Michael Sean Winters

Fighting a new culture war battle over the placement of the Ten Commandments on the walls of schools is a fool's errand, says NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

Will the 40 or so U.S. bishops who rushed out with statements supporting Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò's call for Pope Francis to resign now withdraw their support?

It is one of the saddest things about our democracy that the election will be decided by low-information voters who probably did not watch the entire debate last night, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

The decision to slash the Office of Justice, Peace and Human Development at the U.S. bishops' conference raises profound questions of governance and mission, along with issues of trust and integrity.

NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters strongly recommends James Davison Hunter's new book: "It fearlessly, and profoundly, makes its case that the problems we face are deeper than the result of the November election."

James Davison Hunter points to the most basic question our country must face: Can our democracy survive when the cultural wellsprings of social solidarity no longer generate a shared mythos that unites Americans?

What is a mistake, for either party, but especially for Democrats, is to view demographic issues as a zero-sum game. For the Dems, does outreach to religious voters harm the party's prospects with nonreligious voters?

What will it take for the U.S. bishops' conference to incorporate Francis' vision for a more synodal church, one capable of deepening an ecclesial self-understanding by attending to the most vulnerable in our midst? 

Several bishops told NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters that in the executive session where the Catholic Campaign for Human Development was discussed, the support for the program was overwhelming.

At the Catholic Health Association meeting, San Diego Cardinal Robert McElroy sketched four fundamental questions about the synodal process for Catholic health care to ponder. 

At a time when so many Americans continue to struggle with poverty, and when the political class largely neglects their needs, the bishops need to stand foursquare behind the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.

Francis Maier's True Confessions interviews bishops, clergy and laity providing an insider's look at the conservative wing of the Catholic Church. 

A bishops' conference with wizened outreach to the poor is like a bishops' conference stripped of its commitment to the defense of human life, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

It is difficult to conceive of the ordeal they faced 80 years ago and of the courage that was required, but they faced it, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

It is clear that the synodal process is the most, perhaps the only, viable model for ecclesial governance that seeks to overcome this highly polarized moment in the life of both the nation and the church.

The American people know, or should know, that the jury system is the best device engineered by the human mind to protect the liberties of all against the power of the few.

The idea that the pope has suddenly revealed his hidden bigotry towards gay persons, which seems to be the consensus on social media, is ridiculous. Nothing about this man or his papacy suggests he is bigoted towards anyone.

The "end of regime" sensibility of our political discourse may actually just be an "end of Trump" sensibility, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

Children dressed in traditional clothing arrive in procession for a Spanish-language Mass celebrated in honor of Our Lady of Suyapa, patroness of Honduras, at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City Feb. 5, 2023. (OSV News/Gregory Shemitz) 

As we continue to debate the role of religion, and specifically of Protestant Christianity, in the American story, we must look to the historical roots of the discussions, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.