Michael Sean Winters

 It took Adolf Hitler less than six months after that meeting to devour the rest of Czechoslovakia. Are we sure Russia will stop at Ukraine?

What is more populist than running on the pledge to "return power to the people"? 

Sebastian Gomes' video captures the essence of the gatherings, which are exercises in synodality, of bringing together people with distinct roles in the church, and allowing them to speak with one another in an atmosphere of trust and inquisitiveness.

Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich delivered an important address in Nagasaki about the church's teaching on war. He was there to mark the anniversary of the atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki and on Hiroshima in 1945.

Shaped entirely by the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI dedicated his pontificate to beginning the implementation of the vision the council had given to the church.

In Left Adrift: What Happened to Liberal Politics, Timothy Shenk looks at the politics of the last 45 years by comparing the careers of two of the left's most prominent political strategists, Stan Greenberg and Doug Schoen.

There is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest the ground is shifting, from conversations with Trump supporters to the White House's own behavior, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

The removals at Sacred Heart Major Seminary are long overdue. Kudos to Archbishop Edward Weisenburger of Detroit for doing it.

We can debate the merits of any of the Supreme Court's decisions. But whatever we think about this decision or that, the point is that the constitutional order has held, says Michael Sean Winters.

Such efforts "just might," NCR's Michael Sean Winters writes, "help overcome the polarization found in both the Catholic Church and the wider culture."
 

Efforts at social justice have become less distinctly Catholic and more ecumenical in character. But there are three dogmatic claims that should animate any effort to renew Catholic Action, says Michael Sean Winters.

How do we, as a Catholic Church, overcome the problems posed by social media? How do we create a culture that is more humane than the culture of social media?

Is social media evil? Catholics who take seriously the call to become missionary disciples need to pose the question and at least confront the ways social media frustrates efforts to spread the Gospel and build community.

How do we recover a shared sense of the moral order that is built into the universe? Michael Sean Winters says that dusting off the idea of a natural law might allow us to at least find a shared moral vocabulary again.

Pope Leo XIV is still keeping his cards close to his cassock, but people who have observed him over the years are helping fill in the picture of what is likely to shape his pontificate, writes Michael Sean Winters.

A pastor with a particular congregation that leans one way or the other does not need to mention a candidate by name to get the message out. Some pastors are only too happy to insert themselves into politics.

The Vatican's new document on implementing synodality acknowledges the energy and enthusiasm experienced by those who have already engaged in the synodal process, but it invites all of us to move forward.

We have come to recognize that the rights to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," which blended so nicely in abstract form upon the page, do not cohere so neatly in real life, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

It is doubtful any Democrat outside New York or San Francisco could win as a democratic socialist. The word socialist carries too much baggage. And if you have to explain it to people, it is time to get a better label.

If the Democrats and others opposed to authoritarian abuses of our constitutional order can show some message discipline, they now have a consistent line of criticism.