Michael Sean Winters

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.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Pope Francis' text may challenge political agendas; the CIA's relationship with Poland; what do you get if you can't get a reuben?

Michael Sean Winters: For a certain kind of Catholic, President Biden provokes fury, and that kind of Catholic also tends to be less than enthusiastic about Pope Francis. Photos of the two together will be too much.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Discussing labor, religion and politics at Collegeville; GOP efforts to win over Virginia's Latino voters; on free speech, Andrew Sullivan gets it right.

Michael Sean Winters: In claiming "any suggestion that EWTN is unfaithful to the Church, the Second Vatican Council, or the Holy See is simply vindictive and false," Archbishop Charles Chaput supports the network's continued effort to claim the mantle of orthodoxy for themselves while casting aspersions on the pope's orthodoxy. 

Michael Sean Winters: Strikes at several hospitals, John Deere, Kellogg's and other places illustrate calls for worker solidarity and dignity at the heart of Catholic social doctrine for 130 years. Pope Leo XIII – and every pope since – has pointed to the moral necessity of workers being able to form a union.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: The failure to build a more sustainable energy grid; the need for affordable child care; how the U.S. can help Latin America recover from the pandemic and decades of ongoing issues.

Michael Sean Winters: Pope Francis' address to the fourth World Meeting of Popular Movements is stunning. No other world leader speaks like this.