Michael Sean Winters

Distinctly Catholic: U.S. bishops should condemn the practice of CatholicVote.org and their crass use of the decision to attend Mass as a source of political information that contradicts our American and our Catholic traditions.

Distinctly Catholic: What should we be looking for in the life of the church this year? What issues and personalities will likely change the trajectory of ecclesial history?

Distinctly Catholic: These are the big U.S. political stories to watch for as the new year unfolds, and the biggest might not even be the Senate impeachment trial.

Distinctly Catholic: Center on Budget Policy and Priorities deserves applause; universities are removed from ordinary Catholic life, too; checking the media's "centrist bias"; SEALs from Edward Gallagher's platoon speak out

Distinctly Catholic: Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. It is the end of the year, a time for looking back and looking forward. Today, I look back at some of the mistakes I made this past year and ask forgiveness for them.

Distinctly Catholic: We are betwixt Christmas and New Year's and, as a nation, we are betwixt what was and what will be, and what will be could hardly be less determinate.   

A roundup of political news and commentary: The owners of the famous Mayor Peter wine cave speak out; White House press secretary says the president is "under attack"; rural Kentucky gets broadband internet; more people dying at home rather than in hospitals

Distinctly Catholic: Democratic voters, who will be making up their minds in January, are looking for a leader, someone with the confidence and the smarts to take on Trump.

Distinctly Catholic: Pope Francis' acts — removing the pontifical secret in sex abuse cases, and raising the age for what constitutes child pornography — disprove the verdicts on last February's abuse summit.

A roundup of political news and commentary: The U.S. under the Trump administration has more in common with post-Netanyahu Israel than the Brexit-era U.K.; health care, labor unions and aid to Puerto Rico are reasons to vote Democrat

Distinctly Catholic: Forget about whether Labour went too far left; the undeniable lesson of the U.K. election for Americans is that it is a truly bad idea to waffle on the most pressing issue of the day.

A roundup of political news and commentary: Conservative wave in the United Kingdom has parallels to the "too woke" left in the United States; atheists aren't yet "it" in our political arena; read Molly Worthen; U.S. Rep. Justin Amash gets my vote

Distinctly Catholic: It requires spiritual discipline to avoid the consumerism that has truly taken the Christ out of Christmas and replaced him with Mammon. In wrapping paper.

Distinctly Catholic: Mendacity has long been a feature of public and especially political life; this week, however, has been a banner week for big institutional lies, partisan lying, and self-serving claims from the stump that are demonstrably impossible.

Political news and commentary roundup: Tom Steyer has bad ideas; William Barr is lying; media needs to check its slant when it comes to the presidential race; St. Anselm's monks are not happy with their college's trustees; Matthew Sitman takes down the Catholic right

Distinctly Catholic: Dominican Archbishop J. Augustine DiNoia's new collection of sermons are inspired and inspiring. Reading them will strengthen your faith.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: "Plague" chronicles church response to AIDS crisis; terrible heath care for uninsured pregnant women in Texas; remembering Caroll Spinney

Distinctly Catholic: Advocates for changes in church governance need to consider the theological and historical reasons the church is structured the way it is and be honest about the dangers their proposals portend. 

Seventy-five years ago, 44 nations sent delegates to the Bretton Woods resort where they negotiated the architecture of the postwar economy. They understood the need for multilateral solutions. They didn't know it then, but their work set the terms of the 2020 election. 

Distinctly Catholic: The postponement of Archbishop Fulton Sheen's beatification raises deeper issues about whom and how we as a church canonize. It's time to look at the criteria for sainthood.