critical race theory in public schools.

Michael Sean Winters: President Biden surely knows it is considered bad form to disclose what you discussed with the pope, especially if it is of a private nature. But he is a practicing Catholic who just met with Pope Francis! Besides, this is Joe Biden we're talking about.

Michael Sean Winters: Social media have the power to conflate and compress human relations. Social media aren't going away just like cars are not going away, but the U.S. has an interest in making both as safe as possible, even if that means social media become a little more boring.