Michael Sean Winters

Michael Sean Winters says it is time to banish the idea that business practices are conducive to the work of government.

Amid mixed signals, erroneous claims that have to be walked back, and bizarre initiatives, some decisions are irrevocable and the sideways shooting by the gang that can't shoot straight endangers the lives of real people.

A squabble among scholars, a pro-American prelate, an exploding battleship, and the Roman Question all fed into Pope Leo XIII's decision to publish his 1899 letter that condemned the heresy of "Americanism."

It is not every day that the pope publicly scolds a group of bishops. Those unfamiliar with papal texts can be forgiven for thinking Pope Francis' letter to the U.S. bishops was one of encouragement. It wasn't.

Many legal challenges have stopped something unconstitutional President Trump wanted to do, while others have put his plans on pause, writes Michael Sean Winters. But you only get relief if you are party to the legal challenges.

Passing over 14 centuries of religious intolerance and persecution, as Vice President JD Vance did in a recent speech, in order to deny that religious liberty has a liberal pedigree is intellectually dishonest.

The president seems not to recognize that ownership of the land is the underlying issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and removing yet more Palestinians from their land is unlikely to lead to peace.

Vice President Vance, and the policies he is defending, does not start with grace and gratitude. He is not just ethically wrong. He doesn't understand the Catholic faith to which he converted, and he is not alone.

This case could be a vehicle by which the Supreme Court continues its effort to recalibrate church-state jurisprudence in ways that are more friendly to religions and religiously motivated plaintiffs.

The answer is twofold: We should take practical steps to protect migrants and we should creatively preach what the church teaches, says NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

The U.S. bishops' conference always reminds us that they are not partisan, but it is becoming harder and harder to believe the assertion.

Catholic social teaching was central in the formation of the New Deal, as the U.S. bishops' 1919 program for social reconstruction advocated many programs Franklin Delano Roosevelt would later enact.

The rule of law, without which no government can function, is at grave risk when pardons are issued in such indiscriminate ways, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

President Donald Trump came out swinging on the issue of immigration, writes Michael Sean Winters. The leaders of the U.S. Catholic hierarchy do not throw punches. But they are setting down some markers.

Promising to deport "millions and millions" of migrants and repeating his "drill, baby, drill" mantra, Trump's second inaugural speech could have been a campaign speech if not for the venue, writers Michael Sean Winters.

We are called to pray for the new president and the incoming administration and to support "their efforts to advance the common good."

The thing NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters most admired about President Joe Biden's Catholicism these past four years was not his embrace of Catholic social ethics. It was his observance of our cultic ethic.

Biden defended his conduct of foreign policy at the State Department on Monday: "The United States is winning the worldwide competition compared to four years ago." That is mostly true, writes Michael Sean Winters.

President Jimmy Carter, the first politician to get me excited about politics, was a good man and a great man. His personal qualities, however, didn't translate into political success, and that was the job.

Our vice president-elect hasn't been making headlines since the election, at least not when compared to some others President-elect Donald Trump has selected to help him run the executive branch.