Michael Sean Winters

The Democrats helped themselves with this week's convention, appearing energized and mostly unified. They projected confidence not just about their chances in November but for the future of the country.

What is absent from political conventions is often as problematic as what is present. Party conventions have become coronations, a fact that oddly fails to serve the interests of the person being crowned.

"As the Democrats gather in Chicago this week for their convention, pro-life Democrats worry that there may be no room for us anymore in this party to which we are committed," Michael Sean Winters writes.

George Weigel "lumps together" complicated history to attack the CCHD's model of community organizing, a perspective NCR's Michael Sean Winters calls "nothing more than ideological reductionisms and gross caricatures." 

When JD Vance converted to Catholicism, he evidently missed the session on church teaching about human dignity, and the one about church history, and the one on biblical exegesis regarding welcoming the stranger.

 With Donald Trump doubling down on his base by choosing an articulate ideologue like JD Vance, Kamala Harris has the opportunity to reach for the center and win big, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

The election is no longer a referendum on President Joe Biden. That has been replaced by a new narrative about passing the torch to a new generation, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

Minnesota's governor comes across as a real person, not a polled-out politician, and fits into Harris' desire to unite the party and be mindful of Middle America's working-class voters, says columnist Michael Sean Winters.

"The Biden administration should be applauded by all for its tireless efforts to free Americans and others who are falsely imprisoned," NCR's Michael Sean Winters writes.

When you get past the partisan lenses and the ideological lenses and the identity politics lenses, all the things that have become polarized and intransigent, we might find that which is truly human, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

The statements issued by Bishops Barron and Cozzens responding to the Olympics opening ceremony were overwrought, says NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters. 

As he explained his decision to end his reelection campaign, President Joe Biden did not mention his Catholic faith. But his Catholicism informs this man's understanding of the moment, of himself, and of our nation.

In the next few days — not weeks but days — Vice President Kamala Harris must introduce herself to the American people. The GOP will be trying to do the same thing, albeit with different points of emphasis.

One candidate decided he was not physically fit and will be replaced by someone who may not be politically fit. The other is not morally fit. Anyone who tells you they know how this will play out is deluded.

There had been reports that, in light of the failed assassination attempt on his life, former President Donald Trump would dial back the vitriol at the RNC and make an appeal to national unity. And Trump tried, but he couldn't help himself.

NCR's Michael Sean Winters was unimpressed with GOP vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance's speech to the GOP convention.
 

Will there be an issue or a moment in which Vance's newly found Catholicism leads him to challenge his party or his running mate? NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters is skeptical.

Although the GOP's platform will not include support for a nationwide limit on abortion, "No one should expect the pro-life movement to abandon the GOP," writes NCR's Michael Sean Winters.

Specific agendas will frustrate the synodal process because it is well-nigh impossible to listen to the Holy Spirit if we insist on trying to achieve our particular goals, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

It isn't just that some bishops disagree with the decision to cut back on the Justice, Peace and Human Development office, while leaving other committees untouched. It is that the bishops feel like they were gaslighted at last month's meeting in Louisville.