Michael Sean Winters

Michael Sean Winters is the author of Left At the Altar: How Democrats Lost The Catholics And How Catholics Can Save The Democrats (Basic Books, 2008). His biography of the Rev. Jerry Falwell, God's Right Hand: How Jerry Falwell Made God a Republican and Baptized the American Right was published by Harper One in January 2012 to critical acclaim. 

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Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia (Wikimedia Commons/Senate Democrats)

Manchin's mistaken prophetic stance on the filibuster

Distinctly Catholic: The West Virginia senator's op-ed against eliminating the filibuster may be sincere, and it may be true to some of the Senate's finest traditions. But it is misplaced and counterproductive.

A rainbow appears behind the Lincoln Memorial in Washington June 19, 2020. The date, known as Juneteenth, honors the end to slavery in the United States and is considered the longest-running African American holiday. (CNS/Jonathan Ernst, Reuters)

In the fight against racism, reparations are not the answer

Distinctly Catholic: A politics aimed at alleviating the ill-effects of racism is highly moral, and the "justice" offered by reparations is a veneer. Black Americans and others who face the injustices of racism deserve more than that.

Orange lava flowing down dark volcano at night

Links: Catholic social teaching origins, voting laws, corporate taxes

Distinctly Catholic: Msgr. John Strynkowski on where Catholic social teaching comes from; Supreme Court predictability; global minimum corporate tax proposal

President Joe Biden speaks about his $2.2 trillion infrastructure plan at Carpenters Pittsburgh Training Center March 31 in Pittsburgh. The proposed package has funding for broadband, housing, the electric grid, roads and bridges, and other areas. It will

Joe Biden teaches 'Fratelli Tutti' Economics 101

Distinctly Catholic: President Biden's infrastructure bill and his American Rescue Plan represent a repudiation of Reaganomics, and the introduction of a new kind of social policy we should call Fratelli Tutti economics.

Pope Francis gives the homily as he celebrates Holy Thursday chrism Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican April 1, 2021. (CNS/Andrew Medichini, Reuters pool)

Links: Pope Francis on the cross; corporations respond to Georgia voting law

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Pope Francis' chrism Mass homily; the 2020 Latino vote; 'everyday ethics and solidarity' of women religious; good news for labor and for tourists.

Msgr. John Tracy Ellis, 1905-1992, in front of a stone building

Msgr. John Tracy Ellis on selecting bishops in the US

Distinctly Catholic: Now for some modern church history, from the archives of my great mentor, who describes efforts to better conform the U.S. church to the democratic tenor of the country and include priests in the consultation process for naming new bishops.

A crucifix is seen at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles on Palm Sunday, March 28. (CNS/Victor Aleman, courtesy of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles)

Good Friday: All you who pass this way, look and see

Distinctly Catholic: Of all Christian holidays, this is the day from which there are no ethical lessons to be drawn. Today is about something deeper, more primordial in Christian spirituality than mere ethics.

Links: Catholic identity at universities, meritocracy and the 'working class'

Distinctly Catholic: Where the most COVID-19 cases and deaths are; insufferable ruling class; students suing Department of Education; Holy Thursday

Pope Francis carries palm fronds in procession as he celebrates Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Basilica March 28 at the Vatican. (CNS/Paul Haring)

As Francis shows, this Easter triduum there's no room for complacency

Distinctly Catholic: The thing I most love about Pope Francis is when he gives a sermon that really challenges us moderns. As the church began Holy Week, he delivered just such a sermon on Palm Sunday.

people waving US flags and a flag with Chinese writing seen against buildings

Links: Reparations, modern capitalism and the Chinese autocracy

Distinctly Catholic: Tour museums virtually; actors make terrible politicians; drones are good for filming volcanoes; garment workers get their earned pay back; EWTN's immigration coverage starts with anti-immigration politicians

A group of mostly Asian and Pacific Islander people gather outside under a sign reading "Gold Spa" to pray

Bring back the assault weapons ban

Distinctly Catholic: We're in the midst of another round in the culture wars, the firearms branch. Another example of culture war paralysis. But certain kinds of weapons make mass shootings possible.

(Unsplash/Ussama Azam)

The bishops and the Equality Act: a train wreck

Distinctly Catholic: Despite the U.S. bishops' absolutism, nondiscrimination proposals like the Equality Act, if amended to remove restrictions on religious freedom, represent no threat to religion or the common good.

Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum building at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis

Links: Passover, Latino voters and Marjorie Taylor Greene on EWTN

Distinctly Catholic's twice-weekly roundup: The bread of affliction; monuments to assassins and dictators; help for Puerto Rico: Frank Gehry legacy: standardized tests, good or bad?

People from Central America wearing masks and carrying children outside near the Paso del Norte international border bridge in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico

Biden goes Trump Lite on immigration

Distinctly Catholic: President Joe Biden not only has an opportunity to help the people who have been stranded in Mexico, he has an opportunity to beat back the idea that the Republicans are the party of churchgoers.

Exterior of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, from Palace Square

Links: Biden's worrisome immigration policy, executive pay at Starbucks, new Russian history

Distinctly Catholic's twice-weekly roundup: Proof that constitutional originalists can't support nondelegation doctrine with history; evidence people might think CEOs are getting paid too much; legacies of Maya Lin and Steven Spurrier

(Dreamstime/Sakon Kaeoaunruean)

Catholics behaving badly: MSW has a little list

Distinctly Catholic: Anyone else tired of Catholics behaving badly? Not run-of-the-mill badly, say, being a little lazy or a tad judgmental. Really badly, doing or saying something that is really hateful or harmful.

A billboard in Spanish encourages people to register to vote in Phoenix Oct. 1, 2020. (Dreamstime/Rebekah Zemansky)

Want to win Latino voters? Drop the assumptions and organize

Distinctly Catholic: Arizona has been the great success story for efforts by Democrats to get Latino voters to the polls and vote for them. On the other hand, Florida has been the big letdown.

A view of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York City, 1899 (Wikimedia Commons/Library of Congress)

Links: Conservative working class myth, visitation at the Vatican, Waldorf-Astoria history

Distinctly Catholic rounds up political news and commentary: Debunking the myth of the conservative working class; a visitation for the Congregation for Divine Worship; math problems at The Washington Post.

Marilyn Miranda, 9, draped in a Salvadoran flag, attends an immigration rally with her mother outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington June 4, 2019

Latino identities, always in the plural, and voting trends

Distinctly Catholic: A constantly changing electorate is challenging to any U.S. political party, but Democrats' message of being "for the poor" may be working against their desire to attract Latino and Hispanic voters.

Cardinals Timothy Dolan of New York, left, Sean O'Malley of Boston, and Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, concelebrate the opening Mass of the National Prayer Vigil for Life Jan. 23, 2020, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Imma

Links: Archbishop Naumann, religion as antidepressant and Yo-Yo Ma

Distinctly Catholic rounds up political news and commentary: Former President Trump adrift? Last-minute aid to private, religious schools; Archbishop Naumann's tendentious approach to President Biden

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