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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Mick Mulvaney, then chief of staff for the Trump White House, speaks April 23, 2019, during the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington. (CNS/Tyler Orsburn)

Links: Georgia governor's race; Amazon unionizer; Notre Dame back to game day Mass

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Koch Industries in Russia; Trump's candidate lags in Georgia; Mick Mulvaney and CBS; Dorothy Day, idealization and holiness; forgiving student loan debt.

Peter K. Kilpatrick introduces himself to the student body at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., March 29. The university's board of trustees selected him as CUA's 16th president. (CNS/Catholic University of America/Patrick G. Ryan)

Here's hoping DC's new Catholic University president charts a new course

Michael Sean Winters: CUA will never be able to renew itself so long as its vision of Catholic identity is crimped, defined by same-sex dorms and resistance to Francis in the theology department, and sectarian.

President Joe Biden announces his budget proposal for fiscal year 2023 at the White House March 28 in Washington. (CNS/Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)

President Biden's proposed 2023 federal budget is good enough

Michael Sean Winters: A budget is always as much a political and a moral document as it is a fiscal one. The political and moral are thoroughly intertwined. President Joe Biden's budget proposal is no exception.

Protesters against the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference in Seattle on Nov. 29, 1999 (Wikimedia Commons/Seattle Municipal Archives)

Links: MAGA in Michigan; Gerson on Ginni Thomas; good news/bad news on wages

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Trump dives into state races; Mideast diplomacy; Ginni Thomas' religious certainty; labeling bishops "modernist"; 1999 protesters can say, "We told you so."

Pope Francis greets the crowd as he leads the Angelus from the window of his studio overlooking St. Peter's Square March 27 at the Vatican. (CNS/Vatican Media)

New book: Francis' 'field hospital' is answer to neoconservative culture wars

Michael Sean Winters: Massimo Borghesi's book explains how U.S. neoconservative Catholics have landed the U.S. church in a cul-de-sac, and how Pope Francis' "field hospital" vision can help us get back on the main road.

Pope Francis arrives to lead his general audience in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican March 23. (CNS/Paul Haring)

Links: Thomas should recuse himself; NCAA women's tourney; Chicago ecclesial conference

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: A stunning catechesis on old age; the economy of gifts; women's NCAA March Madness gains prominence; perspectives on the ecclesial conference in Chicago.

Theologian Monika Hellwig, president and executive director of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, listens to remarks from Richard John Neuhaus, editor of the journal First Things, during a conference in 2004.

Borghesi's 'Catholic Discordance' revisits neoconservatism in the church

Massimo Borghesi's Catholic Discordance: Neoconservatism vs. the Field Hospital Church of Pope Francis is a must-read for anyone serious about studying the estuary where religion and politics intersect.

A Ukrainian girl from Kharkiv, Ukraine, looks out a train window bound for Warsaw, Poland, March 23 with people fleeing Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine. (CNS photo/Hannah McKay, Reuters)

Raise a toast to the 'institutional church'

It's easy to complain about the "institutional church." But the speedy and generous response to the crisis in Ukraine shows the value of our ecclesial institutions in coming to the aid of desperate people.

A woman reacts in front of destroyed apartment buildings in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 17, 2022.

Links: Biden in Europe; seizing Russian property; remembering Daniel Rudd

President Joe Biden and European leaders are racing against the clock; the scenes from the city of Mariupol, Ukraine, are heart-breaking; and remembering the life of a pioneering Black Catholic journalist.

Pope Francis leads a meeting of his Council of Cardinals at the Vatican Feb. 21.

Will Francis' reform of the Curia take root?

Pope Francis' reforms of the Roman Curia are promising, argues columnist Michael Sean Winters, but redeeming that promise will require the commitment of many others, and it will take time.

Protesters take part in a July 31, 2021, march in Austin, Texas, for voting rights and against a measure in the Legislature to enact voting restrictions. (CNS/Reuters/Callaghan O'Hare)

Links: Texas voter suppression; the Times' free speech editorial; taking on an integralist

Michael Sean Winters: EWTN's Arroyo and his "papal posse" should be careful what they wish for; the results from Texas' primary are shocking; The New York Times' free speech editorial relied on a conception of freedom from.

 

Ketanji Brown Jackson, a U.S. Circuit judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, poses for a portrait Feb. 18 in her office conference room at the court in Washington. (AP/Jacquelyn Martin)

What to expect from Ketanji Brown Jackson's Supreme Court confirmation hearings

Michael Sean Winters: Ketanji Brown Jackson is more than qualified to join the U.S. Supreme Court. The Senate should skip the drama and confirm her. 

Pencils and folders are seen Feb. 14, 2017, in a Washington classroom. (CNS/Tyler Orsburn)

Keep the culture wars out of the classroom

Michael Sean Winters: Progressive Catholics are lobbying against laws that restrict what is taught in the classroom. Here's why conservative Catholics should oppose these laws too.

A sign decrying Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine is seen outside the Russian Embassy in Berlin March 4. (NCR photo/Teresa Malcolm)

Links: Analyzing Putin; SCOTUS and labor; DeSantis' rift with Miami archbishop

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Puerto Rico bishop gets new fans; Koch Industries in Russia; Gov. DeSantis and Archbishop Wenski at odds over migrants; Cardinal O'Malley on sin of racism.

Cleveland Bishop Edward Malesic (CNS/Courtesy of the Cleveland Diocese)

How should bishops deal with Church Militant and renegade priests?

Michael Sean Winters: Cleveland Bishop Edward Malesic gave a prayer at the "Bringing America Back to Life" convention, an event that featured some dubious characters. Was he right to do so?

A pro-life sign is seen outside San Antonio Catholic Church in Port Charlotte, Florida, Sept. 20, 2021. (CNS/Reuters/Shannon Stapleton)

Links: Ukraine's diversity; midterm strategies; seamless garment Catholics

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: The role of religion in the politics of Russia and Ukraine; pivoting away from culture war issues; Latino vote in Nevada; protecting children in Texas.

Gas prices are on the rise across the U.S. Here prices are seen in Carlsbad, California March 7. The U.S. House voted with a wide bipartisan majority March 8 to pass a ban on importing Russian oil, natural gas and coal into the U.S. (CNS/Reuters)

Politicians shouldn't take credit — or accept blame — for gas prices

If Biden is going to take credit for the fact that the economy is finally improving, he has to take the blame for the lingering problems like supply chain issues and rising inflation, too.

Bishop Daniel Fernández Torres of Arecibo, Puerto Rico, is pictured in Arecibo in this this Oct. 19, 2016, file photo. (CNS/Catholic Extension/Rich Kalonick)

Why did the Vatican sack an anti-vaccine bishop in Puerto Rico?

Michael Sean Winters: The Vatican took the rare step of sacking a bishop against his will. It appears that the final straw was Bishop Daniel Fernández Torres' anti-vaccine stance.

Yo-Yo Ma, world-renowned cellist, performs during the Concert for Peace at St. Sabina Church June 10, 2018, in Chicago. (CNS/Chicago Catholic/Karen Callaway)

Links: Yo-Yo Ma honors Ukraine; evangelical churches and Latinos; the state of higher ed

Michael Sean Winters: Yo-Yo Ma plays the Ukrainian national anthem; a look at the role of evangelical churches in politicizing conservative Latinos; self-censorship on college campuses and attacks on public education.

A woman near the White House in Washington holds a sign during a March 6 protest against Russia's invasion of Ukraine. (CNS/Reuters/Sarah Silbiger)

The West's moral calculi become more fraught as genocide looms and oil prices rise

Michael Sean Winters: With the possibility that the war in Ukraine will become genocidal, and as the pain of economic sanctions hit home, the West's political and moral leaders must recalculate what the war demands of us.

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