Distinctly Catholic

Michael Sean Winters analyzes the worlds of religion and politics and the always fascinating estuary where the two collide.

Lessons from the Amazon unionizing defeat

by Michael Sean Winters

Apr 14, 2021

Distinctly Catholic: The vote at the Alabama Amazon plant was a loss for organized labor. There is no way to sugarcoat that fact. Like every loss, there are lessons to be learned about future organizing efforts.

A statue of St. Joseph is seen as Pope Francis leads his general audience in the library of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican March 24. (CNS/Vatican Media)

Links: Latino women for Trump, and the Olympics as a super-spreader event

by Michael Sean Winters

Apr 13, 2021

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Lt. Caron Nazario sues police officers; conundrums of the Olympics; Democratic and Republican dictionaries; animals and pronouns; St. Joseph as a model.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia (Wikimedia Commons/Senate Democrats)

Manchin's mistaken prophetic stance on the filibuster

by Michael Sean Winters

Apr 12, 2021

Distinctly Catholic: The West Virginia senator's op-ed against eliminating the filibuster may be sincere, and it may be true to some of the Senate's finest traditions. But it is misplaced and counterproductive.

A rainbow appears behind the Lincoln Memorial in Washington June 19, 2020. The date, known as Juneteenth, honors the end to slavery in the United States and is considered the longest-running African American holiday. (CNS/Jonathan Ernst, Reuters)

In the fight against racism, reparations are not the answer

by Michael Sean Winters

Apr 9, 2021

Distinctly Catholic: A politics aimed at alleviating the ill-effects of racism is highly moral, and the "justice" offered by reparations is a veneer. Black Americans and others who face the injustices of racism deserve more than that.

Columns ›

Lessons from the Amazon unionizing defeat

Links: Latino women for Trump, and the Olympics as a super-spreader event

Manchin's mistaken prophetic stance on the filibuster

In the fight against racism, reparations are not the answer

Links: Catholic social teaching origins, voting laws, corporate taxes

Joe Biden teaches 'Fratelli Tutti' Economics 101

Links: Pope Francis on the cross; corporations respond to Georgia voting law

Msgr. John Tracy Ellis on selecting bishops in the US

Good Friday: All you who pass this way, look and see

Links: Catholic identity at universities, meritocracy and the 'working class'

As Francis shows, this Easter triduum there's no room for complacency

Links: Reparations, modern capitalism and the Chinese autocracy

Bring back the assault weapons ban

The bishops and the Equality Act: a train wreck

Links: Passover, Latino voters and Marjorie Taylor Greene on EWTN

Biden goes Trump Lite on immigration

Links: Biden's worrisome immigration policy, executive pay at Starbucks, new Russian history

Catholics behaving badly: MSW has a little list

Want to win Latino voters? Drop the assumptions and organize

Links: Conservative working class myth, visitation at the Vatican, Waldorf-Astoria history

Latino identities, always in the plural, and voting trends

Links: Archbishop Naumann, religion as antidepressant and Yo-Yo Ma

The Latino vote: It doesn't exist, but it will decide the future

Biden's American Rescue Plan is Catholic social doctrine in action

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