Michael Sean Winters

Ryan had a reputation as a wonk, someone who understood policy and wanted to understand it. But for all his talk about accomplishing a great deal as Speaker, he knows Congress has accomplished very little that commends itself to the electorate.

Distinctly Catholic: We don't know how President Trump will respond to the chemical weapon attack in Syria, but the character of the response will not resolve the moral conundrum the Syrian situation poses in the first place.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: A Catholic blogosphere rising star; Pope Francis' authenticity; a takedown of Jordan Peterson and revived masculinity

Distinctly Catholic: Pope Francis' new apostolic exhortation is an encouraging effort to urge all Christians on. Yet some passages appear directed at specific audiences or events in the recent life of the church.

Distinctly Catholic: As Michael Gerson pointed out, the chaos that surrounds this presidency, the multiple story lines, the glaring conflicts, the various brushes with the law, all reflect the president's confidence in his own judgment. 

Distinctly Catholic: Professor Liew's theories illustrate how theologians who support academic freedom need to take the lead in differentiating between pushing an envelope and pushing nonsense.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Youth activism; the so-called demise of the left; Saudi prince says Israel should have land; glaciers melting; must-see 'And Still I Rise'

Distinctly Catholic: Martin Luther King did not tell the American people to stop being American. A prophet calls a people to return to their truest selves that they may return to a righteous path.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: "Jesus Christ Superstar" and evangelization; Democratic strategies; disaster disparity; heralds of misguided economic ideology.

Distinctly Catholic: The fourth 'Pope' episode provoked more ambivalence than the previous three. In its rush to apply history lessons to the situation of today's church, the show became a little ridiculous.

Distinctly Catholic: Instead of his usual political news and commentary roundup, Michael Sean Winters provides required listening for this Easter triduum. 

Distinctly Catholic: What keeps us from the wonderment at these events that so characterized the early followers of Jesus? What prevents us from the depth of conversion they had?

Distinctly Catholic: Cardinal Timothy Dolan's recent, ill-advised op-ed in The Wall Street Journal does nothing to unite Catholics​ polarized by political divisions.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Admiring the youngsters marching for gun control; Rex Tillerson has complaints about Washington; the haunting, pleading Lamentations of Jeremiah.

Distinctly Catholic: CNN's series descends into the muck, as it must, with Sixtus IV and Alexander VI. But the era's contrast of moral squalor and great art makes a point about Incarnation.

Distinctly Catholic: I do not think Dan Lipinski and Conor Lamb are one pole of the party and Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren the other. All four talk about solidarity as the principal value in creating the politics that matters most to them.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Responding to and reviewing Ross Douthat; profiles in cowardice from Republicans; where are the bishops as Pope Francis is attacked?

Distinctly Catholic: I come to bury Ross Douthat, not to praise him — for his facts in To Change the Church are nonsense, his arguments tendentious, and his thesis so absurd it is shocking that this book was published at all.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Koch brothers and Latinos just arriving in the U.S.; the nation's mayors; neo-liberalism cannot be baptized; 'Francis Derangement Syndrome'

Distinctly Catholic: Those who complain about the hierarchy, and especially those who complain about the lack of power sharing in the church, need to watch this episode. Whenever a pope or cardinal or king has aspired to power over the church, he has undercut the spiritual foundations of the papacy and the mission entrusted to the church by Jesus Christ.