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.
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.
Taken together, the eight appointments signal a shift away from the opposition or indifference to Francis' reforms that has been too common among some bishops in the U.S., writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.
The Trappist monk's reflections on war and the Christian imperative for nonviolence may have been directed at conflicts more than half a century ago, but his insights continue to bear prophetic relevance today.
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to uphold a Tennessee law that bans certain treatments for transgender minors was the correct legal conclusion, no matter what you think of the law itself, says Michael Sean Winters.
"The flames of indignation that Trump has whipped up may end up consuming him and his signature campaign to deport millions of our immigrant brothers and sisters," writes NCR's Michael Sean Winters.
