Michael Sean Winters

Distinctly Catholic: Fran Maier is part of a cabal of conservative lay Catholics who have become influential with certain churchmen. He talked to a few dozen bishops, whom he doesn't name, about "church renewal" for the constitutional studies program at the University of Notre Dame.

Distinctly Catholic: Release global reserve funds for poorer countries; being secretary of state became more important; power grid politics; keeping watch on Syria's war crimes

Distinctly Catholic: To be sure, as vocations go, politics has never been known for attracting truth-tellers. But, as a culture, we need to reclaim our skepticism.

Distinctly Catholic: Where the post-COVID jobs are going; the kind of engineering a good power grid needs; early Supreme Court nomination work; the function of a literary canon; nostalgia for bygone passenger airliners

Distinctly Catholic: Rush Limbaugh, more than anyone, coarsened American political discourse, paved the way for the rise of conservative populism, and threw gasoline on the flames of the culture wars for 40 years.

Distinctly Catholic: The bishops can seize this moment and embrace a more nuanced, and frankly more theologically sophisticated understanding of religious liberty, or they can pick fights with the president, straining our supple theology to cohere with an intransigent political agenda.

Distinctly Catholic rounds up political news and commentary: Carlson's eight-minute, untrue rant; looking at minimum wage and McDonald's; scrub away Olympics corruption with these permanent locations.

Distinctly Catholic: News that the U.S. bishops' conference shut down the working group to deal with the Biden administration suggests its leadership now sees that the confrontational stance was ill-considered.

Distinctly Catholic rounds up political news and commentary: An encounter with Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete; minimum wage in Fresno; an unhelpful primer on Puerto Rico statehood; Canadians and American tourists.

Distinctly Catholic: We may not know the "how" that motivated Donald Trump when he called his followers to march on the Capitol, but we know the "what": He wanted to overturn the results of the election.

Distinctly Catholic: The problem with loan forgiveness and free tuition is they are not universal, because millions of Americans do not go to college, either because they do not qualify or because they have no interest.

Distinctly Catholic rounds up political news and commentary: Politico details a Biden administration plan to "punish" opposition to the COVID-19 relief bill; The Post on what Trump did, said Jan. 6.

Distinctly Catholic: Donald Trump's second impeachment trial has begun. Already it is harder to tell which is more remarkable: the frightening facts of the case, or the rhetorical gymnastics of Trump's defenders.

Distinctly Catholic rounds up political news and commentary: Stacey Abrams sounds like the pope; going big on COVID-19 relief; January jobs numbers; Pennsylvania's leftie populist; SNL takes aim at cancel culture.

Distinctly Catholic: You can spot a Vatican II follower quite easily. Like those early Christians, they display wonderment at the amazing claim at the heart of our faith, the Crucified lives, the tomb is empty. That is why Francis is so appealing, is it not?

Distinctly Catholic: President Joe Biden's pledge that he "will not settle" for an inadequate COVID-19 response indicates that he understands the American people deserve a solution.

Distinctly Catholic rounds up political news and commentary: Biden must deal with Putin; Newsmax reaches its limit with Trump; John Sweeney strengthened ties between organized labor and Catholicism

Distinctly Catholic: Politicians are famous for their willingness to shade the truth in order to preserve their power, but the problem for Republicans is that they do not know how much further off the deep end the former president will yet go.

Distinctly Catholic rounds up political news and commentary: Kansas City Chiefs' lineman Laurent Duvernay-Tardif changed his ideas about heroes; Chaucer under financial strain; anti-government party tries to govern

Distinctly Catholic: Catholicism is a set of beliefs to which we are called to give assent, but the rich life of the Catholic faith is so much more than that. It is "here comes everybody," left, right or center.