Michael Sean Winters

If Kirk was a champion of free speech, than it seems the worst way to honor his legacy is to silence anyone for what they said about him, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

Donald Trump still dominates the news cycle, but he isn't rounding the corner on any of the nation's problems. As the president gets desperate, voters get exhausted.

If Democrats and the left want to win elections again, they need to learn how to speak in language that does not make voters feel bewildered or, worse, inferior, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

Some are campaigning for Coakley, but NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters hopes the U.S. bishops select a president in the center, someone as publicly committed to fighting abortion as he is to defending immigrants.

America's unwillingness to confront our cultural love affair with guns is difficult to fathom. It is like an addiction: It doesn't make sense from the outside but quitting is so hard to do.

NCR's Michael Sean Winters asks: If you style yourself a "social justice Catholic" and you do not avoid union-busting firms, isn't that hypocritical?

The mysterium iniquitatis, the mystery of evil, revealed itself Wednesday morning in a leafy Minneapolis neighborhood, not just lawlessness, but evil, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

It is shocking that so many people express deep concern about suffering in Gaza but do not apportion any responsibility for that suffering to Hamas. At the same time, Israel should not stand aside while people go hungry.

We can hope that the move does not undo one of the signature achievements of Pope Francis: He broke up the court atmosphere that surrounded previous popes, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters. 

Pope Leo XIV shared Sunday pranzo with a group of people from the Diocese of Albano. During the event, the diocesan bishop of Albano, Bishop Vincenzo Viva, spoke words that captured my attention.

On Aug. 18, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the leaders of several European countries came to the White House for a meeting with President Trump. It felt a lot like Yalta in 1945.

"Bad history and lousy civics," have enabled Trump's attack on the Smithsonian, argues Michael Sean Winters. Trump can rearrange exhibits, but he can't change history and the facts it contains in his push back on academics.

 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.