Michael Sean Winters

Distinctly Catholic: Checking out how conservative U.S. Catholics reacted to the Vatican sex abuse summit would be funny if it were not so pitiful. Their commentary betrays their biases.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: French bishops stand against anti-Semitism; changing Catholic geography; the pitfalls of challenging an incumbent.

Distinctly Catholic: It was easy to forget that the fact of the meeting itself was a significant step forward. It was unprecedented to gather the presidents of the world's episcopal conferences together on relatively short notice to address a specific problem. 

Distinctly Catholic: Martel sees gay influence everywhere — art, voices, business relationships. Full of wrong facts, his book of stereotypes would be denounced as sheer bigotry if they came from a straight man.

Distinctly Catholic: I do not know how well Klobuchar will fare. In 2016, voters had a choice of a candidate who had exemplary experience and yet didn't make it.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: There's only one way to reform clericalism; anti-Semitism threatens democratic party; Evangelicals need a history lesson; the American people are more economically progressive than liberal elites

Distinctly Catholic: The Holy See's decision to laicize Theodore McCarrick, the former cardinal, only partially closes a sad and ugly chapter in the history of the Catholic Church in the United States.

Distinctly Catholic: All of the promise, and many of the problems, that the feisty freshmen Democratic members of Congress represent are on full display in the Green New Deal and its roll out. 

Distinctly Catholic: Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has been making public appearances lately, telling his success story and complaining about the government's lack of a similar one.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Faggioli covers money's sinister influence on the church; Rep. Ilhan Omar apologizes; Warren is Trump's opponent of choice, per Fox News

Distinctly Catholic: I hope that, whatever happens next week in Rome at the meeting to discuss the church's response to sex abuse, every country is able to take a giant step forward from where it is now in its commitment to confronting this sin and crime.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Sex abuse among Southern Baptist clergy; essay calls Trump 'least pro-life president ever'; Warren profiled; AOC explains democratic socialism

Distinctly Catholic: Elites want to redefine what it means to be a moderate and a liberal in 2020, but polling confirms the fact that the only way for Democrats to win is to avoid extremism on social issues and run to the left on economic ones.

Distinctly Catholic: Despite what the influential Federalist Society would have you believe, the founding fathers may not have been neatly aligned with contemporary conservative political objectives.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: A must-read for liberals and presidential candidates; voter fraud in the name of preventing voter fraud in Texas, but nothing from DiNardo

Distinctly Catholic: A balancing act has characterized this presidency: taking credit for anything good that happens, whether or not his policies are the reason, while stoking the kind of fear that makes the electorate seek a strongman. 

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary:At World Economic Forum, historian speaks on tax evasion; Jeffress talks Heaven's wall; Abortion laws betray our 'weird, wicked world'

Distinctly Catholic: That Julián Castro was mayor of a fast-growing, racially diverse city in Texas, San Antonio, is all to the good, and the strongest part of his speech announcing he would run for president drew on that experience.

Distinctly Catholic: The Democratic Party has become more extreme on the issue of abortion, adopting the positions of special interest groups, positions that do not reflect the views of many people.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Confronting myths about undocumented workers; billionaire attacks a tax on wealth; remembering a 1917 deportation.