Michael Sean Winters

Distinctly Catholic: That is Christmas, the in-breaking of the divine into human history and culture, and that Incarnation becomes the very lens through which we approach the world.  

Distinctly Catholic: It is difficult to prioritize all the bad things today's Republican Party is doing, but attacking the independence and credibility of our nation's top law enforcement agency is a new low.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Democrats predict the outcome of 2018; fully funding pensions that workers have earned; Pope Francis' beautiful reflection on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Distinctly Catholic: Many pundits will draw conclusions about Doug Jones' victory last night in Alabama’s Senate race. The question is: Will any in the political class have learned any lessons from the election?

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Happy Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe; E.J. Dionne warns about questioning Mueller's integrity; Cultural trend to never say 'I was wrong'

Distinctly Catholic: Erik Prince's suggestion to the Trump administration about setting up a private intelligence agency is more than mere evidence that this president surrounds himself with people who harbor crazy ideas.

Distinctly Catholic: The idea that Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel is a useful fiction. But diplomatic hyperventilation is not the reason Trump's embassy move worries me.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Mockery in the Cakeshop case; #MeToo also means workers in restaurants and hotels; Poland to phase out Sunday shopping.

Distinctly Catholic: Pope Francis received his first sustained and serious criticism from the left during his visit to Myanmar last week.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Polling on the new tax reform legislation; Sacramental "rigorism"; Why the president keeps tweeting anti-Muslim items

Distinctly Catholic: Schmitz' recent column reveals the blinders through which certain conservative U.S. Catholics frame the challenges the church faces and the paths forward that she should follow. 

Distinctly Catholic: Conservative Catholics should be especially keen to distance themselves from Project Veritas, which The Washington Post implicates in a fresh false-news scandal.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: D.C. Archdiocese can't get Christmas ads on metro; University of Connecticut scuffle; pope asks Cupich to visit Puerto Rico.

Distinctly Catholic: Pope Francis gave a few talks recently which, together, fill in the picture of where this pontificate is as we approach the fifth anniversary of his election next March, particularly toward labor and human dignity.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Congressional Budget Office scores the latest tax reform; Koch money goes for Time magazine; justice and climate change are interlinked and on a lot of minds

Distinctly Catholic: This week, the Senate plans to debate its tax reform proposals. This is a debate about economics, which has a certain disciplinary integrity that should be respected.

Distinctly Catholic: There is nothing mythic about the idea of gratitude. It is, alongside praise, with which it is intimately linked, the foundation of Catholic spiritual life.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: The Senate Finance Committee; judicial nominees who are not qualified; corruption in Congress; 'Trump country' travels

Distinctly Catholic: The U.S. bishops' conference calls raising income taxes on the working poor while simultaneously providing a large tax cut to the wealthy "simply unconscionable," yet that's what appears to be happening in Congress right now.

Distinctly Catholic: In Revered and Reviled, the book he finished before his death, Archbishop John R. Quinn renews appreciation for the complementarity of the two Vatican Councils.