Michael Sean Winters

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Creating something better; Napa's early draft of RNC; what it means to be pro-life; ad targets Trump's mishandling of pandemic; congrats to St. Louis.

Distinctly Catholic: In speech after speech, the Democrats' three core totems this week have been racial justice, beating the pandemic and rebuilding the economy. Left out: any focus on abortion.

Distinctly Catholic: On the first night of the first virtual national party convention, there was no drama, but there were a lot of cameos from regular people, as well as speeches from headliners representing various wings — Sen. Bernie Sanders, former First Lady Michelle Obama, and former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican.

Twice-weekly roundup of political news and commentary: Taking down Trump and Bezos — and cancel culture; Catholic tradition rich with anti-racism resources; UAE and Israel; climate change, Greenland's ice and Barack Obama; Harris on religion

Distinctly Catholic: Biden and his campaign team need to decide if they are simply aiming to get to 270 electoral votes, or if they're going for a big win — a mandate to really "heal the soul of the nation."

Distinctly Catholic: I make no apologies for Biden's untenable position on abortion, but the reduction of the Catholic faith to this one issue has been a pastoral as well as a political dead-end, a distortion of Catholic moral teaching that must stop.

A twice-weekly roundup of political news and commentary: Deep dive into swing states' power; Dr. Peter Marks of the FDA has a big job now; Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on looters; Melissa Rogers has firsthand knowledge of Joe Biden's faith

Distinctly Catholic: Joe Biden's selection of Kamala Harris is not a deal-breaker for progressives, and having a Black woman on the ticket means race will be at the center of this autumn's election.

Distinctly Catholic: The excommunicated Sacramento priest's misconduct is all of a piece, and that piece is all related to the anti-Francis craziness that has taken hold among some on the Catholic right.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Cardinal Burke on Fox News; hyping hydroxychloroquine in Brooklyn; Beirut hearkens back to Halifax; day of prayer and fasting for workers.

Distinctly Catholic: It seems that every time someone crosses the pro-life Catholic brigade, you get an over-the-top, profoundly hateful reaction; I suspect it doesn't help the pro-life cause one little bit. Now, a new report from the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame confirms that suspicion.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Don't forget Puerto Rico in next stimulus bill; rebuild the labor movement; administration's failed response to coronavirus; dogs don't vote in elections

Distinctly Catholic: I hope Republicans will think about the consequences for public health if cities have to start laying off workers. Want to make a pandemic worse? Cut back on garbage collection, cut resources for hospitals, make it harder for schools to reopen safely.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Supreme Court decides limit of parishioners during Mass; Biden's Catholic faith; Latino voters and abortion; a Democratic tsunami in November?

Distinctly Catholic: Next month will be the second anniversary of the infamous "testimony" of former nuncio Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò. Now, at long last, most conservatives have come to view him as a liability.

Distinctly Catholic: Candidates are focusing more on their own records and not so much on their ties with the White House. A survey of 37,000 ads run by the five most endangered Republican senators showed that only 5% contained a pro-Trump message.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: "The pope is the pope"; send your compliments to Salt Lake City's bishop; a Third Reconstruction; Farrakhan's anti-Semitism; Catholic schools in peril.

Distinctly Catholic: The new report by the State Department's Commission on Unalienable Rights is the latest battleground over human rights. It has provoked a range of utterly typical reactions.

A twice-weekly round up of political news and commentary: A right-of-center anti-extremist on Laura Ingraham; Maryland's governor picks autos over rail; economic pessimism; U.S. bishops' conference is quiet on life issue of COVID

Distinctly Catholic: Bishop Robert McElroy said that three ruptures in the U.S. force the recognition that our ecclesial structures will not be recovered so much as they will be transformed, of necessity.