Tobias Winright

Tobias Winright is professor of moral theology at St. Patrick's Pontifical University in Maynooth, Ireland, and he is an associate member of Las Casas Institute for Social Justice at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford University, England. Among his recent publications is Serve and Protect: Selected Essays on Just Policing (Cascade, 2020).

By this Author

A bird picks up a piece of trash on Avila Beach along California's central coast. (Unsplash/Tim Mossholder)

Nov 21, 2024

Climate action at COP29 needed for humanity and our 'companions along the way'

We need to listen to what birds have to say — to preach — to us and how it is we who need an "ecological conversion." An important part of this conversion will be safeguarding species in danger of extinction.

A man's hands pointing a gun (Dreamstime/Seth Anderson)

Aug 02, 2023

What does Catholic teaching say about using guns for defense?

The No. 1 reason Americans give for owning a gun is defense. But Catholics should question the "stand your ground" justification for deadly force, says ethicist and former law enforcement officer Tobias Winright.

The outside of Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in St. Louis, on Oct. 24. (AP photo/Michael Phillis)

Nov 02, 2022

A parent's worst nightmare: An active shooter at my daughter's school

"There is a lockdown right now. It's not a drill, I don't think. I hear yelling. I love you all so much." My wife and I received this text message from our daughter at 9:12 a.m. on Oct. 24.

A local resident receives a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine during a vaccination event for adolescents and adults outside the Bronx Writing Academy school in New York City June 4. (CNS/Reuters/Mike Segar)

Aug 17, 2021

Catholics have no grounds to claim exemption from COVID vaccine mandates

Commentary: There may be a moral obligation to be vaccinated for COVID-19 unless one has a medical contraindication. Such an obligation is grounded in the Gospel's call to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

Investigators work at the scene where Ma'Khia Bryant, a 16-year-old Black girl, was fatally shot by a police officer April 20. (CNS/Reuters/Gaelen Morse)

Apr 23, 2021

A former cop reckons with unending police killings of Black Americans

Perspective: Policing as we know it today is but a mirror reflection of much of the wider U.S. culture. Few nations have police as armed as ours; few nations have citizens as armed as ours.