Michael Sean Winters

Michael Sean Winters is the author of Left At the Altar: How Democrats Lost The Catholics And How Catholics Can Save The Democrats (Basic Books, 2008). His biography of the Rev. Jerry Falwell, God's Right Hand: How Jerry Falwell Made God a Republican and Baptized the American Right was published by Harper One in January 2012 to critical acclaim. 

By this Author

Supporters of legal abortion and pro-life demonstrators hold signs outside the U.S. Supreme Court during the annual March for Life Jan. 20, 2023, in Washington, for the first time since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade abortion decision. (OSV News/Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)

Abortion pill court decisions show how Dobbs aggravated the abortion fight

Anyone who thought the politics of abortion would be less fraught after overturning Roe v. Wade wasn't paying attention, says columnist Michael Sean Winters.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas delivers the 2021 Tocqueville Lecture Sept. 16 at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. "We are all aware of those who assert that America is a racist and irredeemable nation," he said. "But there are many more of us, I think, who feel that America is not so broken as it is adrift at sea." (CNS/Peter Ringenberg, courtesy of University of Notre Dame)

Justice Clarence Thomas' lavish trips raise acute ethical dilemmas

It's not the first time ethical questions have been raised about Justice Clarence Thomas, who is Catholic. He should know better, says columnist Michael Sean Winters.

The Resurrection is depicted in this 14th-century painting by Master of Santacroce.

How will a synodal church embody the virtue of obedience?

Easter triduum messages highlight that Jesus himself understood the paschal mystery in terms of obedience.

"The Crucifixion" (circa 1675, detail) by Spanish artist Bartolomé Estebán Murillo (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

This Good Friday, let us look upon the cross and tremble

The death of Jesus gives to those of us who claim to follow him a deeper understanding of suffering. It is redemptive, inescapable and redemptive, Michael Sean Winters reflects on Good Friday.

People in Washington pray at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle on Good Friday, April 15, 2022, during the celebration of the Liturgy of the Lord's Passion. (CNS/Catholic Standard/Andrew Biraj)

The triduum liturgies invite us into the mystery of our salvation

Our Catholic liturgy during the triduum discloses the essence of the faith, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Columnist Michael Sean Winters asks: Why only read about it, when you can participate in it?

From left: Dawn Carpenter, founding director of the Solidarity Economy Workshop; Willie Lyles III, legislative director for Rep. James Clyburn, D-South Carolina; moderator Anna Gordon, program director of Georgetown University's Initiative on Catholic Social Thought; Candace Cunningham, workforce development coordinator with Restaurant Opportunities Centers United DC; and Robert Christian III, editor of Millennial gather for Georgetown's panel "Young Catholics, Work and Labor in the New Economy" held March

What can Catholic social teaching contribute to the conversation about work?

Four panelists at a Georgetown event on Catholic social teaching and labor offered hope but also some challenges, says columnist Michael Sean Winters.

In an Oct. 26, 2015, file photo, right-to-die advocates rally outside the New Mexico Supreme Court in Santa Fe. (AP/Russell Contreras, File)

Assisted suicide and the bias toward libertarianism in journalism

A heart-tugging piece about medically assisted suicide in The New York Times has columnist Michael Sean Winters concerned about journalistic objectivity.

Overlay: The website of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops displays the Doctrine Committee's statement for Catholic health care institutions regarding medical treatments for transgender persons. (NCR screenshot; trans flag illustration by Dreamstime/Avictorero)

Bishops' transgender document and its critics both need more self-criticism

Bishops and academics could both benefit from adopting the phrase, "That is not in our tradition," says columnist Michael Sean Winters, reflecting on the U.S. bishops' document on health care for transgender persons.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference at Gaylord National Convention Center March 4 in National Harbor, Maryland. (OSV News/Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein)

The GOP still belongs to Donald Trump

Some conservatives are trying to rid their party of the moral stain of Donald Trump, says columnist Michael Sean Winters, but be wary of such all-too-convenient distancing.

Thousands of Los Angeles Unified School District teachers and Service Employees International Union 99 members rally outside the school district headquarters in Los Angeles March 21. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Fed bailout of banks may reduce risk of inflation, but not risk to democracy

Strikes in Los Angeles and protests in France should remind the Federal Reserve that economic decisions need to be responsible to all citizens, says columnist Michael Sean Winters.

Bishops attend Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Nov. 14, 2022, on the first day of the fall general assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore. (CNS/Bob Roller)

Pope Francis, you have two years to remake the US hierarchy. Get to it.

No more "two for us, one for them," says columnist Michael Sean Winters. It's time to turn decisively, not slowly, in naming new bishops not stuck in the past.

Shaun Casey, the U.S. special representative for religion and global affairs in the U.S. State Department, is pictured in a 2013 photo. (CNS/Courtesy of State Department)

Shaun Casey's new book a front-row seat to intersection of religion, foreign policy

Shaun Casey's Chasing the Devil at Foggy Bottom about his time at the State Department analyzes the role of religion in American foreign policy and is worth a read, says Michael Sean Winters in this review.

Prudence Robertson with EWTN Pro-Life Weekly announces the "Journalism in a Post-Truth World" conference, hosted by EWTN and Franciscan University of Steubenville. (EWTN/YouTube screenshot)

EWTN on fake news: Physician, heal thyself

Associating "fake news" with only one side in the culture wars is itself a kind of fake news, says columnist Michael Sean Winters.

(Unsplash/Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona)

Michigan's Catholic bishops should support repealing state's anti-union 'right-to-work' laws

Why, when the teaching of the Catholic Church is so clear, is the Catholic Church in Michigan — of all places — doing nothing to support the workers of that state achieve rights the Catholic Church has long upheld? Michael Sean Winters discusses.

Dr. Robert Redfield, former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, arrives for the start of a hearing by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, at the Capitol March 8 in Washington. (AP photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Instrumentalizing science for politics harms both

The debate over where the coronavirus originated reminds columnist Michael Sean Winters of how science is too often manipulated for political ends.

A man types on a computer keyboard in this illustration photo. (CNS/Reuters/Kacper Pempel)

Catholic group spying on priests is creepy

Thanks to The Washington Post, we now know about the Colorado-based Catholic group that is spending millions to buy mobile app tracking data to spy on priests, which columnist Michael Sean Winters finds troubling. 

A "cardinal" table number featuring Cardinal John Carberry is pictured. Tables were named for cardinals during a group dinner that was part of a two-day ecclesial gathering March 3-4 at Boston College. (NCR photo/Brian Fraga)

Boston College conference didn't just discuss synodality. Bishops and theologians modeled it.

A gathering of bishops and theologians at Boston College had excellent presentations, but it was the conversations in between things that were most fertile, says columnist Michael Sean Winters.

Pope Francis listens as Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg, relator general of the Synod of Bishops, speaks during a meeting with the presidents and coordinators of the regional assemblies of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican Nov. 28, 2022. (CNS/Vatican Media)

The most defining characteristic of Francis' papacy is synodality

If it takes — and it's a big 'if' — synodality will be the apotheosis of Pope Francis' pontificate, says columnist Michael Sean Winters.

Cardinal Robert McElroy of San Diego celebrates Mass on the campus of the University of San Diego during Mass at The Immaculata Catholic Church Sept. 8, 2022. The liturgy was dedicated to students, faculty and staff of the university, and was his first public Mass in San Diego since being appointed a cardinal. (CNS/David Maung)

It's possible to respectfully disagree with Cardinal McElroy

You don't have to call Cardinal Robert McElroy a heretic to respectfully disagree with some points in his recent writings about inclusivity, says columnist Michael Sean Winters.

Pope Francis delivers his blessing as he recites the Angelus noon prayer from the window of his studio overlooking St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Feb. 26. (AP/Andrew Medichini)

Francis the reformer is rooted in Vatican II. Full stop.

Pope Francis' reforms are rooted in Vatican II and the Gospels, so why do his critics see him as a revolutionary? asks columnist Michael Sean Winters.

Advertisement