Michael Sean Winters

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Kavanaugh is slavishly pro-business; ill effects of cozying up to Russia; impressions vs. reality in support for Trump.

Distinctly Catholic: As I read America's publication of Stephanie Slade's libertarian essay, I realized responding to it would be difficult. One question: Why was this published? 

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Subculture in seminaries; Bishop Barron joins discussion on McCarrick; There is no widespread voter fraud in this country; Football players who kneel

Distinctly Catholic: An important conversation has begun about how the US bishops should address the problems the McCarrick episode reveals, including an unhealthy hierarchic and clerical culture.

Distinctly Catholic:  As the scandal surrounding former cardinal Theodore McCarrick unfolds, I am concerned about commentaries that darken counsel instead of enlightening it.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Former president recounts Vatican meeting about suppressing abuse inquiry; Midwest election results; The Post weighs in on "collusion."

Distinctly Catholic: The fact that President Trump is now tweeting that "collusion is not a crime" shows the investigators have more concrete evidence that there was collusion or subornation or both.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Humanae Vitae and the McCarrick scandal; a missed chance to subpoena Cardinal Dziwisz; Kiribati's present, Miami's future.

Distinctly Catholic: The key shift in doctrine was effected by Pope John Paul II, who saw the inviolable dignity of the human person as the cornerstone of Catholic social teaching.

Distinctly Catholic: When Pope Francis first issued Amoris Laetitia, I commented that as important as the text was, what really mattered is the texts it would spawn. We now have the first such text in English, from Fr. Lou Cameli.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: The "collusion is not a crime argument"; new home videos of FDR; Democrats should reject billionaire Tom Steyer; Cardinal Pietro Parolin says Mass for Cardinal Joseph Bernadin in his Italian ancestral home.

Distinctly Catholic: From Catholics who focus on pro-life issues to those who work on environmental issues, labor rights are often an afterthought at best.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Memorializing Archbishop Hunthausen; Camosy on Planned Parenthood and Trump administration teaming up; political fallout from family separation

Now that Archbishop Theodore McCarrick has resigned his cardinalate, what happens next? What have we learned in the past couple of months? What remains to be done to combat this cancer that is killing the church?

Distinctly Catholic: Catholic conservatives are finally taking the clergy sex abuse crisis seriously. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has been accused, and they are hijacking the crisis to attack Francis.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: The history of union-busting; What the Janus vs. AFSCME decision means for Catholic social teaching; Trump's trade policies and tweets; Mary Magdalene and her persistence

Distinctly Catholic: Though it was reduced to "Pope Bans Pill" the second it was issued, Humanae Vitae is actually a powerful reflection on the dangers to human life posed by the lingering Malthusian temptation to view human life as something we can exert mastery over.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: What happens during an ICE raid; protest against Trump administration official joining university; the friendship between Trump and Putin; John Garvey chastises Canadian Supreme Court; Democrats for Life meeting

One of the reasons Democratic campaigns fall flat is that their speechwriters and policy advisers cannot connect with Americans whose understanding of politics and culture is still shaped by religious idioms.

The pope's recent comment about missionaries as "divas on tour" garnered a lot of attention. But if we read his entire text, we find a profound message about evangelization and a special challenge to American sensibilities.