Michael Sean Winters

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Coronavirus creates havoc; Raymond Arroyo angers Anti-Defamation League; Hillary Clinton says Bernie Sanders is not a strong candidate; the failure of Elizabeth Warren's campaign

Distinctly Catholic: I attended one of Warren's town halls in New Hampshire. I have never seen a more gifted communicator on the campaign trail. In the autumn, it all started to fall apart.

Distinctly Catholic: Conservative and liberal narratives both start with a reading of American history and then look for religious rationalizations for stances arrived at by other means.

Distinctly Catholic: As Niebuhr outlines in these two answers to the problem of Christ and culture, the conversionists' more hopeful attitude toward culture is what distinguishes them from the dualists.

Distinctly Catholic: The synthesists are always averse to "either/or" approach characteristic of the radical Christians and, indeed, the "both/and" approach has become dominant in the Christian church and exemplified in the great of all synthesizers, Thomas Aquinas.

Distinctly Catholic: The attempt to tailor religion to the circumstances of our time and place ends up omitting the uncomfortable. Any system of Christian thought that is too tidy, too sensible, too comfortable, has not sufficiently wrestled with the scandal of the cross.

Distictly Catholic: It seems like there is no escaping the divisiveness that has seeped into the church from the ambient political culture. Columnists hurl slogans, not insights. Distinctions are shunned lest they expose something that helps "the other side." How can we break out of this divisiveness?

Distinctly Catholic: Especially with bishops, perhaps someone should let our friends at Catholic News Agency know that in the journalism business, comments made on the record are intrinsically more reliable than anonymous comments.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: The power of stupidity; a 'team of rivals' Cabinet; the stock market and Trump's approval rating; convincing Bullock to go to Washington.

Distinctly Catholic: Dionne accurately describes the dire situation our nation finds itself in, offers precise suggestions about how to get out of it and he does it with his characteristic sense of decency.

A twice-weekly roundup of political news and commentary: On Mardi Gras, you can celebrate or watch the last Democratic debate before Super Tuesday; U.K. using non-British companies still; nonprofit hospitals.

Distinctly Catholic: If the economy keeps up and people still believe it's President Donald Trump's doing, no one can beat him in November.

Distinctly Catholic: Watching the Nevada debates, it's clear that Democrats need a candidate with vision, someone who will frame the election as a choice between two futures — not simply be "not Trump."

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Advice on defending democracy; popular progressive policies; "moderate" Democrats' bad ideas; the failure of the nuclear family.

Distinctly Catholic: No deep shift in public opinion has been more oppositional to Catholic social teaching in my lifetime than the diminishment of the idea that there are public goods that the public should seek to meet.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: The problems with Bloomberg; Sanders' vote-turnout myth; Querida Amazonia through the lens of Vatican II; homosexuality and genetics.

Distinctly Catholic: Michael Bloomberg's very approach to the election embodies so much of what Sanders' and Warren's supporters find objectionable about the role of money in politics.

Political news and commentary roundup: Republican leaders behavior; analysis of Latino Catholic experience; inside baseball of cheating; 2020 presidential race

Distinctly Catholic: Francis wants us to move away from a monarchical model and engage the whole church in major decisions. You can't achieve synodality if you continually look to the pope to make the tough calls.

Distinctly Catholic: The exit polls in New Hampshire also confirmed that religion played almost no role in last night's results. That will not be the case in Nevada or even more in South Carolina.