Michael Sean Winters

As he explained his decision to end his reelection campaign, President Joe Biden did not mention his Catholic faith. But his Catholicism informs this man's understanding of the moment, of himself, and of our nation.

In the next few days — not weeks but days — Vice President Kamala Harris must introduce herself to the American people. The GOP will be trying to do the same thing, albeit with different points of emphasis.

One candidate decided he was not physically fit and will be replaced by someone who may not be politically fit. The other is not morally fit. Anyone who tells you they know how this will play out is deluded.

There had been reports that, in light of the failed assassination attempt on his life, former President Donald Trump would dial back the vitriol at the RNC and make an appeal to national unity. And Trump tried, but he couldn't help himself.

NCR's Michael Sean Winters was unimpressed with GOP vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance's speech to the GOP convention.
 

Will there be an issue or a moment in which Vance's newly found Catholicism leads him to challenge his party or his running mate? NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters is skeptical.

Although the GOP's platform will not include support for a nationwide limit on abortion, "No one should expect the pro-life movement to abandon the GOP," writes NCR's Michael Sean Winters.

Specific agendas will frustrate the synodal process because it is well-nigh impossible to listen to the Holy Spirit if we insist on trying to achieve our particular goals, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

It isn't just that some bishops disagree with the decision to cut back on the Justice, Peace and Human Development office, while leaving other committees untouched. It is that the bishops feel like they were gaslighted at last month's meeting in Louisville.

The results of U.K. elections show that the underlying cultural issues are very similar throughout the Western democracies, even if the U.K. is moving in the opposite direction from that of the U.S. and France.

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.