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. 

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Confusion and canons at Villanova University law school conference

Distinctly Catholic: Most of the speakers at an April 23 virtual conference, which focused on President Joe Biden's presidency, are confused in ways that are unique (and common) to ideologues.

Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich is seen in January 2020. (CNS/Tyler Orsburn)

Links: Peter Steinfels' clarification; flippable Senate seats; Cupich on antisemitism

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: More faults of the Pennsylvania grand jury report; hopeful climate news from Denmark; saving the Democrats from themselves; a hit job on Cardinal Cupich.

President Joe Biden is seen on a screen in Brussels, Belgium, April 22, 2021, as European Council President Charles Michel attends a virtual global climate summit. Biden committed the United States to cut greenhouse emissions in half by 2030. (CNS/Johanna

What Biden got right in his approach to climate change

Distinctly Catholic: President Biden announced climate policy changes that angered politicians and especially activists on both the right and the left — usually a telltale sign that the correct path has been charted.

Fr. Michael Pfleger, pastor of St. Sabina Church in Chicago, is seen in this 2015 file photo. Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago asked the priest to step aside from ministry Jan. 5, after the Archdiocese of Chicago received an allegation he sexually abused

Parishes cannot obstruct sex abuse investigations

Distinctly Catholic: Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich has told the community of St. Sabina to stop obstructing the investigation of their pastor, who is accused of sex abuse. The current situation is critical.

Links: the Catholic left, Amy Coney Barrett and the importance of distinctions

Distinctly Catholic: Best essay on religion; unionizing requires a culture shift; how about a wealth tax; recuse, Justice Coney Barrett; the imperfect definition of "nones"

Rifles are seen inside the gun section of a sporting goods store. (CNS/Eduardo Munoz, Reuters)

From the grave: Noonan on gun manufacturers' moral cooperation in evil

Distinctly Catholic: Given the now routine incidences of U.S. gun violence, let's look at what John Noonan had to say years ago on the moral culpability of gun manufacturers in the mass shootings that now plague the nation.

A priest gives the Eucharist to a communicant during a Mass at St. Agnes Cathedral in Rockville Centre, New York, in 2020. (CNS/Gregory A. Shemitz)

Links: Denying Communion to same-sex couples, and Bush talks immigration reform

Distinctly Catholic: Fr. Lou Cameli balances the issues involves in denying Communion to people in same-sex marriages; George W. Bush publishes a surprising op-ed; new student loan legislation is worth supporting.

From frontier to the present: New history traces US church and its people

Distinctly Catholic: Even though Leslie Woodcook Tentler carries the story too far, into the post-conciliar era, her American Catholics: A History is a major accomplishment — comprehensive, judicious and tells a good story.

Retired Pope Benedict XVI smiles at Germany's Munich Airport before his departure to Rome June 22, 2020. (CNS/Sven Hoppe, pool via Reuters)

Considering Benedict XVI's theology and papacy on his 94th birthday

Distinctly Catholic: For the retired pope's 94th birthday, a consideration of two aspects of his long life: his career as a theologian and why being a great theologian is no guarantee one will be a great pope.

Cokie Roberts in 2017 (Wikimedia Commons/LBJ Library/Jay Godwin)

Links: The women of NPR, 'Atlantic Crossing' and post-modern architecture

Distinctly Catholic: Susan Stamberg, Linda Wertheimer, Nina Totenberg and Cokie Roberts featured in new book; an offending police officer fired; Puerto Rico's bid for self-determination; sidelined senators complain

(Pixabay/Maciej Górnicki)

Lessons from the Amazon unionizing defeat

Distinctly Catholic: The vote at the Alabama Amazon plant was a loss for organized labor. There is no way to sugarcoat that fact. Like every loss, there are lessons to be learned about future organizing efforts.

A statue of St. Joseph is seen as Pope Francis leads his general audience in the library of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican March 24. (CNS/Vatican Media)

Links: Latino women for Trump, and the Olympics as a super-spreader event

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Lt. Caron Nazario sues police officers; conundrums of the Olympics; Democratic and Republican dictionaries; animals and pronouns; St. Joseph as a model.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia (Wikimedia Commons/Senate Democrats)

Manchin's mistaken prophetic stance on the filibuster

Distinctly Catholic: The West Virginia senator's op-ed against eliminating the filibuster may be sincere, and it may be true to some of the Senate's finest traditions. But it is misplaced and counterproductive.

A rainbow appears behind the Lincoln Memorial in Washington June 19, 2020. The date, known as Juneteenth, honors the end to slavery in the United States and is considered the longest-running African American holiday. (CNS/Jonathan Ernst, Reuters)

In the fight against racism, reparations are not the answer

Distinctly Catholic: A politics aimed at alleviating the ill-effects of racism is highly moral, and the "justice" offered by reparations is a veneer. Black Americans and others who face the injustices of racism deserve more than that.

Orange lava flowing down dark volcano at night

Links: Catholic social teaching origins, voting laws, corporate taxes

Distinctly Catholic: Msgr. John Strynkowski on where Catholic social teaching comes from; Supreme Court predictability; global minimum corporate tax proposal

President Joe Biden speaks about his $2.2 trillion infrastructure plan at Carpenters Pittsburgh Training Center March 31 in Pittsburgh. The proposed package has funding for broadband, housing, the electric grid, roads and bridges, and other areas. It will

Joe Biden teaches 'Fratelli Tutti' Economics 101

Distinctly Catholic: President Biden's infrastructure bill and his American Rescue Plan represent a repudiation of Reaganomics, and the introduction of a new kind of social policy we should call Fratelli Tutti economics.

Pope Francis gives the homily as he celebrates Holy Thursday chrism Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican April 1, 2021. (CNS/Andrew Medichini, Reuters pool)

Links: Pope Francis on the cross; corporations respond to Georgia voting law

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Pope Francis' chrism Mass homily; the 2020 Latino vote; 'everyday ethics and solidarity' of women religious; good news for labor and for tourists.

Msgr. John Tracy Ellis, 1905-1992, in front of a stone building

Msgr. John Tracy Ellis on selecting bishops in the US

Distinctly Catholic: Now for some modern church history, from the archives of my great mentor, who describes efforts to better conform the U.S. church to the democratic tenor of the country and include priests in the consultation process for naming new bishops.

A crucifix is seen at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles on Palm Sunday, March 28. (CNS/Victor Aleman, courtesy of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles)

Good Friday: All you who pass this way, look and see

Distinctly Catholic: Of all Christian holidays, this is the day from which there are no ethical lessons to be drawn. Today is about something deeper, more primordial in Christian spirituality than mere ethics.

Links: Catholic identity at universities, meritocracy and the 'working class'

Distinctly Catholic: Where the most COVID-19 cases and deaths are; insufferable ruling class; students suing Department of Education; Holy Thursday

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