Michael Sean Winters

As more reports surface about Justice Clarence Thomas' gifts from wealthy businessmen, columnist Michael Sean Winters calls for Congress to pass ethics laws to govern the courts.

Coalition-building might be easier if we acknowledged the divisions in our two parties, says columnist Michael Sean Winters, who argues that both U.S. parties must face the tug of war within themselves.

Pope Francis' style may be more evangelistic than apologetic, but you can hardly argue that he's not Christocentric, despite what some critics of World Youth Day claim, says columnist Michael Sean Winters. 

The real danger Donald Trump and his sycophants — including prominent Catholic media personalities — pose is not that they are immoral, but that they are amoral.  

Poll data show Democrats doing well in college towns, but among Latinos — not so much, says columnist Michael Sean Winters. 

Politicians who play the religion card may succeed politically but they do no favors for religion, says columnist Michael Sean Winters.

Instead of engaging the breadth of the U.S. Catholic experience, the speakers list for the Eucharistic Congress looks like the bishops outsourced the programming to Steubenville, says columnist Michael Sean Winters. 

The Israeli government's decision to overhaul the nation's judiciary should not be viewed through the lens of American politics, says columnist Michael Sean Winters, but it does illustrate Israel's deep divisions. 

People Get Ready "is a thoughtful, insightful book," Michael Sean Winters writes. "It is not given to exaggeration, nor to a facile adoption of a "prophetic stance." 

Apparently, being indicted or censured is a ticket to sizable campaign donations, notes columnist Michael Sean Winters, who analyzes the data from the recent campaign fundraising reports. 

Although the task ahead in addressing global climate change is enormous, despair and denial must not stifle us, says Michael Sean Winters. 

It is nice to have a president like Joe Biden who understands that NATO is still a necessity, morally and politically, writes Michael Sean Winters.

Dialogue with our tradition does not hold us back, says Michael Sean Winters. It is what propels us forward as Catholics.

Issues of class and meritocracy have been raised in the aftermath of two Supreme Court decisions about higher education, says columnist Michael Sean Winters. And the conversation has deepened and grown more interesting.

Critics of the synodal process don't fear that synodality will fail, they fear it is already succeeding, says columnist Michael Sean Winters.

Michael Sean Winters would like to see Pope Francis make some legacy appointments of bishops under 60, who will influence the U.S. church in the next decades. 

President Joe Biden should lean into accepting responsibility for how lower-income folks are benefiting in today's economy, says columnist Michael Sean Winters.

Congress, not the courts, should undertake such prudential assessments about affirmative action, says columnist Michael Sean Winters. 
 

To Catholic Democrats who signed a recent pro-choice statement of principles, columnist Michael Sean Winters advises that both politicians and church leaders stay in their lane on the issue of abortion.

Whoever came up with the idea of framing the synod working document in terms of questions, rather than a draft text, deserves a bonus, says columnist Michael Sean Winters.